An old bird

[Pajarita]

Funny thing is, I've had 9 amazons and not a single one of them liked walking on the floor so, either he is clipped now or must have been clipped for a long time to have gotten accustomed to walking on the floor... Now, taking into consideration that, in my personal experience and opinion, amazon do NOT like to be grounded, it's entirely possible that his feet phobia comes from his feeling very vulnerable on the floor so be patient about the whole thing because parrots always have a reason for what they do. We might not see the reason but they do have one.

The thing with the lights is that they need to be exposed to dusk so the artificial lights need to be off way before the sunset actually happens. This gradual decrease in intensity AND the change in spectral distribution (the different colors of the white light) that happens during dusk is what makes them 'turn off' the internal watchstop that marks the number of daylight hours in the day as well as start the production of melatonin which makes them drowsy. Once it's dark, the bird will be asleep in his roosting perch (the perch he uses for sleeping) and he won't complain at all. Of course, you have to keep the noise to a minimum but, in my personal experience, as long as the 'noise' is the usual one in the household and it's not really loud, they get used to it (same as babies do) and will not wake up with it - but, even when they do (it happens to mine, every now and then), they will just kind of like open one eye, make soft noise, move their body a bit and go back to sleep (just like people would do when they hear something that is not menacing in in the middle of the night

[Georges mom]

Well the exam went fairly well and I'm glad to say George has no serious health issues. All hislabs came back ok however he does have some sort of bacteria in his mouth and throat and will be on meds for a couple of weeks. Nothing life threatening. He is a new bird with his shortened nails and can now move more swiftly throughout and on his cage without always getting stuck. She said I'm doing everything right with him re his nutrition and overall he's a real good condition for his age. He did not enjoy that check up and although the dr and her technician were wonderful, he was mad at me for the rest of the day and wouldn't even look at me. He growled continuously. The next day he was himself again and happy to see me. Ive shortened his days a bit and am watching the artificial light and I've noticed he's very happy to see me in the morning. He's getting a full 12 hours covered up now and I can tell he's just happier. So far so good!!! Thank you everyone for all your help.

[Georges mom]

Oh I I forgot to mention Georges wings are not clipped. When the vet told me that I was shocked becausenhe doesntneven flap them to stretch. He has even stumbled and fallen and the wings don't come out. She extended each one and said they're in perfect condition and said hes just a percher and that some amazons just prefer that. No one really knows why he cant fly. He will stretch and preen each one individually but that's the extent of it. Any thoughts onnthis????

[Wolf]

Although, I can't say for certain, it is not uncommon for birds that were clipped to soon to never develop the muscularture or the neural pathways required for flight. Put another way he was probably clipped before fledging and since he never learned to fly, the muscles have atrophied. This is probably the most likely scenario.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I agree. I have a cockatoo with perfect wings and he doesn't even flap them. If he happens to fall, he falls to the ground like a rock!

Did the vet do a bile acids test? Did she tell you what the result of this was? I am curious as I have old amazons, myself, and like to compare results because I think that what the vets use as normal is not right for amazons (they use a single value for all species).

[Georges mom]

I'm not sure what all the lab tests included she rattled them off kind of quickly. I know there was at least 3 of them plus all the mouth and poop analysis. He's going to have to see her again in about 4-6 weeks so I can ask her specifically about the type of tests. She showed me some tricks to get him into his carrier so I can bring him to her and not incur the house call fee. Plus she said he's going to need nail trimming every 3-6 months so he needs to get use to going. I forget to mention that I need to run a humidifier for him because of the dryness in the house. His breathing is very loud at times and she said that will help tremendously. I live in Indiana and it's quite cold here now for the heat is always on.

[Wolf]

Does he take baths himself or do you have to mist him or what? I also live in cold weather country and have to run heat all winter and it does indeed dry the air.

[Pajarita]

Yes, a humidifier is absolutely necessary with parrots. Unfortunately, it messes up your furniture and draperies so what you can do is make him bathe every morning (make sure the room is warm) and wet the papers on the bottom tray (they will provide a bit of moisture to the air as they dry). I also run an air purifier 24/7 in the birdroom.

Check your bill, if she had performed a bile acids you would see it listed separately from the CBC and the Avian biochemistry panel.

[Navre]

Check your bill, if she had performed a bile acids you would see it listed separately from the CBC and the Avian biochemistry panel.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't get it imitations like that on my bill from Angell. Not always.

[Georges mom]

He takes baths by himself though not very often. George spends a lot of time on the floor so I've started putting a large dish of warm water on the floor and I think he's ready to take the plunge. He stands on it and drinks from it so I'm hoping he goes in. The vet told me to get a cool mist humidifier just like you would buy for a baby's room and put it in the same room he's in but on the opposite wall. When he does bathe I bump the heat up to ensure he dries thoroughly. He lost his footing today coming off the couch and for the first time he used his wings a bit to help regain his balance. Usually he just hits the floor like a thump. It's carpeted and he realizes he doesn't get hurt. I'm introducing some toys to him tomorrow so this should be interesting. They're floor toys so we can have more playtime. Ill receive the vets bill in the mail anyday now so I'll check the itemization re tests.