kyparamedic

I found out today that I have bird breeder's lung. It's known by a variety of other names such as bird fancier's lung. It's a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. While the doctor isn't 100% sure that the birds are causing it, there's very little else it could be. So that means Chloe, my CAG, and Dexter, a quaker, have to leave tomorrow, forever Anyone else have experience with this? It seems like it's actually pretty common yet I have never heard of it or seen it mentioned in any website or magazine that I frequent. I've got a call in to my vet to get his take but I don't really have a choice in the matter. We don't even know if it's reversible at this point. So I'm naturally pretty upset and worry a lot about how Chloe will adjust. She's 8 years old and I've had her for 4. She was a plucker when I got her and still is to some extent but it's much better. They will both be going to my parent's house for the time being until I can find them a permanent home. I really won't be able to visit except for maybe a few minutes at a time with a mask on. It's a very sad day.

Thanks for that info aquariscott. Glad to hear it helped! Is he still on it? My grey has been on it now for 3 1/2 months. While it hasn't completely stopped her plucking, it's reduced it greatly. She has lots of down feathers now and is starting to get new pin feathers in around her neck and head. This will be the true test to see if she leaves these in. In the past, she has always pulled these as they come in or shortly thereafter. I've been misting her frequently with water and aloe vera juice to help minimize the irritation and itchiness. I can't say I've noticed any side-effects from the Haldol. She may be a little less talkative now than she was before, but it's hard to say.

Thanks for the ideas. I have noticed it's the "non-toys" she has the most interest in, like cardboard boxes or cereal boxes, and paper. She loves to shred paper but loses interest after a few minutes. I put a hole in a phonebook and hung it up in her cage which was a big hit for a little while. Almonds are definitely her favorite treat so I have plenty of foraging toys where she has to figure out to how open them to get the nuts out. The quaker on the other hand doesn't have much interest in anything but food. I've tried every type of toy but he's not interested. He does like jewelry, but only if you're wearing it. He goes after rings, bracelets, earrings, glasses, anything you have on. I've tried putting shiny objects in his cage but he could care less. Thanks! P.S. Char, yes, I'm from Louisville. I will try showing them the toys and demonstrating how to play with them. Maybe that's all they need.

I have a 6 year old CAG and 2 months ago acquired a 6 month old Quaker. My grey is a plucker and the vet thought having another bird might help by giving her a friend for when I'm gone. So far they're not exactly buddies but tolerate each other for the most part. During supervised "play" time they may preen one another but usually one gets mad and they start snapping at each other. The main thing I've noticed is that neither one likes to play with anything. All they do is sleep and eat! I have tons of toys but they could really care less about them. The only ones they pay any attention to are ones with food or treats in them. My grey is so lazy that if it's a lot of work to get a treat out, she just gives up. I buy her almonds in the shell but she just tosses them to the ground after about 30 secs and I have to crack them a little bit so she'll be able to get it out easier. How do I get them more active and/or interested in their toys? I was under the impression quakers were supposed to be so active and playful. Mine's a lazy bum! I got him a shredding tunnel and everything to make a nest as I've heard this is something they all do (except for him). Any suggestions here? Thanks!

I've tried putting a TV by her cage before, but it didn't seem to help. Right now the only TV near her is a 52" LCD, so I'd prefer not to leave that on for long periods of time. When she's on her playstand she never pays any attention to the TV anyway. I read on here about using a phonebook for shredding. I hung one in her cage and I think she likes it. She loves shredding paper. There are very few toys I've found that she likes and most all of them involve foraging.

Dexter, after the Showtime TV series about the serial killer. I was reading the other day that you should be careful what you name your birds because they have a tendency to turn into what the name infers. So I'll be keeping all the knives away from him

Yes, it seems like we've tried everything. She has very little interest in toys, except for those with treats in them. I don't want her eating too many treats and she's able to get them out of most foraging toys pretty quicky. I at least make her work even after she gets them out, by using things like almonds in the shell, although she often gets frustrated with these and drops them. I put her in the shower with me which she tolerates although she hates baths and being sprayed. I've used a mister but it broke so I've ordered another one. She didn't mind that too much. So we'll see what happens.

Thanks, I will. I feel so bad for him having to be kept in a room away from everyone. It had to be a stressful experience being taken from his flock only to be placed in a cage away from his buddies. We try to visit him often and provide plenty of toys.

Intuitively this makes sense, so I talked to my vet about it. He basically dismissed it as total crap and said he'd like to see some research from a qualified individual. So I went ahead and got a 6 month old male quaker about a week ago. He's in quarantine now so in a month or so we'll see how it goes.

Hi everyone. My vet just started Chloe on Haldol (haloperidol) for her plucking. If you're not familiar with it, it's an anti-psychotic that's used a lot in humans for psychosis and agitation. It's shown to be effective for birds with feather plucking that is thought to be behavioral/obsessive-compulsive in nature, which is what we think her plucking is. Anyone used this on their grey? She's only been on it for a few days and it seems to be helping some. So far I have not noticed any side-effects. It's just a hassle having to give it twice a day and I don't want to have her on this for life so there's the chance that when it's discontinued she'll begin plucking again. I've also acquired a 6 month old male quaker to keep her company but he's in quarantine for 30 days so we won't know if that helps for several more weeks. Thanks.

Thanks for the tips. See, we thought she was reaching sexual maturity last summer as she was regurgitating for me a lot and was fairly possessive of me. This is a little different, although not entirely. The whole attacking her toys thing is more intense and frequent. She hasn't let my mom pick her up in several days. I'll tell her not to bribe her, she has just done that when she's trying to put her to bed. I usually leave her alone in play mode because that means she's not plucking! Thanks!

Chloe has suddenly become aggressive. Not so much towards me, but towards other family members and her toys. She has not let my mom pick her up in several days unless she bribes her with a treat or I give her to my mom. She is also going after her toys like mad. She swings them around, attacks them, yells at them. She's done that before but not like this. During these times she may act out against me as well, sometimes striking at me when I try to get her to step up. After a couple bites and a firm "step up" I get her to do it, reluctantly. Other times though she's perfectly fine. Why this sudden change? She's about 5 years old btw. Thanks!

Hi Mas. I have a plucking grey that sounds very similar to Zahzu. She too plucks and chews primarily at night. At one point she had almost all her feathers back and I took her in for her yearly exam and after a fairly traumatic experience, she resumed. It seems to be attention and boredom related. I think you may be on to something about weaning her off attention. I've noticed that the plucking actually increases when I shower her with attention or give her more than usual. I think she gets upset the next day and starts pulling feathers out. Occasionally she does it when out on her playstand during the day but that's mainly when we're ignoring her. The other day though I was watching TV and she was sitting on my hand and she started pulling on her feathers. That's the first time she's done that. My vet had me try giving her Benadryl (diphenhydramine) everyday as a first line pharmacological therapy for the plucking. This was several months ago. I'll spare you a long story but she nearly died after we went on vacation. The only thing we could figure out was that somehow she got too much of the Benadryl because it didn't get mixed in her water right or she had a bad reaction to it. We have no way of knowing if this is what happened but it's consistent with a Benadryl overdose. So the vet is holding off on any pharmacologic therapy for a little while and I agree. What medication was it that you tried and it helped? I've used Pluck No More as my vet had very good success with it. Unfortunately it didn't seem to do much and I couldn't justify the cost. Aloe vera juice seemed to do the same thing for a lot less money.

Suzzique, how do you do timeout? Do you put him back in his cage or somewhere else? Thanks.