Foot wound

[Wolf]

I am going to post a link for you that contains a listing of both toxic and non toxic woods, plants, foods and household items. The list starts on the second page of the topic and is the best one that I have found so far.
As far as branches for perches and play station and so fort, I prefer to use some of the softer woods with the bark left intact. This tends to encourage their chewing on them which in turn helps to trim beaks and toe nails so they don't last as long, but I feel that it is better for them.
Here is the link viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12521 I hope this proves helpful for you.

[Pajarita]

No, at her age, it cannot be gout. It takes years of high protein for the uric acid crystals to start depositing in the joints so it's not that. If you see no redness or discolored spot whatsoever, it cannot be bumblefoot either. And I don't think it's a sprain if this is on the bottom of the foot as sprains happen to tendons and articulations. What it could be is either that she perching always in the same spot OR the beginning of a cyst (birds get ganglion cysts, just like any other animal) which is now growing in the inside. The wrapping of the perches is a good idea (I would use vetwrap instead of gauze) but, if there is no actual sore, I doubt that a topical antibiotic would do anything for it... Epsom salts are good but they are mostly for muscular problems so what I would use is lavender oil BUT you can't use any essential oil directly on the skin, they are too strong and would cause more damage than good, so you need to dilute it. Normally, you use a 2% solution but, for a bird, I would use a baby solution which is 1% so in 1 fluid ounce of sweet almond oil, put 6 drops of lavender oil, warm it a bit and rub it in a circular motion slowly and until you feel the skin has started to absorb it.

The other thing that could be causing a skin problem is lack of beta-carotene in her diet. I don't know exactly what 'bits and pieces' of your food she is eating but cockatoos need A LOT of beta-carotene - and they seem to know it because they are great eaters of leafy greens (mine go for the leafy green first of all, they love them!) so I would make sure she has one good portion of some kind of food that is rich in beta-carotene on a daily basis. And, yes, you can't free-feed her the Encore food, my dear. These foods are very deceptive in their nutritional analysis because, if you read the labels, you would think you are providing the bird with all these wonderful vitamins and minerals BUT what people don't usually take into consideration is that the vitamins and minerals are either ON the shells (which parrots do NOT eat) or in some type of little pellet or whatever which the parrot might not ever eat (they will always go for the seeds though). This food also has raw peanuts (a complete no-no with parrots) and, like Wolf said, it's mostly sunflower seeds and, although sunflower seeds are not bad per se, you can't feed a parrot mostly sunflower seeds because, if you do, he will not only end up with high uric acid and fatty liver, he will also end up with vitamin and mineral deficiencies. My cockatoos eat gloop (cooked whole grains, pulses, veggies and some flax seed for the omega 3) with raw produce (one kind of fruit, one veggie, one leafy green - a different one each day of the week) for breakfast and all day picking and a seed mix for dinner (they get half lovebird/half cockatiel mix) and a nut (sometimes an almond, sometimes half a walnut, sometimes a pistachio, like that).

And let me tell you something about feeding them a fresh food diet, I got a cockatoo that was all white with a yellow crest and thought to be a lesser sulfur for 17 years but within two years of eating this diet, he had molted into a citron! He now has a dark yellow almost orange crest, yellow cheek patches and a beautiful yellow suffusion all over his body!

[okreeves]

Thanks everybody! Just to let you know her foot already seems significantly better. She is walking on it normally and is a bit less swollen. Not entirely sure what caused it but it seems to be clearing up.

[Pajarita]

Good news! But don't forget about her diet.