Salty is in trouble with plucking

[wrench13]

Geri and I are so relieved, we see actual GREEN feathers growing in the former bare spots! Salty

has a good way to go before he regains his full plumage there, but WOW! The one good thing from this is that I fully appreciate what other owners go thru when plucking starts and goes unstopped. For those who have never had this happen, I can tell you that its so distressing and emotionally heartbreaking, both for yourself and for your little one!

 

[onamom]

Geri and I are so relieved, we see actual GREEN feathers growing in the former bare spots! Salty View attachment 80290 has a good way to go before he regains his full plumage there, but WOW! The one good thing from this is that I fully appreciate what other owners go thru when plucking starts and goes unstopped. For those who have never had this happen, I can tell you that its so distressing and emotionally heartbreaking, both for yourself and for your little one!

Yay Salty! It is, it's so hard and such a helpless feeling. So glad he's improving!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I'm so happy for both of you! I can tell you have been tormented by this for months and never expected it to happen to Salty. None of us did. I guess our birds don't take that into consideration when they do things like this.

 

[wrench13]

I am happy to say that Salty has fully regrown the plucked feathers from that damned unrelenting mating season this year. Just 1 or 2 grey feathers peeking out and I fully expect those to be filled in shortly, as he is going through a medium molt right now. Yep, nice green feathers now occupy that half dollar sized bare skin patch on his chest. He'll go to the vet again soon to verify all the issues are finished.

I pray next years mating season is less intense than this years was. Sad thing is we dont know for sure what turned the trick. Just time? Was it the 2 Lupron shots he got? He was supposed to get more then 2 but the feathers started coming back, so I opted to not have those. Was it adjustment in his diet? We just do not know.

 

[rheashard2]

I am happy to say that Salty has fully regrown the plucked feathers from that damned unrelenting mating season this year. Just 1 or 2 grey feathers peeking out and I fully expect those to be filled in shortly, as he is going through a medium molt right now. Yep, nice green feathers now occupy that half dollar sized bare skin patch on his chest. He'll go to the vet again soon to verify all the issues are finished.

I pray next years mating season is less intense than this years was. Sad thing is we dont know for sure what turned the trick. Just time? Was it the 2 Lupron shots he got? He was supposed to get more then 2 but the feathers started coming back, so I opted to not have those. Was it adjustment in his diet? We just do not know.

Nameliss has slowed down a lot. She's now infrequently looking for nesting spots. The wild birds that hang out here are scruffy. This aided in my conclusion that she's going though a moderate molt. This year hormonal issues are the worst since she hit puberty. I am concerned about the coming season.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I am happy to say that Salty has fully regrown the plucked feathers from that damned unrelenting mating season this year. Just 1 or 2 grey feathers peeking out and I fully expect those to be filled in shortly, as he is going through a medium molt right now. Yep, nice green feathers now occupy that half dollar sized bare skin patch on his chest. He'll go to the vet again soon to verify all the issues are finished.

I pray next years mating season is less intense than this years was. Sad thing is we dont know for sure what turned the trick. Just time? Was it the 2 Lupron shots he got? He was supposed to get more then 2 but the feathers started coming back, so I opted to not have those. Was it adjustment in his diet? We just do not know.

I'm so happy for you and Salty that he got through this plucking episode and grew his feathers back. I guess it's hard to know what to do next hormonal season. Very hard to say what worked. I would guess the Lupron helped. I would start the Lupron right before next season starts to try to prevent the hormone surge and hopefully the plucking, too. It seems to me that using Lupron before the problem begins would be better than stopping plucking once it starts. Maybe he'd only need a couple injections all season if you start them early.

 

[Thechoplady]

I so happy to hear that he is doing better! What changes did you make to his diet and was the Lupron expensive?

 

[wrench13]

Since our vet and I determined that the plucking and other behavior was essentially hormone driven, I 100% eliminated fruits and high sugar foods from his diet. Strict enforcement of the 12 hr sleep schedule. All steps normally taken to reduce hormone driven behavior. THe lupron was expensive over $100 a shot. Pricey, for something we cant nail down as the effective tool that allowed him to regrow his feathers. I am uncertain if I will preemptively do that again next year.

 

[LaManuka]

Master @wrench13, I am SO happy to hear you've had success with Salty!! I've had occasion to use Lupron and it was successful, but I agree with you that it shouldn't be an automatic "go to" for next season. But I'm so pleased that it helped you get a good result, along with everything else you did for him, Salty is one lucky boy to have a parront as loving and dedicated to him as you are!!

 

[nkrbkr]

Is today Salty’s birdday?! I’ve been reading through his thread here and there, seeing what you use for tricks/training, & saw his hatch day is 8/15? If so, happy birthday, Salty! Ava’s is 8/10, but we haven’t celebrated just yet. She is now 8 years old.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Since our vet and I determined that the plucking and other behavior was essentially hormone driven, I 100% eliminated fruits and high sugar foods from his diet. Strict enforcement of the 12 hr sleep schedule. All steps normally taken to reduce hormone driven behavior. THe lupron was expensive over $100 a shot. Pricey, for something we cant nail down as the effective tool that allowed him to regrow his feathers. I am uncertain if I will preemptively do that again next year.

Excellent news, though I imagine it's frustrating not knowing if his plucking was hormonal or not. Give him a skritch or six for us readers! LOL!

Charlie's chest feathers seem to have come in again and are staying this time. Huzzah for small mercies.

 

[chris-md]

I am happy to say that Salty has fully regrown the plucked feathers from that damned unrelenting mating season this year. Just 1 or 2 grey feathers peeking out and I fully expect those to be filled in shortly, as he is going through a medium molt right now. Yep, nice green feathers now occupy that half dollar sized bare skin patch on his chest. He'll go to the vet again soon to verify all the issues are finished.

I pray next years mating season is less intense than this years was. Sad thing is we dont know for sure what turned the trick. Just time? Was it the 2 Lupron shots he got? He was supposed to get more than 2 but the feathers started coming back, so I opted to not have those. Was it adjustment in his diet? We just do not know

Al, what a harrowing experience and such a relief!

The timing strongly suggests mating season, since molting usually happens after breeding. I’m not secure that one can lay claim to lupron helping; as I generally understand it (and I’m happy to be wrong), only two shots isn’t going to do a whole lot. Here’s the thing: I pursued this for Parker who had been barbering all his life (I think I’ve narrowed it down to forced weaning), on the theory it’s hormonal. We did deslorelin implant, a rice sized slow release version of lupron injected into the back that lasts 8-12 months.

However, my vet cautioned me that in males the success rate for males is around 5% controlling hormones. Long shot to say the least.

I pray you don’t have to go through this again my friend. I’m so so glad he’s back on his feet, so to speak!

 

[wrench13]

Chris, i am attributing this specific event to the insanely long and intense mating season that many experienced in North America. Just months and months and months of highly charged behavior, so unusual in Salty. I also hold a private thought that while he reached puberty quite awhile ago, Its almost like now he is a full fledged rooster, a real cock of the walk so to speak. Saltys on the upper range of size for his species, a real bull of a yellow shoulder Amazon. If he were in the wild, I think he'd have a whole HAREEM of hens (even though they dont really do that) - but he's smart enough to game those chicks!

We did so many things to try and snap him out of it, hard to say what did it or what combination. Besides the Lupron shot, there was nothing like a 'magic bullet' that might have yielded quick results. You try something for WEEKS, and hope to notice improvement. Another thing we tried, bathing. So Salty is from an arid, dry scrubland island off the coast of Venezuela, not a jungle area. His species is highly localized. SO we have never given him baths or showers at any frequency approaching the usual 2-4 times a week a lot of parrots need. And he's not overly fond of baths and showers any way. But like 3 months or so ago, I stepped that up, to a daily little spritz in the AM, making sure to get the bald spot and then full shower like 4 times a week, a real soaking. We'd been on that limited schedule for almost 9 years, with no plucking or barbering at all. Did that increase in bathing help? I think yes, but who knows! We are just so ecstatic that he has turned it around.

I am curious/dreading December this year, like wanting to peek under a bandage, to see whats happening, but squeamish at what you might find. This whole thing has made me appreciate what owners of dedicated pluckers and barbering parrots go through and feel.