Nikko Has a Broken Toe

[Naurthon]

Last night I noticed that Nikko has a broken toe on his left foot. The inside toe that is supposed to face backward is pointing forward. He doesn't appear to be in any pain. He walks and climbs on it and will let me touch it without biting at me. (Well, without biting any more than usual. He doesn't like his toes played with, broken or not!)

I looked at some pictures and video I have taken of Nikko recently, and found that his toe was not injured on November 13, but was injured by December 9, so whatever happened happened sometime between those dates. Nikko was attacked by Maxwell on November 19th, but I didn't note any injury then, and I haven't seen any of the typical indications of a sore foot (standing on the other, etc) during the last month.

I have an appointment with Nikko's doctor tomorrow, but I don't know what they'll be able to do about it, especially since it has been at least 10 days since the injury occurred. I feel like such a bad Daddy right now because I didn't notice this earlier, but at least it is going to be checked out tomorrow.

I'm just wondering if any of you all have had a similar problem with your birds, and if you could tell me what your experience was.

[Munchy]

oh man, poor baby. I hope it will heal o.k.
I've never had any kind of similar problem but have had pets get hurt and not notice it for a couple of days and did feel pretty guilty about it. But sometimes life keeps us busy and we get tired and tend not to notice things we normally would.

[liz]

Yes - and it makes me feel like dirt.

Twinkle has ruffled feathers on one wing. I thought she caught them in the bars of the parrot cage. I seperated Tommy & Tammy into a cockatiel cage then put Twinkle and the others in another cockatiel cage with smaller spacing on the bars. That is when I noticed that she is missing the tip of her wing (like a forarm).

I feel so bad. She never let on that she was really injured. It was healing when I saw it so I did not take her to the vet but checked it everyday. She can still fly. The only think I can think of is one of Rachel's d.mn black cats got hold of her. I could have cried but that would only have upset her.

Yes - bad mommy bad mommy.

[Naurthon]

It makes me feel less guilty to hear that other people have overlooked injuries to their birds. They really are good at hiding their pain.

Now that I've made the vet appointment, this afternoon I checked Nikko's foot again, and I'll be danged if that toe doesn't look like it is back where it is supposed to be. <sigh> I just know I'm going to be dropping $50 in the vet's Christmas stocking just for him to tell me, "no, it's okay, sometimes their toes just do that" or some such thing. LOL

[cml]

You are not a bad parrot dad for missing that she is injured, but a GOOD parent for caring so much, and taking Nikko to the vet.

You did find out after a little while, and I hope he's okay =)!

[Naurthon]

Well, I got Nikko to the vet today and it turns out that his toes IS NOT broken, so that's good news. She did say it was possible that there was some kind of nerve damage that could be causing his toe to flip forward. If there is nerve damage, it could either be in the foot itself, or (worst case scenario) the result of a tumor near the kidney pressing up against his sciatic nerve.

If it were a tumor, it would take an x-ray to confirm. Since he just had and x-ray six months ago and there were no tumors visible then, she said it was unlikely (although possible) that a tumor was the problem. More likely it is "just" an injured nerve.

She ran down the diagnostic checklist and said his grip was fine, he was walking fine, he wasn't favoring the foot, etc, etc, etc, so she wasn't especially concerned. Her recommended treatment for now is simply to keep an eye on him and be sure it doesn't get any worse. If it is just an injured nerve, it may fix itself in a few weeks. If he does get worse, I'll have to take him him for the full blood work and x-ray thing to see if we can nail it down.

So I'm glad I took him in, and I'm glad it doesn't appear to be anything super serious.

Nikko, by the way, was pretty well-behaved with the vet, whom we haven't met before. He didn't bite her or anything!

[liz]

Good news. Glad to hear it.

[MeanDonnaJean]

I had noticed sumthin' similar on Skye's (female budgie) right foot but it was not the foot itself. It was the rear toenail that was dark & damn near gone and she was keepin' that foot up at all times and not usin' it for a few. I know who the culprit was tho.....it was that crazy, jealous female cockatiel of mine, Zoey.

Durin' their separate out-of-cage times (2 budgies in 1 cage, cockatiel in another...I can't let them all out at the same time) they like to rush over to each other's cagetop/sides (most likely to taunt each other) to play, to stay & to sumtimes even attack the one whose outside their cage. It was durin' one of Skye's outin's that I saw the caged Zoey quickly go for her toe, and that's when she bit it. And even tho I am ALWAYS in the room when they are outta their cage, I felt soooo darn bad that I couldn't catch it in time and that poor Skye hadda suffer at the hands (or beak) of Zoey.

Thankfully Skye is now atta point where she'll lemme come close to her (she even recently decided that I was safe enuff to come stand on my hand to eat while she's in or outta the cage) so I did what I could to help my sweet feathered critter. After keepin' a verrry close eye on her, I saw she was back on the ol' foot again within a few days and nuthin' more transpired from the attack. The toenail has yet to grow back tho.

I'm currently in the process of tryin' to "train" all 3 to NOT react whenever another bird is hangin' around the top or sides of their cage. Zoey has been doin' pretty well with it lately. The other two are still a work in progress, altho lotsa praise 'n a treat for doin' the right thing ALWAYS seems to work wonders