Thanks again, folks!
Dommie has been on a strict no-seed diet of pellets and fruit/veg. He has pellets available at all times and has his fruits and veg usually in the afternoons (because he won't eat them during the day while he's hanging out on his playgym). It has taken roughly eighteen months to get the tumour to shrink as much as it has. I can't
believe I didn't take a single 'before' photo to show how bad it used to be! My sister is amazed at Dommie's newfound good health: eighteen months ago, we did have a serious conversation about maybe having him PTS because the tumour seemed so debilitating for him. It used to bleed because of dragging on the ground and getting sliced by his claws.
I had hoped Dom's feathers might grow back, but sadly they haven't. He plucked for far too long and the follicles must be quite gone by now. You can't tell by looking at the video or photos of him, but Dom is completely naked from the back of his neck down between his wings and from the level of his tumour right down to his legs. Beneath his wings is plucked clean as well. He used to have rather large (size of a marble) yellow fatty tumours under his wings as well. They were the first things to shrink and disappear. Obviously, the big one is the one we've all been watching, though. It's
extremely gratifying to see it nearly gone!
I'm so proud of Dominic! He remains his own bird to this day and no one gets to push him around. He'll be sweet as pie until you do something to cross him and then he lets you know with a big fat chomp! LOL! It just goes to show that Dominic is still a force to be reckoned with.
Just this morning, he was having his usual peckity-peck around the kitchen benches. He worked his way across to the breakfast bar, where Miss Buffy had been snoozing on her special patch. I had just given her a saucer of milk and Dom immediately began hoppitting along to check it out (those of you who own Galahs will know exactly the step I mean - LOL!) Buffy wasn't aware of Dom sneaking up behind her and continued lapping away at her warm milk. Next thing, before I could grab him, Dom was upon her and bit her rather nastily on the neck! Poor Buff nearly had a coronary there on the spot. She hissed and flattened her ears back, so Dommie stood his ground, drew himself up to his tallest height, raised his hat and bellowed at her! Then, he made as if to have another go and went to bite poor old Buffy again! As luck would have it, my son heard the commotion and raced out to deliver Buffy from the jaws of Dominic. I was so relieved! I knew full well that my hands would be mincemeat if I'd had to grab 'im - once Dom gets his hat up, he can be somewhat difficult for me to handle. :22_yikes:
I'll need to find a new spot for Buffy to relax in, just so I can be confident Dommie won't be able to molest her when he's inside.
