New feather plucker...

[firexguy]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new here and desperate for answers. I have an approximately 1.5 year old Congo African Grey named Snuffy. He's an absolute joy and been an amazing pet and friend since I got him at 4 months. He and I formed an immediate bond, people talk a lot about birds choosing their person, I know he chose me.

 

About 4 days ago Snuff began to break off some of the feathers on his chest, I watched him closely throughout the day and he continued to do it so I began to try my best to occupy and amuse him until I could get him in at his regular vet. I took him in (as I do every 6 months) and had him looked at and even had the doctor run blood tests. Result: nothing is wrong...medically at least. I took him home, he was good about the feather breaking for the remainder of the day. When I woke up the next morning, he was at it again with a vengeance. He had plucked an approximately dime sized bare patch on his right "shoulder."

 

The vet gave me an aloe spray that seems to stop the plucking...until it dries, so I kind of think that it's useless.

 

I don't understand what could be causing this. I'm a great bird owner, he has a huge cage full of great toys, he's fed an all pellet and fresh fruit/veggie diet. He's kept in the most occupied room of my house, he gets enough sleep, he (up until 4 days ago when he began to pluck) was meticulous about preening, he is acting like himself, not at all aggressive toward me or my girlfriend (who he's still warming up to.) He gets a bath about once every 2 weeks (he hates bathing for some reason, so I compromise with him and only make him do it twice a month.) He's even learning new words. He's learned 1 new word and a new phrase in just the last few days. He's really smart.

 

In spite of all that, life isn't perfect for Snuff. I'm a full time fireman so I work an odd schedule. I work for 24 hours and have 48 hours off after that. The days that I'm home, he's out of his house for upwards of 15 hours a day. I take him around the house with me, I have a shower perch so he can sit in the warm and humid shower with me (one of his favorite things to do.) The days that I work I wake up early so he can have about an hour our of his cage before I go to work. My girlfriend does not live with me, but she comes over when she gets off of work at about 7pm, so he's in his house for 12 straight hours while I'm at work. She usually hangs around until about 10 or 11, so he's getting 4-5 hours total out of his house, I know...not ideal, but it's better than nothing.

 

The only thing I can think of that may be causing the plucking is I broke up with my long time and live-in girlfriend about 3 months ago and she moved out. She had been around since Snuff came home, so she was always there from the beginning. He didn't seem to mind much that she was gone though, I'm his person, so her leaving didn't seem to mean much to him.

 

I have a new girlfriend, he will step up to her occasionally, but really only if he thinks he can get to me. He has not been abused, I've yelled at him a few times in frustration...I know that's not right, but I've never hit him or hurt him intentionally.

 

I'm at a loss here and terrified that I'm going to lose my friend. He means the world to me and I can't imagine life without him. Help me so I can keep my friend, my bird. Should I try pluck-no-more? The vet wasn't much help and he's an avian vet, so I don't know what else to do. Please help! Thank you!

[Greywings]

First question did they draw blood and run any tests?

Second question is the heat on at your house, it can dry the skin and feathers causing itchy skin and therefore plucking. More frequent baths and some red palm oil or Walnuts added to the diet will help.

Third question could he have ingested any small parts of toys?

Forth question are those pellets colored?<br><br>Post edited by: Greywings, at: 2009/12/04 16:01

[Greywings]

I would not use pluck no more only use what your Vet has given you.

[Dave007]

First of all, you're digging too deep as to what the cause of a dime sized area of baldness is. Keep it up and you'll wind up having a heart attack and we need all the firefighters we can get.

What your vet may have not told you was that the aloe spray must be used everyday on that area to soothe the itching. As a matter of fact you should use it on the rest of the bird's body. In situations like this increasing the amount of baths is a wise thing to do. No bird ever got hurt by frequent baths.That skin area may have gotten more dry recently and it happens frequently.

The other thing here is mixture---usually a vet will give a diluted solution to a customer because of a possible bad reaction but aloe doesn't cause bad reactions. What you should do is go and purchase your own bottle of aloe from a pharmacy or walmart or health and herbal stores and use it full strength AND FREQUENTLY.

Just like people, birds can get irritations and start scratching and pulling and picking at the area and that area needs some skin soother.

I would also advise you to purchase another item called ALOE VERA GEL and put some dabs on that irritated area. It can be purchased at the same places and both products are inexpensive.

Thanks for risking your life as a firefighter. My brother in law does the same thing and it's a tough but rewarding job. Be safe.

[firexguy]

The pellets he's eating are Zupreem pellets, colored, not organic like the harrison's. I tried converting him, but he won't touch the organic ones. I'm working with my vet to get him converted, but I haven't tried for a few months.

 

To clarify something, it's not just one spot on his wing, he's plucked or broken many of the feathers on his back (under the wings) and on his chest, the only bald spot that I saw was on his wing. He's plucked or broken hundreds of smaller feathers, he looks pretty ragged.

 

Blood was drawn, tests were run, no medical problems. In fact, the vet said he was in excellent overall health and he's progressing above average for a grey his age.

 

The heat is on at my house, I have a humidifier, should I put it in the room with him? I figured the twice daily steam he gets from the showers was enough. Am I wrong? I will step it up on the bathing, you're right, more baths can't hurt.

 

I can use aloe vera gel on my bird? That won't be bad for him if he ingests some of it? I'm trying to keep up with the aloe spray, I'm just not sure if it's doing anything. I'm going to keep up with the aloe for a few more days, I ordered some pluck-no-more online and if he continues to pluck I'm going to try that as my next effort.

 

I just love my little guy, I want the best for him, I don't want him to be hurt or lose feathers...I'm sure you all understand that. He's such a wonderful companion to have around and I can't imagine life without him anymore.

 

Thanks for all your help! Keep the suggestions coming!

[katana600]

I would be interested to hear a follow up on the pluck no more. On our first visit to the vet, I asked about some of the issues long term bird owners face and he said he has heard good things about the pluck no more, he said he doesn't know quite how it works but he believes it does help some birds.

[firexguy]

The pluck-no-more should arrive today, along with Chicago's first snow of the season...fun I'll let you know the results if I decide to use it. The plucking has really slowed in the last few days and I'm going to try a few more things to see if I can get him to fully stop before I try the pluck-no-more. Thanks a lot again for all the great suggestions, I think Snuff is going to be okay.