Need Advice

[Sallas]

This is very hard for me. When we got our baby grey I noticed her third toe on her left foot had an issue. The breeder said she had splay leg when she was born and her vet put her in splints. I guess when he splinted her, he damaged the last digit of her toe, now the nail grows right into her toe. Our vet said we need to clip it every week or two.

 

The issue is that you have to clip it so far up, that she always bleeds. This last clipping we could not get the bleeding to stop and I had to take to to a vet (of course we were on vacation (yes I took her on vacation with me)). We had tried two different brands of stypic (i know i did not spell that right) powder, but we could not get it to stop ourselves.

 

This seems like it would be so traumatic for her every couple weeks. But my vet said the only way to remove the nail is to amputate the first digit of that toe. This sounds drastic, but maybe in the long run, it would be less traumatizing....

 

Help with any advice.

[Dave007]

I believe your vet has the right idea. It's not as uncommon as you think. Lots of parrots are missing complete toes. Some even have all the toes on one foot gone. Many times the parents do this. If your vet says that the only thing to be removed is the first digit, your bird won't loose any climbing/manuevering ability at all. Some birds are born with one complete toe missing. The surgery will not be as traumatic as you think. Actually the constant clipping and eventual bleeding is mor traumatic and as the bird gets older it will avoid you when you do that. If he can't, there's a good chance of him constantly nipping at you because of thepain that will follow. Luckily for you and your bird, the problem isn't as extreme as you might think.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2008/09/04 22:55

[Sallas]

That was what I was thinking, but when the vet said that it is a dangerous surgery, I really started to worry if that was the right thing.

 

My TAG has such a great personality now and steps up to anyone, I would hate for her to change because of the traumatizing nail clippings.

[Dave007]

Well,only he can tell you what he means by dangerous. I do know that vets sometimes have to remove complete toes because of serious external infections. I'm only trying to tell you what the after effects would be. Later on, you'll never know that the digit is missing. There's pictures of birds that actually have no feet and they're fine. Ask him what type of problems can occur. Ask about the percentages concerning success as opposed to failure.

You're right one thing--constantly hurting your bird with those clippings will effect his attitude and from what you describe, it sounds like that claw has to be done much more frequently than the others. So, think about and get into a thorough conversation with the vet.

[BMustee]

I aggree with Dave on this one. I have seen so many birds with damaged toes...ether from the parrent birds, birth defect, cages too close to other birds....and not one is bothered by it. I would be more worried about cliping into the quick every week than one surgery. Like Dave said, ask your vet what the dangers are, what the worst case would be, and what his expectation are with your bird are.