Help! - Has anyone ever known a pionus to eat a penny?

[Trill]

I was counting some pennies when my Maximillian Pionus flew over to investigate and snagged one. I took it away from him, but I think a penny is missing. It could have rolled underneath something, or I may be off on the count. I didn't see him take it again, and he has never eaten a non-food item before. Also, although the gullet can expand, the penny is about the width of his beak.

Obviously it's very serious if he did in fact ingest it. This was about 20 minutes ago, and he seems and looks fine.

I'll be contacting my vet as soon as the office opens. But, I was wondering if anyone has ever had this problem. Or if it's even physically possible for a pionus to swallow a penny.

Help!

 

[mnkeastman]

I am not a bird owner yet as I am still waiting on my bird but I have been a dog owner for many years.

I would err on the side of caution and assume he did eat it, metal poisoning is a serious thing in any animal even if he was able to get it down.

I had a friend whose Toy dog swallowed an entire tablespoon and no one could see how that could have gotten down its throat but they had to rush it in to save it.

I hope your just misplacing a penny but I would agree that the vet is needed to be sure. Please let us know what happens.

Kim

 

[Pedro]

I would't think your bird actually ate a penny, if it's not good to eat they usually just play with it & then lose interest in it & then drop the item. I have watched my larger parrots play with nuts & bolts & have never had a problem.

But if you are worried the Vet would have to XRay your bird to be able to tell for sure.

 

[Remy]

I would agree with Pedro to say that he probably didn't eat it. He probably just dropped it. Puck misplaced a couple of my keyboard keys a while ago and I haven't found them yet.

Have you tried examining the crop area? I would try to gently palpate it to see if there are any weird bumps, or if the bird is extra protective of the area (if there were pain). Birds can also regurgitate, so if it did eat the penny, it's possible it could have thrown it up. I had a mockingbird eat a rubber band once (different, I know, and probably easier to regurgitate too). I was going to go help get it out, but the bird did it itself.

If you really think he did eat it though, I think a vet visit would be in order. Better safe than sorry!

 

[Remy]

Also, in my experience, birds are pretty good at knowing what is food and what isn't. They also usually bite things into small pieces to swallow, as opposed to swallowing it whole. I think it would physically be very difficult for a pionus to swallow a penny. I just saw a couple pionuses at the bird store yesterday, and their beaks were definitely too small for that.

 

[suebee]

lol nut loves playing with pennies, i think you'd feel it if he had, but like pedro said vets to be sure

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, he probably didn't eat it, but I can think of more than one story of amazons eating lead weights! So I would also err on the side of caution and get the X ray.