Leroy's Foot

[LisaReginato]

First of all, any advise is most welcomed as I wanted to see how common this issue may be before I take my little guy to the vet.

My Indian Blue Ring Neck, Leroy, who is now 5 years old, started having feet and beak issues over the winter. We live in Northen Michigan so in the winter he doesn't get as much natural light and of corse it's dryer in the house even though we run a humidifier.

His food is vitamin and egg inriched and I use a powdered vitamin suppliment in his water.

So the problem is beak cracking, which has greatly improved with upping the vitamin water; the second problem are his nails.
They started breaking off at the foot and at first it was only two so we figured maybe he fell and they broke off. After that though 2 more happened - one on each foot. He started getting better for a while once the nails started comming back in but now out of no where (because he was improving so well) he isn't able to use his right foot at all even though the nails have come back in.

He sleeps more I think because he hasn't been able to climb out and play like normal. It's hard to handle him since he can't perch proper, and he spends alot of time on the floor of his cage anymore.
His additude is still the same and I try to make up for loss of handling by lots of petting and talking. He still coo's at me when I talk to him and he's just as vocal as ever with his squaking.

Maybe the nail and foot thing isn't related? Maybe his sprained the foot badly with the loss of the nails? The loss of mobility in his foot has been present for about 1.5 weeks now.

Okay, so suggestions are welcomed! Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

"beak cracking"... do you mean flaking or peeling which is normal, or what do you mean by beak cracking?

Unless a vet recommended them for a particular condition you should be careful with 'supplements' and I would certainly say adding them to his water is a bad idea. He should have clean fresh water at all times.

What is his primary food? Eggs are a good addition, but the staple food needs to be a good one too.

All things taken together I'd say definitely get him to a vet for a check up and see what's going on. If the beak issue is more than the normal flaking and there is also a toenail issue this could suggest an illness which is causing the problems as beak and nail growth utilize the same mechanisms.

 

[LisaReginato]

The sides of his beak started cracking but those are now growing out. He's always been such a healthy bird and his bahvior is still great - he's never been in this way before. The toe nail thing bothers me the worst. I did call the vert today and they can get him next Wednesday - since he's still getting around and eating they didn't want to see him right away.

I'm use to such an active little bird! I'm pregnant with our first baby and he'll be here any day now so I gotta get my other "baby" taken care of before I'm distracted.

Thank you again for responding to Leroy's Foot