Poor Kito is no longer flighted :(

[Malikah]

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

[chezron]

I hope Kito recovers soon. Sounds like you are doing everything possible to help her out. Good Mom!

[birdhouse]

Poor Kito! It's so frustrating & sad when a bird starts plucking! They can do so much damage so fast. But it usually takes a while to find the cause & a long while for those feathers to grow back.

 

Sounds like you've covered everything & can only wait now for the rest of the test results. I think the only thing you can do at the moment is love her up & try not to worry too much.

 

XX to you both. Please let us know what you hear from the vet.

[Malikah]

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.

[animalINSPIRED]

I hope she feels better. The chewing is probably harder on you than her. I was devastated when Averi started in at her feathers, and while I admit I'm still desperately trying to get her to stop, I've learned to accept her chewing. I'm sure it's different with a medical condition behind it, but as long as she's happy and healthy, I wouldn't worry too much.

[Malikah]

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?

[birdhouse]

Glad to hear Kito's doing better! I don't think I'd worry too much about her eating habits, right now. Just so long as she'll eat. My guess is the formula & birdie bread are good enough nutritionally. Everything else is bonus points. Just stuff her until she's back to goal weight & gets a clean bill of health.

 

When a bird molts their flights, they loose them in pairs, one off each wing. Nature, in it's infinite wisdom, makes sure they can molt out & still have flight control. They loose a few at a time, in rotation until they have a whole new set.

[Morana]

Glad to hear Kito's doing better and hope he will completely recover soon!:-)

 

I have to ask... What is "formula" that you give him with the syringe? What is it normally used for?

[Malikah]

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.

[Birdnut]

Glad to hear Kito is doing better. It does seem that the feather destructive behavior was related to a medical issue in this case, so hopefully, with the medical issue addressed so quickly, it will not continue. Love to you and Kito.