Malikah

Oh and thanks to all the rest of you for your kind thoughts and best wishes.

Thanks for the reply Dave. Yes we already talked about if this doesn't work what to do next. She ate fairly well last night and today so that is an improvement at least.

My baby girl has got another gram negative crop infection. She has been on ciprofloxacin for 9 days now and I don't see any improvement yet. Yesterday she didn't eat anything except for a little handfeeding formula with her medicine and maybe 5 or 6 harrison's pellets. She's chewing feathers again and hasn't said a peep in days and days. I am so worried about her! I asked the vet why this is happening and she said it could be stress related. Well nothing has changed since the day I brought her home as a tiny hatchling. EXCEPT it became winter. The more I thought about it the more I came to realize that it's the snow that is upsetting her. We had a warm spell when she was doing great and you could actually see the grass for the first time since before Christmas (when she got sick the first time). Then we suddenly got a foot of snow and wham - Kito is sick again. I've got a humidifier and UV lighting, she's on an excellent diet - veggies, bean/grain mix, harrison's and pretty bird african pellets, birdy bread made with red palm oil, plenty of attention and out of the cage time, tons of toys, and daily aloe vera juice baths. If you can think of anything else let me know. We've got a follow-up appointment with the vet on Thursday. Please send good thoughts for my little girl. She's such a sweetheart and it makes me so sad to see her not feeling well. And think spring!!

Have the hemp seeds helped?

Wouldn't corn oil or unsalted butter be better for cooking than olive oil? I thought olives were toxic - I know they are for cats and dogs.

My sympathies are with you on your loss.

I wonder if it's arthritis, did they take an x-ray? I don't know if there are bird safe supplements like glucosamine, but someone here or your vet would.

Hahahaha I like the toys hanging off the chandelier too!

Welcome! There are tons of helpful posts to search through and many kind members on this forum. Good luck with your new baby!

Aww, she looks so proud of her new beautifully shaped beak. You guys are good bird parents.

Welcome and congratulations! That looks like a nice sturdy stand. You can also use vetwrap (co-flex bandage) found in any horse tack store which is easy to apply and remove/replace when it gets soiled.

I think a visit to the vet would be a good idea. Kito did the exact same thing to me. I kept thinking she would stop. When she started snapping off her flight feathers I took her in. It turned out she had an infection in her throat. That was almost 2 months ago and we just celebrated 3 days of no feather chewing (knock on wood!!!).

I'm in, it sure is a heartbreaking problem.

Awww what a sweet present on his 5 month old hatchday!

Thanks for the update! You are a good birdy mom and she's sure to recover. Thank God you caught it early. Even once they start to act better, it still seems like such a long process until they are totally normal. Kito is finally eating & pooping normally again, and hasn't chewed a single feather in 3 days (knock on wood!!!).

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Best wishes for your poor sick girl!

Kito makes a little grumbly noise like a raspy rahr rahr rahr. If she really doesn't like something she'll squawk. If she squawks I don't push my luck any further. She growls at some strangers (usually men) if she's in her cage and they approach too quickly.

I'm sorry but I think she has picked your wife as her favorite. It might not even have anything to do with her getting hurt, they usually choose one person as a favorite at a certain age. When she gets older she may change who is her favorite.

Thanks for the replies! It's Kaytee handfeeding formula. She was pretty much her old self today. Climbing around and talking and whistling and barking and beeping up a storm and chewed all her toys and none of her feathers. She also started flapping, trying to figure out how much lift she has left. Almost zero I'm afraid. Maybe she'll quit trying to fly for a while now and quit crashing.

Update: Kito seems to be chewing her feathers a lot less. Yesterday she was good and rowdy, a little quieter today. I wish she would eat better. I have been giving her 5cc or so of formula twice a day with her antibiotics. She has gained back 10 grams, but I am still a bit worried. I don't know if I should try to get her to eat more formula or not. I want her to eat more of her pellets and bean mix, but mostly she just wants birdy bread. At least she ate most of her squash too for dinner. I feel so bad she cannot fly anymore. She was in the process of molting her flights when this started. I'm a little nervous for when those start growing back because there won't be any other feathers to support them. She tried to fly off the t-stand tonight when she was "helping" me bag a new batch of bean mix and crashed. Scared the crap out of me! I'm so afraid she's going to hurt herself. Does anyone have information on exactly how they molt their flights?

Wow, I don't know how I missed this whole thread, but congratulations on your ability to save Chili. She is a lucky girl indeed.

Aww how sweet!

Her blood test came back pretty good. Bile acids were only slightly elevated, everything else was normal. The vet said this is probably because of the infection, but we will re-check it in 2 weeks at the follow up appt. Thanks for the encouragement! She's still chewing, but at least she's whistling.

She started chewing her feathers a little bit before the holidays. She was molting, 2 flights came out at this point. I bought her new toys, paid extra attention to her, quit bathing with water and switched to spraying her with aloe vera juice every day, increased the humidity in the playroom, made sure she was getting enough sleep, etc. I was out of town over Christmas weekend and my husband stayed home to care for the pets (good excuse for him - he hates travelling!). She had to stay in the playroom but was out of the cage all weekend. When I got home Kito had chewed off most of her flight feathers and ratted the rest of her wings chest and back. She lost 5 grams during this time. Last week I bought her a new UV light, rearranged her cage and playstand a little, and started putting her to bed at 8 pm. Things seemed to be returning to normal. Over the weekend she acted normal except chewed feathers whenever I wasn't paying 100% attention to her and wasn't eating as aggressively as normal. She lost another 10 grams. I took her to the vet yesterday and she had 50% gram negative in her throat swab. The x-ray was clear, fecal exam was normal, and blood test was sent to OH. So, now she is on antibiotics but today she chewed off all but one flight feather on one wing and 3 on the other. One more flight (what was left of it ) fell out on Monday and the other at the vet's office. Today she didn't make a peep all day except the kiss noise when I gave her a hug. Poor little sweetheart. Is there anything I am missing? Do you think she will quit chewing once she feels better? Please send good thoughts her way. On a side note, I sure am glad that I continued to give her a little formula once every week or two. It sure makes giving the antibiotics easier! I just measure the antibiotic in the small syringe, fill the big one with formula and pull it back far enough to add the antibiotic to the end. She swallows it before she even notices and enjoys her formula as usual. That small syringe was a snake in disguise or something! Thanks for reading, Connie