Researching collars

[murfchck]

As most of you know i pretty much house a nudist colony. Ollie will remain naked but Bubba and Cotay can still grow them. I want to nip this before it becomes a habit for Bubba, for Cotay it already is i fear. Bubba started his when we found the cysts on his vent, they are now gone but the plucking on his tummy continues. Cotay came naked to us but we were told she is a nervous plucker, it has gotten a little bit better with daily misting with aloe and weekly baths but she is still plucking. I spoke to the vet who said he would go with a collar for Bubba and would like to look Cotay over to decide. The Dr makes them there to fit and they are leather. I have not seen what he is talking about anywhere before. He would need to do a full exam on Bubba and Cotay to rule anything else possible out then measure and fit the collar. He did say that he requires a 3 day boarding after the collar is put on to be sure they are ok with it and will not harm themself or anyone else because of it and it would be removed over night. If it is so bad that they may harm themselves is this really worth it? Will they just go back to plucking when the feathers grow back? I am so confused, i never thought i would even be thinking about a collar.

[Timbersmom]

No experience and nothing to add here, but what a decision you have there! I wonder how long the average bird has to wear his collars and how successful they usually are. I have a logical mind and always have to see the statistics...

[Wingy]

Chances are the phrase "harm themselves" is not what you think. They need to be able to get around, eat, play, and be comfortable in it. If they get a toe stuck while trying to pull it off, or can't maneuver around playing like they normally do that would be dangerous hence the harming themselves.

[danmcq]

The leather custom fit sounds like a better received option than the hard plastic cones they place on some birds. It sounds like our avan vet is very wise and staying up to date on whats available on the market. Your doctor I would think is probably the most reliable expert on whether plucking may start back up afterwards. But, many times when a bird that does not have a long history of it begins. It starts due to a health issue and once thats resolved, they have no driving reason to pluck again. We all know plucking is not a natural behavior at all. It starts due to either psychological or health reasons and if left unchecked for a long period can become an obsessive compulsive behavior. Kudo's to you for taking such good and immediate action when one of your birds displays any type of abnormal behavior.

[BaileysPapa]

A difficult choice, indeed. I have experience with pluckers, and experience with collars. Sometimes they work, sometimes they increase the stress. If you trust your vet, I'd give it a try. Plucking is a difficult thing to stop, especially if it has become a habit. Good luck with this, and bless you for taking such good care of them.

[murfchck]

Oh boy is this a tough one. We have decided to give it a week or two before we make any decisions. When in doubt, don't jump i guess!

I really do trust or Doctor, he is wonderful but very cut and dry and gives you the options but doesn't give an opinion other than when Oliver tested positive with PDD and i broke down crying and he said for me not to panic... "yet", lol.

[SRSeedBurners]

Yeah...cross that PDD bridge when you come to it. Good husbandry I believe will ward it off. Their tests suck. My pet rock would test positive for PDD I'm sure of it.

 

My CAG Odie wore a plastic cone till she was completely feathered. Off came the cone, off came the feathers. That was our n=1 experience with that.

[murfchck]

Yeah, that is my worry that when the cone is off the feathers will follow. I was home all day yesterday and watched Bubba with one eye all day to see if a trigger could be noticed. One was, Oliver. When he got close to Bubba, Bubba would preen Ollies feather and Ollie would lower his head and start preening Bubba back. Okay Oliver is naked so his idea of preening is to remove those darn feathers and he would get a mouthful and pull. Bubba would push him away when he would try but how far can he push him when Oliver has him at the end of a branch on the stand? We are going to try and seperate them again, but they are really bonded and scream when they are apart, even when they are inches away. There are still feathers in Bubbas cage so it isn't just Oliver but he is a lot of the reason.

Cotay, we were told, wore collars before and we see how far that got her! Maybe though, just maybe, with plenty of toys and a good diet and aloe mists if she did wear one again, it would last. She is so beautiful with that red factor, i wanna see her with all her feathers just once!