Curling feet...Help!

[deezee11]

About six months ago, I took my parrots to a pet shop to get their nails clipped. They supposedly had a great technician, and honestly, I took them there because I was trying to save money...in hind sight...bad mistake!!!! Shortly after, two of my Yellow-nape's feet started curling and probably a month later, one foot of my Timneh Grey's did, as well. I took them to my avian vet and he thought it was due to their diet, so all seeds stopped at that point. He tried wrapping them, but it did not help. They're on a proper diet now but their feet have shown no improvement.

If this was not caused by the trauma of the nail clipping nor their diet, does anyone know what could be causing it? I know I made a huge mistake in trusting them to someone other than my avian vet, and I'm beating myself up for it. I also know that I should have had them on a seedless diet much earlier, but again, I didn't and feel terrible about it. My Yellow-nape is 36 and my grey is 14. Too young to be crippled. They can sit on their perches, but when I take them off, their feet curl and it takes a moment for them to stretch them open far enough to grab the perch again. Any advice on what else it could be from?
Thanks!

[Michael]

Have you considered the perches they are on? If it's not the clipping or diet, that would be my next area of concern.

What do you mean by curling feet? Most birds close their feet when they relax, that is the natural position.

Anyway, I'd look into changing perches and also look for weighs to help them get off their feet to relax. Naturally flight is the best way, when birds fly they can relax their feet as opposed to being on them 24/7. I know a lady who has her macaws sleep in carriers on the bottom so they could lay down and keep their feet in a non-perching position. I don't know that I like that method but it may be worth a try in your case.

[Pajarita]

No, I don't like that method either because birds feet 'lock' in position around the perch so they won't fall off when deep asleep and, by forcing them to sleep on a flat surface, she is, in reality, messing up with nature big time (for one thing, the bird is not sleeping in a comfortable position and, for another, parrots feet are never supposed to be flat for long periods of time, only on occasion and only for a few minutes).

Has your AV taken XRays of their feet? Blood work? Are their uric acid levels normal? Because it could be gout or arthritis. I seriously doubt that a botched nail clipping would do it... I mean, you can cut the nail too short and go into the quick and make them bleed but parrots lose their entire claws to bites or trauma and they still use their toes in a perfectly normal way. So I would agree with your vet that it's a dietary issue and/or the perches... You don't have dowel perches, do you? Nobody uses them anymore because they are so bad for their feet (are their soles healthy or do they have red spots?). If you still use dowels, please change them immediately to natural branches (the diameter should vary, with the average one one been one where they can put their toes around it but the claws from the front facing toes and the back facing ones don't quite touch (so the branches should be thinner and fatter as well as average). But look at the bottom of their feet first because if you see sores, red spots or irritation, you should wrap them in something soft to give their feet a chance to get better.

And let me know if your vet did Xrays and/or checked the uric acid levels and what he found and we will take it from there.

[KimberlyAnn]

What if your parrot likes sleeping on its side or back? This is how Emmi goes to sleep almost every night. Should I be worried about her feet? She has two perches in her sleep cage. A natural apple branch and a rope perch. She sleeps on them sometimes, but likes to sleep on the bottom of the cage...but then again, most times she does grab onto the bars.

[Pajarita]

Certain species of conures like to sleep on their back when they are young but, as far as I can tell, they outgrow the practice. As to perches for sleeping, I like to give them a natural one with bark on it but of a type of tree which doesn't have very rough bark. I keep my birds to a strict solar schedule and the winter nights are too long for them to be perching on something rough...