tommyn

Hi everyone, I have a 12 year old cockatiel and 2 months ago his wings seemingly started to get in his way, they ended up on the INSIDE of his legs and he'd trip over them and get them caught outside of the cage and fall to the bottom of his cage repeatedly, and would be rolling around on his back squawking in pain. First of all let me explain why I haven't brought him to a vet around here yet..I live in a town with two vets who know absolutely nothing about birds. I brought him to one of these vets before and they nearly killed him when clipping his nails, he nearly died from them cutting the quick of his nail, another time with gastritis they gave him an injection and he almost died from blood loss from that too, I've been extremely nervous about bringing him to these vets because we're so attatched to him..well it came to the point where his feathers were ragged and torn up and pointing AWAY from his body, yet he was still getting caught up in them and his claws were actually protruding through his wing feathers just to walk around. He was constantly falling so I had to take action and using an online guide I clipped his wins back as far as I could, as it was originally the tips of his wings that were getting caught. This fixed the problem for a while, but now his wings seem to be pulled extremely tight against his body, so his legs are actually going down through his feathers - this 'trips' him up all the time. At the moment its so bad that his wings are actually both on the INSIDE of his legs and he can't get off the bottom of the cage. He's now huddle in the corner and can't get up to the perches (which I've put as low as possible) without getting caught up in his own wings and falling backward. I can't drive so I'm dependant on family members to transport me to vets, I recently found out theres an avian specialist an hours drive away but with the only people driving in my family being my sister who has children to take care of every day and a brother who works night shifts, it's extremely difficult. I'm hopefully going to get him up to the vet this week, but I'm coming here for advice on what the problem could be? His wings seem to be 'out of place' and pulled in extremely tight against him, to the point where his claws are getting tangled up in them and torn up/ragged. He's eating and drinking fine when he can, but last night I heard a choking sound and turned around to see him with his head under water in his water dish drowning and unable to get out! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I contacted a local breeder and he said it could be a calcium defficiency and have been giving him liquid calcium. Thank you, and sorry for the wall of text!<br><br>Post edited by: tommyn, at: 2009/05/18 00:36

If space for two cages is a problem, perhaps the following could be a solution: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Huge-Quality-Double-Parrot-cage-pet-or-breeding_W0QQitemZ130258701875QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130258701875&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ebayphotohosting

Just out Taking in his surroundings :whistle: One small step :woohoo: Loves the keys :silly: Still loving them keys :lol: As you can see, he doesn't mind me lifting the keys away. Looking up at my father, who's on oxygen..we had to move the tubing away countless times, too nosy :lol:

Just an update, I've been continuing to let Jake out and he's becoming more tame, but still tries to bite the odd time, today he actually grabbed onto my fathers hand tight and was lifted into the air when my father pulled it away, yet didnt leave a mark.:blink: Today marks the first time he's ever been down on the floor, following are some pics - sorry for the bad quality, they were taken on my phone. I'll upload the pics in a sec, had some trouble with the size! Post edited by: tommyn, at: 2008/10/03 17:30<br><br>Post edited by: tommyn, at: 2008/10/03 17:59

Hi Siobhan, nice to see someone else from Ireland. Thanks for the info, will have a look at the rescuie room. Will hopefully get some pictures up soon, giving his cage a good cleaning tomorrow so may get a few snaps.

Thanks for the replies again. Just had a nip at me again when he was on the side of the cage with his beak out, was making soft sounds and then when I went to pet him, bam. Missed me though. Hopefully some day he won't be trying to lure me into a false sense of security. :laugh:

Hello Lyric, thanks for the reply. When he bites me or gives me a nip, I do as you said and say NO, loud enough for him to get the message, then I put him back in the cage when I can. It's hard to get him back into the cage as I can't handle him and usually have to jingle around a set of keys and place them in his cage, then he goes right in. Today when he bit me however he was sitting near the door so I said NO and closed the door and left him there. I let him out again and he was climbing the door and gave me another nip, I gave him the same response and put him back in. Later this evening I went downstairs and he was sitting on the bottom of the cage looking sorry for himself, looking at me and then back to the door of his cage, making soft sort of whistling sounds, he was also tapping his beak off the side of the cage while looking at me as well. He obviously wants to get out more but I may teach him a lesson from now on. I have to admit I'm amazed he's as tame as he is with me ( to a certain degree ) as he always took to my father and always mimic'd his voice, unfortunately my father has been ill for the past few years with respiratory problems and can't really handle him, but always makes the effort of talking to him and feeding him. Hopefully over the coming months with some hard work and patience I can get him to a level where he won't bite and will step up and the story will have a happy ending. :cheer: :laugh: Thanks for the replies and advice, all is welcome. Tommy

Thanks for the reply LindaMary, it has shed light on some things. Regarding him putting his head down to be petted and if he was looking at me or not, he seems to be looking at the floor, but then just twists his head around and gives me a nip, I'm going to let him out and do his thing, at the moment when he's out he just constantly climbs around the outside of his cage, obviously being amazed at just being out of it. I've noticed however he's trying to get down off the cage and onto the floor, but has no way of climbing down. I thought if I could get him up onto my arm I could put him down there, but he's only putting one foot up, and gripping my fingers with his beak but never putting the other foot up. I understand it'd be wishful thinking that he'd step up straight away after years of not being handled, but I think it's a good sign that he isn't lunging at me and attacking me straight off and is doing this regurgitating thing, hopefully he isn't too scarred from being left in there without handling for so long. I've ordered him a large playstand with feeders etc and will let him out a lot more from now on so he can get used to being out. I look forward to some more replies and thanks for the help. Regards Tommy

hi all, just registered today. I'm 20 and live in Ireland and have a congo african grey. I'm having some problems with him at the moment and came across this forum while looking for a solution. We got our grey Jake when I was 14 and he was a year old and hand tame when we got him. Unfortunately at that age I was a bit apprehensive of putting my hand near him and received a nasty bite which drew blood, this put me off trying to tame him totally which I regret and have started to try again now. I realise it's such a waste for him to be just sitting there in that cage when we could both be getting enjoyment out of each other. He was always a bit nippy when I would be changing food from outside the cage and would try and bite me any time, but the other night when I decided to give it another go, he came out and sat on top of the cage, I couldn't believe it when I put my hand near him that he came over, put one foot up on the back of my hand and went from finger to finger, not biting, just gripping gently. He then started to let me pet him all over, and let me grip his beak, and any time I put my hand near the cage from then on he would come over straight away and do the same again. He also did a lot of regurgitating, he'd put his beak between two fingers and do this, I understand this is a form of showing affection? The thing is, he still has a go at me when my hand is inside the cage (I'm guessing this could be because it's his territory and has been in there so long) I actually feel really bad now that I haven't given him as much attention as I could have, letting one bad experience get the better of me. However, today when letting him out after doing the whole gripping my fingers in his beak he instantly grabbed my hand hard, which hurt a bit but he didn't leave a mark. He'd put his head down to be petted and then have a go at me straight away. I couldn't understand this as he was practically running over to my hand the other nights I let him out. I know he's been in his cage so long with no handling whatsoever, so it could take a long time to gain his trust, but he is obviously still partially tame from the time he was with his previous owner Sorry if I've went off rambling, but thought I would give you the whole story. Any opinions/help would be much appreciated. Thank you Tommy<br><br>Post edited by: tommyn, at: 2008/09/25 17:47