Bald Spot Is Back

[Taw5106]

When I got Venus, she had a bald patch above her right nare. Her feathers grew in. She also has been going to the vet, did antibiotics, because you could hear her breathing and there was a clicking sound when she'd breath. It pretty much went away. Saturday she is going for her three month check up and I can hear her breathing, but no clicking, more like a snotty nose and when she sneezes she squeaks. Over this past week a bald patch has formed in the same location, same nare and her nare looks long, more open than the other. I'll be pointing this out to the vet but wondered if anyone had dealt with or had thoughts about why the nare would be bald again?

She eats fresh, lots of colorful foods to get vitamin A in her, she was on an all seed diet before she came home with us.
This is Venus the first day we got her, before bringing her home.


This is from August 9th, the feathers filled in beautifully.


This is from today.

 

[RavensGryf]

I'm sorry this has happened again despite the better care than she's had since being with you. I'm interested in seeing what the vet has to say Saturday about the bald patch coming back in the exact same area. Sounds like a little respiratory thing going on again? But why the bald patch just right there? I know that feeling of ongoing care with Raven. Good luck with Venus.

 

[Taw5106]

Thanks Julie. What I hate the most is falling in love and then my babies get sick. I have been looking up nare infections and was taken immediately to Vitamin A deficiency article. I attached an article below for anyone interested in learning about it and why an all seed diet is not a good thing. In the list of foods I was surprised, butter is listed as a high vitamin A food. No butter served here, does anyone feed butter to their fids? Venus and Buddy eat most of these foods and they love sweet potatoes and peppers.

http://www.multiscope.com/hotspot/vitamina.htm

 

[RavensGryf]

No butter here either . To feed enough to your birds to give enough vitamin A would have to be a crazy amount with tons of saturated fat!

All the birds besides parakeet Twigs, LOVE the vitamin A orange and red veggies.

 

[Anansi]

Yes, I very much agree with Julie. Arteriosclerosis would most likely be a danger if you were to put any significant amounts of butter into her diet. Personally, I wouldn't give her any.

Thank you for providing that link, btw. While I don't like the fact that butter, egg yolk, spinach and beef liver are listed as suggested sources of vitamin A, (as 3 of the 4 are better known as potential contributors to arteriosclerosis, and spinach can cause issues with the absorption of calcium) I absolutely LOVE the provided chart that indicates the values of vitamin A in each food. Very interesting.

As for Venus' bald spot, I haven't really hear of anything quite like that and can only speculate. If there is an infection of that nare, perhaps she's been scratching at it a lot. Enough so that she's removed the feathering from that area? Just a guess, but I'd definitely like to hear what your vet has to say.

 

[Newbsi]

She is just gorgeous!

 

[Taw5106]

Today we are going to see the vet. Buddy (GCA) is going too, which means Husband is coming because he loves watching Buddy's antics. The vet staff are looking forward to Buddy coming too so when I called and gave them a heads up to bringing Buddy, they got excited and looking forward to him coming. He's just fine but he needs a talon trim lol. When Buddy enters the office everyone knows he's arrived, he proudly starts saying "HELLOOOOO" to everyone and has to talk to everyone. He loves attention, he's guaranteed entertainment, lol.

 

[Taw5106]

We are done, both fids were great and the Vet tech was awesome. Venus is back on batryl and received a vitamin A shot. This may have to be a periodic shot they said. Once she finished 2 weeks of batryl she will go back for a check up.

For the bald spot, they didn't know what may have caused it but there is notation with respiratory illness of the skin being affected.

Buddy got a vitamin A shot too because his feet are extremely dry and scaly. It took three tries to get Buddy in his travel cage. He knew what was up! Third attempt I brought his towel and he straightened up. I took the towel with us. Buddy didn't disappoint, he even tried to bite Husband through the bars while he was 3 feet away. He didn't give the vet any trouble, he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere. He needs to learn "Good Bye", he said Hello to everyone as we were leaving, lol!

Here is his pic, Husband said he was preparing for battle, lol.

 

[Anansi]

Chronic vitamin A deficiency? Dos your vet have any idea why this might be happening? The diet you feed her is rich in vitamin A.

 

[Taw5106]

That's what I asked him because I don't understand. Buddy had a bowel movement there and it was orange from the carrot, sweet potato, and peppers they both ate with their brown rice. I asked too if there was a target amount to feed them each day and he had no guidelines. He's going to look into it. This was a different vet then we saw last time. I'm going to read up more as well.

 

[RavensGryf]

I hope they find the reason the vitamin A just doesn't seem to be "reaching" her. Good luck with this Tracey, will watch for updates.

 

[labell]

I don't know if you have a juicer but one thing I have been doing for Willow since they are also prone to vitamin A issues is I juice up a ton of carrots and oranges she drinks (or should I say SLURPS) it up and loves it. Also one of her favorite treats is dried pumpkin.

 

[Taw5106]

I don't know if you have a juicer but one thing I have been doing for Willow since they are also prone to vitamin A issues is I juice up a ton of carrots and oranges she drinks (or should I say SLURPS) it up and loves it. Also one of her favorite treats is dried pumpkin.

I'm going to try this. I don't have a juicer but she loves to slurp and sling, lol.

 

[Taw5106]

Ok I have a question, the bottom of Buddy's feet are orange, like carrot orange. The top of his feet are their usual color. When you feed a child too many carrots they will have orange tinged skin. I wonder if the orange on Buddy's feet may be from so many orange colored fruits and veggies, does that happen with to birds? Venus' feet are black so I don't see any color difference for her.

 

[Anansi]

Definitely doesn't happen with my birds. And I give them tons of carrots and orange peppers. Are you sure it's the skin that has changed color and not that he got into something that stained his skin?

And if the skin has indeed changed colors, is it possible that the bottom of his feet are irritated somehow? And that's what you're seeing?

 

[RavensGryf]

Ok I have a question, the bottom of Buddy's feet are orange, like carrot orange. The top of his feet are their usual color. When you feed a child too many carrots they will have orange tinged skin. I wonder if the orange on Buddy's feet may be from so many orange colored fruits and veggies, does that happen with to birds? Venus' feet are black so I don't see any color difference for her.

REALLY?!

Definitely doesn't happen with my birds. And I give them tons of carrots and orange peppers. Are you sure it's the skin that has changed color and not that he got into something that stained his skin?

Same here... and I was thinking it's stained

 

[Taw5106]

Julie, yes. When I worked hospital registration, a mother brought her toddler in and his nose, cheeks and finger tips all had and orange tinge. The doctor asked if she was feeding him lots of carrots and Mom said yes. He was fine, it surprised me, lol.

I took one toy out of Buddy's cage. He has a rope and block toy that is very colorful. There is an orange block on it that is next to his kabob. I took the rope toy out because now I'm wondering if he's been playing with the block. I'll get him in the shower tomorrow and see if it fades. This will be fun, maybe I can get a video of him enjoying his shower.

 

[camo]

This will be fun, maybe I can get a video of him enjoying his shower.

Yes please! I know Gizmo had a reddish tinge a while back on one foot, and I was concerned it was irritated, turned out to be he was holding a red pepper with that foot while eating, and the juices had just stained his foot. Hopefully Buddy has done something similar.

Cheers,

Camo

 

[solrac13]

Well Jade has always been a difficult feeding bird!

He dont like must vegetables

Here the list of things he really likes !

Steamed HOT served Corn he loves hot food and makes ultrasounds when eating them!

Hot steamed peas!

Stemed HOT carrots!

Row pepers and chily with seeds he loves the seeds!

Steamed Shrims

Steamed Shonks of fish!

Cooked beef Filet !

Dry chiken bonds ( wish he hunts by searching under the dogs feeding table tini chiken bonds left overs of the Pomerians!)

Loves Pasta wish is home made with organic products and adding carrot juice!

1 tablespoon of small seeds

Grapes apples pomegranate fruit when available!

Hot served Cantonese rice cooked with eggs and shopped broccoli leaves

Home made cookies nectar and polen with organic flower and sesames dry fruits and a bit of honey as treats

I also give him 4 pieces of Harrison high potency ones per week!

 

[Anansi]

I took one toy out of Buddy's cage. He has a rope and block toy that is very colorful. There is an orange block on it that is next to his kabob. I took the rope toy out because now I'm wondering if he's been playing with the block. I'll get him in the shower tomorrow and see if it fades. This will be fun, maybe I can get a video of him enjoying his shower.

Yup! Bet you that's the culprit, Tracy! The coloring on those food dyes rub off notoriously easily, especially when wet. All it would've taken is for Buddy to get some water on his feet from his bowl, or from his last bath, and then grab at the orange block.

Looking forward to the video either way.