Bald Spot? Feathers not growing back in?

[jugoya]

Porter has a bald spot on his wing..
It has been there for about a month and a half now,
I took him to the vet about it about three weeks ago but they couldn't identify it.

Pretty sure its not Beak and Feather disease so now I don't know WHAT it is.

Might be plucking or chewing because the follicles aren't growing feathers back properly.

What should I do about it? x.x

Its only a small area about 3 or 4 feathers missing that leaves a small grey patch on his wing near the first joint.

 

[jugoya]

Maybe a dietary difficiency?
He's been fussy about food lately and will only eat treats.

Probably my fault due to the vacation to Virginia recently.

Could this possibly just be dietary? He is starting to get stress bars, and I feel bad about that.

A friend was watching him for three weeks while I was at home. I think she ran out of the muffins I make and was only feeding him the seed mix.

Bah x.x

I might just have to take him back to the vet in two weeks when I get back from Florida.. its not crazy just I'm worried a little is all.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Hmm. That's a really interesting scenario... could it be mites? I know mites can cause bald spots due to irritation, causing the birds to constantly scratch in a particular spot.

Otherwise my only thought is that it's plucking, but I'd only assume that if it's getting worse over time. If he's stopped and the area isn't worsening, then I'd say it was stress from you gone.

Stress bars are probably also from you being gone plus not having a proper diet during that time. To be safe, I would get blood work done to make sure it's nothing serious and just behavioural. Better safe than sorry! Hope things look up for you and Porter!

 

[jugoya]

Recently had them treated for mites about.. three or four weeks ago.

Wouldn't the feathers have started growing properly by then? Though it does look like the feathers have been chewed off at the base which could indicate that they weren't properly 'plucked' and thus haven't been molted out yet?

 

[Dinosrawr]

Hmm. I'd be really careful about improperly plucked feathers. If they have a "v" shape to them, chances are its Porter chewing the feather off. And if the quill hasn't been removed from the skin, then no new feathers would come to replace it until it fell out, from what I can recall. Improperly removed feathers can also pose a serious threat, and in this case they haven't, but for future reference if only the quill remains in a blood feather, the quill acts as a funnel for blood to escape the body. That can be fatal for a bird, but is prevented by the use of cornstarch as a coagulant and immediate removal of the quill.

If you have an experienced avian vet, they should be able to tell you whether or not the follicles have been damaged. If they're damaged, chances are no feathers will grow back. And I don't think there's any specific time for a feather to develop... rather it depends on molting and nutrient availability, so for some birds it may only take a month or so, while for others it may be upwards of 6 months or more. I'm sorry I can't be of more help - hopefully some other members with experience in this matter will chime in soon!

 

[jugoya]

They are pointed, lols but I see one feather trying to develop.
Small and green no blood feather aspect visible though.

 

[MonicaMc]

Can you get us any other photos? Maybe wing extended?

 

[jugoya]

HE won't go for it.
And the bald spot doesn't extend that far.
Its just that one little spot.

I tried and got a slightly blurry pic.
'

 

[MonicaMc]

It's easier to see where the spot is now in relation to the rest of the body. It is rather odd. The feathers around the area do look a bit worn, so he could be over-grooming in that area, or maybe rubbing up against something.

 

[jugoya]

Update.
New feathers are growing in...
Rearranged his cage and give him daily aloe juice baths.

 

[MonicaMc]

Hope the pot feathers in and doesn't come back!

 

[Helen452]

Hi,
My budgie is exactly the same, he has been to the vets, had mite treatment and isn’t plucking out his feathers. First he went blind in one eye, then the other, he then got a bald spot under his beak and it’s pergressing further down his chest. His pin feathers come through, fall out and now they have stopped growing pin feathers permanently. He has also developed arthritis.




If anyone knows what this is I would be very greatful.
I’m also looking for arthritis treatment ideas (he won’t eat cinimon)

Thanks
Helen x

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Hi,
My budgie is exactly the same, he has been to the vets, had mite treatment and isn’t plucking out his feathers. First he went blind in one eye, then the other, he then got a bald spot under his beak and it’s pergressing further down his chest. His pin feathers come through, fall out and now they have stopped growing pin feathers permanently. He has also developed arthritis.


View attachment 22214

If anyone knows what this is I would be very greatful.
I’m also looking for arthritis treatment ideas (he won’t eat cinimon)

Thanks
Helen x

When you say he's been to the vet - what tests did they do? Did they test for any diseases/viruses? Did they do a blood test or a faecalysis or a swab? It's really hard (almost impossible) to diagnose things that aren't visible.. What caused him to lose his eye sight and feathers? We can't say until an avian vet does the necessary diagnostic tests.

 

[Helen452]

Hi, he saw one of the best avian vets in the uk at chine house, the vet was stumped... Ollie is currently 8years old, being blind and only having one useful foot and over an hours journey to the vets is very stressful for him. The vet said they would need to put him to sleep to get blood and that can have complications. He gave him some anti inflamitorys last time.

He went to the vet last month
He did no tests and he didn’t really seem keen
No swabs of poop samples
He developed cataracts
Not sure why he is loosing feathers they grow disformed and fall apart.

Rick and a hard place

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Yeah, I went to one of the so-called best avian vets locally, and the guy just looked at Cairo (didn't even really touch him) and said he's good.... Ridiculous, really. We found a different avian vet who actually runs faecalysis, swabs, and blood tests - she's been a life saver, quite literally.

I don't know why your vet says he'd need to put Ollie under sedation to draw blood - most of the forum members' avian vets don't need to do that because it's so risky. My preferred avian vet didn't put Cairo under to draw blood.

I'd say find another vet that will actually run diagnostic tests or push your vet to run actual tests. If this were a human, would you stop at accepting your doctor just giving you a look over? You'd expect your doctor to do things like take blood tests, check for diseases, and properly find a diagnosis for you problem, right? At least, I wouldn't be satisfied with a doctor who didn't care to use basic tools to try to diagnose a long-term problem.

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, Charmed is right, your Avian Vet is not at all one of the best in the UK if they are telling you they have to put your Budgie under any type of sedation/anesthesia to do a simple blood-draw from his neck to run blood-work/tests...That's a very common "red-flag" that a Vet is very inexperienced with birds, or doesn't feel at all comfortable with handling/treating birds, or both...Birds/Parrots have trouble coming out of the sedation/anesthesia, and taking that risk just to do a simple blood-draw from one of the bird's 2 jugular-veins in their neck is ridiculous; I've done it hundreds of times, and I'm not a Vet at all, and all it requires is simply "Toweling" the bird, gently putting a bit of mineral-oil or vaseline on your finger and using it to move the feathers away from their neck area, and then you find one of the Jugulars and you draw the blood, the whole process takes less than a minute...And for a Budgie you cannot draw more blood than 2ccs/mls because they don't have anymore to spare...So I would be very, very leary of that Vet and anything they told you...

The other "red-flag" is that your Vet didn't even run Fecal Testing!!! Yet he's "stumped" about what is causing your poor Budgie's blindness and feather issue? You can't be "stumped" about either of these things until you actually run basic, simple Diagnostics...The first thing needs to be you bringing in a fresh Fecal-Sample (within 24-hours of him dropping it if you put it in the fridge right away and get it to the Vet within that time), so you don't even have to bring him with you for Fecal-Testing!!! They need to run: #1) Culture/Sensitivity, which is usually sent out to whatever laboratory they use, and usually takes 3-4 days to get back, #2) Fecal-Smear on a slide is made and they look at it under their own Microscope in-house, on the spot, and check to make sure he has enough "Beneficial Bacteria" throughout his GI Tract and to check for Yeast/Fungi, Protozoa, and other Parasites, (One of the #1 reasons a pet/captive Parrot loses feathers or starts the process of plucking/self-mutilation is due to a Systemic Fungal/Yeast Infection that spreads to their external/topical Skin and into the Feather-Follicles), and #3) They then Gram-Stain the slide to look for the presence of harmful Bacteria...

So they can run full Fecal-Testing without your Budgie even having to come to the office, and this might be all that is needed to diagnose why he's losing his feathers and not growing back in new ones. It's very common for a Yeast/Fungal Infection to form all over their skin (which means it's everywhere else too), and the first thing that happens is that the bird gets extremely itchy and uncomfortable, and may or may not start plucking...However, if left undiagnosed/untreated, it can actually damage the Feather-Follicles and cause the feathers to not grow back in. So full Fecal-Testing is ALWAYS the first step in diagnosing pretty much any and every Avian health/medical issue..

Then of course he needs to have full Blood-Work done, which again is easy, quick, and NEVER requires any type of sedation or anesthesia, even with the most non-tame bird; It only takes a minute or two from start to finish at the longest, doesn't hurt the bird at all, and this is VERY IMPORTANT because a simple CBC and Liver/Kidney Panel will tell you so much, it will tell you if he has an infection anywhere in his body, if he's Anemic, if he is suffering from any specific nutritional-deficiencies or malnutrition (another very common cause of feather-growth stopping!), any Metabolic issues, and very important his Liver and Kidney function and health...So obviously with both a feather growth issue and a vision issue, this is hugely important and will tell you so much about what it might be and what it is not...

This is very basic Avian Medicine 101, and it's exactly what I do when a bird comes into the Rescue with either Feather-Growth Issues or they are Pluckers/Self-Mutilators, or when they have any Vision issues. So the bottom-line is that your Vet cannot possibly be "stumped" because they haven't run a single diagnostic test yet, not even the most-basic ones that will probably diagnose both issues pretty quickly, or at least tell you what other diagnostics need to be run to confirm the issues...So your Avian Vet is not competant at all as an Avian Vet, and there are a lot of members here from the UK who have decent Avian Vets that they like and trust, so you need to get with them and figure out where the closest CAV or Avian Specialist to you is that knows what they're doing, because your poor Budgie could be suffering with blindness and baldness uncecessarily!

***I'm sorry this Vet did nothing at all to help you or your Budgie, but trust me, you're actually much better-off that this Vet didn't do anything at all as far as diagnostics or anything else, because chances are he would have killed him...