Advice

[Mollysmum]

Molly has been to the see our local avian Vet for the second time today as she has been really chewing her feathers off. The first time the vet gave me some Haloperidol to give to her. Having since read up on the drug I really don't want to drug her as i feel it should be used as a last resort so when we went back today the vet suggested a collar to try and stop her from plucking her feathers out and then in four weeks time if she has stopped then she is going to have an operation to take out the rest of the feathers that she has chewed off so her new ones can grow back.

 

We think we know the cause of the feather chewing as the breeder has given her a wing clip when she was very young ( She is only 9 moonths old now) and she can't fly as she has never been fleged.

 

The collar she has on her is a round one as a normal collar was too big for her. Is it still ok to give her a bath ie spray her? I have been sprayiing her with part water part aloe vera juice every other day.

 

Any advice on the bathing or on the feathe chewing would be much appriecated

 

Many Thanks

[Dave007]

What areas is she plucking?

Did the vet explain what the *operation entailed?

What part of the body is he going to operate on?

Does she try to chew the collar off?

Is she picking at her neck?

 

Use aloe with no water

[Mollysmum]

She is plucking her neck , under her wings and on top and her back . She has destroyed all of her tail and has no tail feathers left

 

The Vet says she will be put to sleep and they will pull out some of the damaged feathers so her new ones can come through. She didn't say which part of her body she would do first. She hasn't tried to chew the collar because its a round one its not stick out at all but she has been very sleepy today as they had to give her an anaestheic to fit the collar.

[Acappella]

Knock on wood, Dorian's never done this, but lots of people here have birds that do. I suggest doing a search here on plucking. You'll find lots of information. Good luck with Molly.

[Mollysmum]

 

this is where she has been plucking the wing was already like that before we got her.

 

 

this is her today after the collar has been put on her

 

Thanks i will do a search on plucking

[Dave007]

well, honestly I've never heard of an operation being performed to pull out what feathers remain. Aneastheic is usually used on serious cases of of health. I would think about using the medicine he prescribed. It's usually used in doses that a bird can put up with. It's also not the only drug that's used for the same problem.

Doing an operation here sounds limited. There's only 2 things he can do when operating

 

1--he pulls out the feathers from the shaft and that may stimulate new feathers to grow. The problem there is that since she's already a plucker, what's to stop her from going after new feathers that come in?

 

2--he removes the whole shaft from the body but then, no feathers will ever grow in that area because feathers only come out of shafts. It's like removing the follicles of the hair on a person. The hair can be pulled out from the follicle and new hair will grow back but if the follicle is removed no hair will ever grow back.

When you go,please be specific with him about what I just said. Be blunt and to the point and ask him what will happen after the operation as far as feathers growing back.

One other thing concerning plucking--it takes a long time for feathers to grow back but it's not unusual for a bird to have a relapse as far as starting to pluck again. The pictures that you show say that it would take about 5 mts or more for good feathers to come back in and she may pull those too. It's a matter of patience and yes, let the wings grow back. Thery're a big part of their mental stability.

 

1

[Mollysmum]

I do think personally because of the wing clipping its why she is plucking. She so desperately wants to fly but she can't because of her wings being clipped short so she is plucking.

I will ask the vet when we go back next month to see her about what you have said.

 

Many Thanks for your advice

[danmcq]

I am so sorry to hear that Molly is getting off to such a rough start at only 6 months old now, I believe. For such a young baby to start plucking probably is from the irritation of a very bad clip as you and your Vet suspect.

 

Dave as always has given his expert advice through past experience in rehabilitating a severe plucker.

 

I do hope that all the items you have have been given by your vet and Dave to try/do will help out as this long journey begins in getting your baby back to a fully feathered state.

 

Knowing how a grey will pick and preen just one feather that is out of place or perhaps slightly damaged. I can only imagine how they must feel from the irritation caused from a very bad clip.

 

Maybe the aloe misting regularly and toys/chew items to keep your greys mind off the irritating and uncomfortable feeling from those feathers, will help keep her mind off enough of the time to help stop such obsessive behaviour before it becomes a habit hard to break.

 

Becoming flighted, will certainly be a BIG help in stopping this behaviour. But, that will be months off as Dave said.

 

My Best wishes to you and Molly on this daunting task. :-)

[LisaM]

Dave has some great detailed questions for you to discuss with your vet. I hope you are able to find some resolution for your baby. Maybe since you're catching it while he's still pretty young it can be changed around. There have been some great stories of people working with their "old" greys who have plucked for years and years and now are in fantastic feather.

 

Please keep posting about Molly's progress. I can't imagine how difficult it is for you to go through this with her and how awful it is for her.

 

That's an interesting collar. I've never seen that type before but it looks like it's probably better than those big ones that stick out forever. I always wonder about the affect of not being able to do even normal preening and how that impacts them but in cases like this, a collar may be a good idea (I have no opinion one way or another and fortunately have never been in the position to need one so far). I do like that one better than the others though.

 

Warm thoughts out to you and Molly!!!

 

Lisa

[Mollysmum]

Its the first full day of her wearing the collar and she hasn't attacked it yet. I have given her an pure aloe vera bath as well today and will contiue to give her a dail bath to help her skin. She is sat att he moment chewinga kitchen roll tube on my sofa.

 

She has come so far in the last week or so with her training as she wasn't stepping up before and now she is even with my husband who isn't her favorite person. I will continue to up date her progress as we go along this journey together . The vet even remarked that she was so young to start this behaviour. We are also giving her palm nuts as well to help with her feathers. I will try everything you have suggested to me and ask the vet those questions next time we go on the 28th Feb

 

Many thanks again

 

Wendy & Molly

[Janfromboone]

Our thoughts are with you. Dave has been an invaluable resource for me when Tobie started to pick his feathers. Hope you find the solution.

[Mollysmum]

Just thought I would give you a quick update.

Molly seems to be ok with the collar on but she hasn't quite got her balance right yet with the extra weight around her neck.

She has worked out she can still pluck some of her feathers near and on her tail but she has only done that once or twice.

[danmcq]

Thanks for the update mollysmum.

 

It sounds like thing are slowly turning around for your Grey. Looking forwrad to future updates on molly. :-)

[Char]

Since you mentioned the kitchen tube roll.. I was at the vet the other day and he gave me some handouts. One of them said that the glue in paper towel rolls may contain zinc.

 

I used to give them to Whisper all the time even though I wondered about the glue. I thought well it must be okay everyone does it. But I won't any longer.