Blood Feathers

[ordgreyomar]

My Grey was being kept a a Vet's office for a week while I was out of town, the day before I was to come back I got a call saying he had a night fright and 5 blood feathers came out along with others so the total amount of feathers were 16. He lost a ton of blood, its been a few days since we have been home and he just doesn't seem interested in food or water. I'm not sure if he is slowly recovering from the shock and then the readjustment of being home or something else...We will be going back in next week to do bloodwork to make sure he's recovering. Omar is NOT a picker or a plucker, it's just one of those odd things that happened....Has this happened to anyone?

[Azzie]

Blood loss leads to a condition called hypovolemia, which is a decrease in circulating blood. In an acute emergency, a vet can inject fluids under the skin of a bird, to quickly increase the fluid volume in the bird's system. This case does not appear to be acute, since you've had him home for a few days.

 

I would suggest keeping your bird warm and calm, as he may be in hypovolemic shock and in pain, and encourage fluids by offering him any fluids that he really likes (some kind of juice maybe.) You could also use a syringe to drip small amounts of fluid into his beak on a regular basis, but I dare say he won't like that much. However, replacing lost fluids IS important, especially if he won't drink by himself. You can also offer him foods that are high in water, such as watermelon, chard, tomato and cucumber.

 

An electrolyte replacement drink may also be of use. I don't know what they are called in your country, but I imagine something like Pedialyte would be available. Again you can slowly syringe this into the bird's beak.

 

If you are at all concerned though, or he appears to be deteriorating, take him to the vet immediately. I assume the vet treated the broken blood feathers?

[judygram]

If your baby is not eating or drinking then he should be seen by an avian vet and that blood loss would concern me also, please take him ASAP and let us know what you find out, hope he is going to be ok.

[Jayd]

I would advise going to a different Vet. A knowledgeable bird caretaker [Avian Vet] would take all steps to ensure this wouldn't happen...My opinion...Jay d

[ordgreyomar]

Thanks everyone for their thoughts. My darling Omar seems to have recovered like a trooper. He's singing and talking constantly But he really scared me. I know it's common to lose blood feathers but he lost so many in one night, I'm kind of suprised this hasn't happened to more people.

[birdhouse]

It's very good to hear that Omar is okay. Hopefully, that won't ever happen again.

 

I'm guessing it's a little less common than people breaking a bone. Yes, it's common, but... if that makes sense. And I think the same analogy can be made about multiple blood feathers vs multiple broken bones.

 

I'm really glad I've only seen it once. Phenix severely ripped the web at the base my thumb. I shut down so as not to give him a reaction & I didn't get him to his perch fast enough. He jumped for it & just lost his balance. He wasn't flighted then & broke 2 new flights on the way to the floor. Between us there was blood pretty much everywhere. But we did managed not to kill each other & lived happily ever after. :rolleyes: