choppersmom

hi everyone...just checking in before i get to bed. So glad to hear that my posts have been helpful and informing to some. I am definately thrilled to have found this site and plan on staying..I will do my best to get around posting some pics and videos and im sure like most animal lovers i have about a million of them lol...today was another good day for us but i was a bit disapointed, the little tail feather that looked like a dust mop was found at the bottom of choppers cage today, i am afraid he is still taking them off and i am sure that was a new one, so bit confused with that otherwise his mood was pretty good, still not completely himself but good..and cuddly too... well goodnite for now, and hope to see you soon in the welcome room.

Day 6 today of Chopper taking his medicine..the first few days i guess i was feeling a little discourged. I just hated seeing him so quiet and not himself..acting all neurotic and pacing and biting his nails and not wanting to be in his cage at all only on me..but yesterday i was preparing a big birthday supper for my mom and we had alot of family members over sitting in the dining area and chopper was alone in the living room in his cage, and i was so thrilled he started calling and yelling my name..'cindy come here" just like he nomally does when i'm out of sight and he wants my attention and he was in a much better mood being talkative and playful...he's feeling better and i'm thrilled...what is fun is that up until he was about a year and a half old he use to love to cuddle and snuggle up to me and my husband and he would fall asleep this way and we would put him to bed in his cage for the night every night..then he grew out of it completely and now he's doing it again and continuously wants to cuddle, the minute he sees me settle for the evening he either paces in his cage letting me know he wants out or if he is already out he takes a mad dash and climbs up me and snuggles right in..and i'm taking advantage incase he decides to grow out of it again lol... but his meds are working along with his new humidifyer and aloe juice spray and much more sleep..he is definately feeling better, now we will wait for his feathers to grow back, dont know what to expect hope he lets them stay ..so far he does have quite a few new little pin and blood feathers coming actually he has one tail feather that is growing more and more daily, right now it looks like a bright red dust mop on his behind lol. He is still losing alot of the little white down feathers but leaving all the others on...guess one happy day at a time right.. well all best wishes to everyone and their precious feathered friends good nite all...it is cuddle time now!!<br><br>Post edited by: choppersmom, at: 2009/02/10 01:29

I thank everyone so much for the responses..It feels reassuring to know that someone out there who cares about and understands what we might be going through..my whole family knows how much my chopper means to me but no one knows what to say when i'm spilling my feelings on them.. Anyways, i've brought chopper to a specialist, thank goodness the weather permitted me to take him out. After a 3 hours discussion and examination, this is what the diagnosis is..# 1 she discovered a progressed yeast infection through examining his stool. #2 he is molting but having a hard time because of the fact that he has a yeast infection he is not absorbing nutrients sufficiantly and is now in great dificiancy of many of the nutrients needed. Also, his skin is sooooo dry, this is from the lack of bathing him, which makes sence because since we've moved he wants no part of this bathroom and i figured his bathing himself in his water bowl was enough, but i was wrong..and being that it is cold winter now, the heating system is on full blast all the time which is just drying him to a crisp.. Another important factor which needs to be corrected right away is that for the last few weeks, i have had a hard time sleeping and have been up much later than normal..2-3 am and chopper goes to sleep at night when i go to sleep at night and our house hold wakes up at 7 am every morning..which means he has been getting 5-6 hours of undisturbed sleep. This the vet said is a must stop and fix now...he is exhausted which makes him anxious and frustrated, not enough sleep makes him have a lower imune system and effects his health tremendously in every angle.. my god how could i have not realized that...my poor baby..i have so much to fix...his diet has been changed to a high maintenance food and i am not to give him more than 2-3 tbs of fruit or vegies (organic) she gave me a soothing spray and a bathing spray with aloe vera and meds for his yeast infection which i have to give him orally for 10 days..last night i put him in a different room were we do not go in so that he could have an undisturbed sleep, but i heard him pacing and pacing restlessly, i didn't want him to feel abandoned so i peaked in a few times and talked to him telling him it was time for nite nite which he understands...eventually he fell asleep..today there were big changes already, he had more pep and was a little more playful. The mist seems to relieve him, he is fussing less over his feathers and seems to be a little less irritated...he wants no part of his new food pellets what so ever, he throws them as far as he can lol, this we will have to work on as well... and that is where we are at for now. We stil have long ways to go, but i will do my ultimate best to get him happy again.. so many things i have learned in the last few days, and so much more to learn no doubt, but do so with open ears..I am tired now for it's again very late at night, but tomorrow i will post some pictures and videos if i can, i have some on you tube under chopperrrrrr ...again many thanks and will be on soon to hopefully chat and exchange our experiences and knowledge. all the best..choppersmom

Hi..i am in the midst of freaking out..i also have a grey who will be five this august. He is a big part of our family, and this past week for the first time he started plucking and chewing off his feathers. now he has no feathers left and barely no tail left either..my head is spinning trying to figure out why..i live in canada where right now it is below 20 out and cant bring him to a vet and am desperatey waiting for an aviarian vet to call me back who might come to my home..otherwise reading these responses will definately help me to rule out what the problem is rooting from..this is happening so fast and i am in a panic..2 days ago it was just his small feathers now the big ones are all gone..it so sad to see him this way..he is acting fustrated biting his nails and it seems he wants to be by our sides (my husband and I) every minute of the day now..last nite i moved his cage to my bedroom from the dining area where we mostly entertain and have the highest traffic in the house..i jusst dont know. I have spent the last 3 days taking hime out and putting him either on the bed with me while i watch tv or on a stand while i wash and clean what ever part of the house i am in..he calms down with his nail biting but then looks as though he is relaxed and grooming himself but chomp off comes another big feather and clipping off tips of other big feathers..and in between chatting away as usual in a happy mood..but once in his cage and left alone while i am in another room he bites his nails and chomps his feathers more…and vitiously …his appetite is still very good he eats mainly pellets and i give him apple and lately he has taking a liking to yougourt which i hope is ok to give him a few months ago we moved into another home..which he took suprisingly well, the room he lived in before had carpet and now wood flooring so i have left him in his cage more lately because it freaked me out a few times now when i would hear him plunk so hard on the floor , so when i couldnt be in the same room for a long period of time i would leave him in his cage unlike his last house..also the new bathroom shower was a big no no for him, we would shower him with us nearly every second day at the old house but here he doesnt like to even go near the bathroom,,so i have insisted to coax him and got him in twice now and once under the wateer doesnt look like he wants to get out, he normally baths in his big water dish once or twice a week maybe this wasnt enough..i dont know i am babbling in panic..sorry but i love my bird so much and want him to be happy and feathery again…he is a spoiled bird and hope i havent over spoiled him…thank you for more ideas