So it's been a little hard to update the post. There was a long hands-on exam of both birds. What struck me the most was the vets initial response at the pairing of birds. She suggested to separate them as the IRN, being younger in relative age, may have an unfortunate (for the cockatiel) change of behavior. Young male and old female, but they are expected to be the same age in physical years.
The vet suspected the IRN crashed about 4 weeks ago that caused loss of many tail feathers, time determined by length of new feather growth. That would have been while I was on vacation, and I could not recall such an incident otherwise. A few tail feathers were lost about 6-8 weeks ago over perhaps a couple of weeks. She identified some old scars but only said the general feather thinning could be molting or might be diet related. I may have made a mistake about opting for a vitamin shot instead of a blood test - it seemed the test was only going to determine if there were any vitamin deficiencies. I also bought some kind of seed/pellet cake that is only available to vets. Stool and mouth swab were clear, but noted the top palette mostly void of netting (I don't recall the terms she used now). And vents and ears partially obstructed, so she suggested more spraying with saline solution.
The cockatiel is mostly the same story, but is not having feather thinning. She noted the feet look different, but I could not tell. I did notice one foot had a couple small red sores. She also mentioned there was something different about the knee and that might have contributed to the foot.
For a couple months I've had home made pine dowels in the cage and they had become chewed and splintered, so I replaced them with PVC a couple of weeks ago that I had heated and made lumpy. She is not in favor of PVC perches. She does not recommend trimming or polishing beaks. She lightly clipped toenails, but said all of that is only necessary if there is reason such as medical, deformity, etc.
There is probably more details I'm forgetting and I don't have my notes - I should have taken them during the exam. We were in the exam room for more than an hour, close to two.
I also should have talked to my boss because I was not aware that an exam is simply a hands-on look-see, and as she put it, everything at the vet is a-la-cart!
The good news is that Mango's feathers seem to be filling in some, and I have a lot more information.
This pic is from a couple of weeks ago.
