Not again :(

[marie83]

Oh shes definitely a big girl, but at the same time she is about a perfect weight now from a condition score point of view so the vet said last week (thats subjective to the person doing it though). I just wish I could weigh her without traumatising her so I know to try and keep her at this weight as she visually looks good, she looked a bit round before.

[Josmets]

Hi there, I'm new to you all but I've read every single post in this thread. I've been looking for answers to help with some feather plucking on my end with my baby. I'm extremely worried as he's had a small bald patch on his back for a long time now (years) but only recently does it look to be expanding being that I live on a fixed income going to the vets will be a last resort unless I see him getting sick or stop eating/drinking etc. I want to try everything I can first. Is it possible that coconut oil can make it worse? I've been trying that the last few days, applying it 2-3x a day.

He seems in general to have a harder time relaxing to me. If i put him on my bed to hang out, he's gotta be chewing a towel. I made him a new toy that he seems to be liking a lot (out of an old towel, with a bell at the bottom and two pockets I put shelled unsalted pistachios in once in awhile (he seems to love it, even more than the new store bought ones I got the other day). Yesterday I bought him any stuff I came across that would take him time to eat and chew - string beans, snap peas, corn on the cob, a pomegrante, carrots, etc. he definitely has no issues with eating so for that I'm thankful. But this bald spot looks so horrid and breaks my heart. There's no blood though, he never shrieks - in fact it's hard to tell when he's doing regular preening or removing any possible feathers in that area. But his skin does look really red and raw almost. No flaking - perhaps it's just his natural skin color and I'm just unused to seeing so much of it. he was REALLY good at hiding it with his surrounding feathers but between the oil and the area growing it's getting too hard for him to cover up the crime area...

He usually listens to music throughout the day but I've decided it was good for a little change and have been putting up shows about birds on netflix for give him a bit more stimulation on that end (not sure if he really could care a less or not though to be honest lol, even when the bird "porn" came on today haha).

So besides him seemingly being a bit more on the anxious side, it's hard to tell what I should focus on. I'm thinking also of putting his cage back in my bedroom to see if it would help even though with my asthma/allergies it's not the best thing for me, but if it helps then so be it; I've had him there plenty of times throughout his life. There's been no major changes recently that would have caused any undue stress. The last big change was in august when my dog was moved to my mother's house (whole other can of worms there) but I'd have to say this uneasiness with him is pretty recent. Please tell me, is there ANY chance that coconut oil can make this problem any worse and not better? Just want to be sure i'm not getting off on the wrong foot.

Thanks to anyone who's read this and has any possible words of wisdom for me. He's only given me one other scare in his whole life and that was in college when he got zinc poisoning (he was on death's door and I'm so greatful the vet saved him!) so it's been a long time since I've been this worried or panicked about him. This time, however, is going to be much trickier though I'm guessing due to the fact that if it's purely psychological then it's a beast of it's own. Considering he's had a small version of this for a LONG time, it seems very plausible. Anyways, sorry for the long novel!

Thanks again,
Joanne

[marie83]

Hi Joanne,

Welcome to the forums.

you say your birds picking at a localized spot, this is nearly always caused by a health complaint.

Is there anyone who could loan you the money or would your vet consider letting you pay in installments? I appreciate juggling money is hard when their is little of it but its your duty to keep your pets from suffering but the sooner you get it dealt with the less likely it is to cost more in the long run. Generally the longer something goes on the worse it gets and the harder to treat resulting in higher costs.

As for the coconut oil, it will not directly make the picking worse by causing irritation or stinging, however the bird may not like the feel of it on the feathers and may work harder to clean it off resulting in more feather loss.

Is there a chance you could post a picture of the area affected? (preferable one of the whole bird then on of the affected area) this may help us to tell you if the skin looks normal or if we can see any other potential issues.
Also can you tell us how you react when you see him picking or does your bird only do it when alone?

[Josmets]

Thanks for replying Marie
I was considering taking some photos when I posted but just wanted to get it out there. I will work on those as soon as I can though, although they might not be the greatest of quality being that the only camera I have is an old iPad (you can already see the the awkwardness in taking pics with it I'm sure, much less on a bundled up bird with a hard to get to spot hah). I think I will stop the coconut oil then because I think it does bother him more than it might be helping. My reaction is alway gentle with him. I say as much as "what are you doin'??" And gently start petting him until he gets aware that I'm touching him and he'll knock it off pretty fast. Like I said, it's pretty hard to tell when he's regularly preening or 'picking' as it all looks the same to me, but when he goes in that vicinity I get involved - nothing that would startle him or upset him though.

That's interesting what you said about if it's in one spot only then it's health related most likely. I hadn't read that in all the stuff I've been pouring my eyes over. I don't have anyone to loan money from and is am going in the red a good chunk every month (tonight I go to a class to start learning about possible bankruptcy stuff to stay afloat here, how fun!) but this is my lifelong buddy were talking about and I'll make it happen somehow. Just have to find a decent aviary vet now as his original human mom that hatched him was my vet forevor (she sold them as a side business) retired last year and I've also since moved far away from whoever took her place. That's my biggest worry after the bird is finding someone who knows his/her stuff and I don't spend a ton of money paying for endless tests when the vet deep down doesn't have a clue. Would be nice if I had some sort of ideas of what it could be before I went in just to see if they bring up similar thoughts. Well, he's sitting here next to me on the pillow so I can at least get a full bird shot. Will post the area of distress after he's had some relaxation time here as he seems very calm at the moment so gonna let him chill for a bit. I will def try to get it posted before my class tonight. Thx again! Just one person answering makes me feel better about posting this on the forum.

[marie83]

Ok, sounds like you are in a really really tough place financially. Are there any animal charities you can apply to for a grant?
What country are you in? Maybe someone on here may know of a good vet or someone else who may be willing to help you, also consider starting your own thread as you are more likely to get more people reading it although I do think there are quite a few people who are following my birds progress.

One thing I would suggest is stop paying attention when you think he is picking/over preening. The last thing you need is for him to think hey if I pull my own feathers out my mum starts paying me extra attention. Its hard I know but do try to ignore it, try to keep calm inside as well as they can sense when we feel uptight.

[Josmets]

As promised here's some pics. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25339219@N06/ sorry I don't have a better quality "camera." I know his bald patch would be much easier to see in detail with a better lens.

First time using flickr so I hope this all went through ok. I cropped them to meet the standards of this site then realized I took too many so might as well post them on one page somewhere. I get what you're saying about not giving him any positive reinforcement when he does this. I'll cut that part out. I am in Southern California. Did a bit of vet searching on Yelp and there are so few bird vets - I knew they were scarce but it seems they've grown even scarcer through the years! The one of 2 choices really that I have (and that sounds decent) is quite the drive, but doable if I have to (for multiple trips though I don't know, my back is pretty darn bad and doesn't allow for long drives, much less a lot of them). The other vet is much closer but doesn't come with the good reviews. I don't think I've heard of any financial help for pets of those in situations like mine to be honest. I also got him when I was 16 and I figured when we had that scare during the days I had to put myself through college that it couldn't get worse (making ends meet wise with vet bills). I didn't for-see early disability before I hit 30! Life happens though no matter what one's own plans are, that's for sure. Just wish he had better timing lol.

And you're right about trying to keep the stress level down. I feel like I'm stressed out more than he is each time I have had to get him in the towel. I hate, hate, hate stressing him out. Sorry, vented here a little there more than necessary. I don't have kids so this is very much my kid and I feel like I hurt when he hurts. Let me know what you think about the possible health issues that may be causing this, I am very curious (I know you're not a vet tho ).

Joanne

[marie83]

Right I'm not 100% sure as the pics aren't very clear like you said but is the skin around the 2 feather shafts you can more cleary see swollen? it looks it from the picture. If not swollen is there more than one shaft coming from each follicule? that really doesn't look right to me and looks pretty uncomfortable.
I hope you can sort something out for your bird.

[Josmets]

The most I can make out it just looks like a few big feathers with NOTHING around them. No lil baby feathers, no down feathers so parhaps that's why it looks so awkward. For some reason he decided those few feathers could be spared. Definitely bizarre. My friend has an iphone 4 (not 4s), perhaps it might be capable of taking clearer pics. I'll give it a try next time I see him. Until then I spose i need to get my butt in action today on further vet research, prices, and what to expect when I bring him in. I hate the fact that most places charge 100$ JUST for the doctor to meet them. Such a costly business, ugh.

[marie83]

It is expensive I don't understand why it is so much more expensive over there than here. You guys seem to pay at least double what we pay here just for an appointment.

[marie83]

Bit unrelated to the birds but I'll post here anyway because I seriously can't take much more.

Now the rabbits stopped eating and is all sleepy today!! Vets again later but at least I don't have to travel so far with a rabbit (at the moment)

**EDIT**
Back from the vets, they can't see anything obviously wrong but administered a painkiller and something to help settle his stomach which also promotes bowel movements incase of a blockage.

I seriously doubt theres any risk of zoonosis but I asked anyway, she said unlikely but I really really should contact my birds vet to ask about it. I told her I already e-mailed him this morning and she gave me a disgusted look lol. In fact she was quite snotty with me throughout the appointment and spoke to me like I couldn't possibly be checking basic stuff like his teeth aren't overgrown etc. I know they deal with some ignorant people but.....

Anyway we are going back in the morning to see if theres any improvement. If not he will be going under anasthetic for testing.

Also I don't want to clog up this thread with rabbity stuff so I'll make a new thread on off topic if anything further develops to update you all. Unless it does turn out theres some zoonosis going on.