Newbie Advice with plucking, chewing and biting

[critty]

Hi everyone,

 

I am in serious need of advice. I inherited a CAG about a year ago. She is 14 years old. She did not receive the proper attention needed and we have slowly been attempting to reverse that. She was not abused but was just not given the attention that a CAG needs.

 

With that said, let me explain my dilemma. One issue that we have is the plucking of feathers. She has been doing this for years and we had hoped that once she adjusted to our home and was given more attention that this would change but it has not. As a matter of fact, it seems worse. We have discussed this with our vet who only recently got her aviary certification and she said we should give it some time. That was a year ago and the plucking has spread. When we first got her it was just on the chest area but now her legs and the upper portion of her wings that she can reach are being plucked.

 

The other issue is biting. We think this is because she was left in a cage with very little socialization. However, after a year of many attempts she is still not very friendly and wants to snap at everyone, chew our clothing, the walls and pull up carpet.

 

Let me add that she is not a stranger to my family and knew us all well before she came to live with us. She loves for us to talk to her and she is even curious enough to come out of her cage and come near us but that is about it. She is so very timid and is always on the defensive. I really want to turn things around for her but everything we have tried seems to be futile.

 

Has anyone had anyone experience with changing the bad habits for a bird and making them happier? If I didn't provide enough info, just let me know. Thanks for any advice I can get!

[Dave007]

As a bird gets older, certain habits develop and if not corrected or dealt with, those habits will continue as the bird gets older.

In your situation, your bird is 14 yrs old and has been plucking for years. It's probably been going off and on for years. This is called chronic plucking. More than likely, it'll never stop. It's been going on for years and the bird has grown up with the plucking. A bird can stay very healthy and basically happy even though it's a chronic plucker. There's another type of plucking called acute plucking and that type will eventually stop because acute plucking usually has something to do with an incident that's recently happened.

 

***The other issue is biting. We think this is because she was left in a cage with very little socialization. However, after a year of many attempts she is still not very friendly and wants to snap at everyone, chew our clothing, the walls and pull up carpet.

 

Let me add that she is not a stranger to my family and knew us all well before she came to live with us. She loves for us to talk to her and she is even curious enough to come out of her cage and come near us but that is about it. She is so very timid and is always on the defensive. I really want to turn things around for her but everything we have tried seems to be futile.

 

Has anyone had anyone experience with changing the bad habits for a bird and making them happier? If I didn't provide enough info, just let me know. Thanks for any advice I can get! ******

 

Again, a bird gets very used to being in a certain situation for years and eventually, it becomes part of their makeup. Being defensive, timid, quick to nip, not being overly friendly can develop with a bird that's been partially cage bound and that too more than likely has been going on for years. A bird looks at the cage and considers it a safe haven. It's happiest in it's home. Again, a bird can be happy after mainly living in that situation. It's a trait now--one year, no luck. You may need to live with the bird as is.