Bird's behavior making ME want to pluck!

[CBL]

I'm sorry, I don't know where this should be put. I am new and made an account here because I don't know where else to go for help.

I purchased my bird 5 or 6 years ago, she is a Hahn's Macaw named Izzy and I was told upon purchase that she was around 10 years old, so I guess that makes her 15 or 16 now. I live with my boyfriend and we both work from home, so Izzy has no shortage of attention as she spends most of the day out of the cage with us. During her time with us she was always well behaved; she wasn't a screamer, was never aggressive, and she's even potty trained. She loved to be with us in the office, climbing on the couch or on the back of chairs, or sitting in our laps looking at the computers. She gets a lot of direct attention when there isn't a phone call going on.

About a month ago her leg feathers suddenly disappeared overnight. Nowhere else, just on the legs. We have an avian vet we've already taken her to before so we make an appointment, but the vet cannot find any sign of skin irritation, mites, mutilation (thank god), or anything that would hint at anything other than plucking. He suggests it might be boredom and gives us a few recommendations. We follow through by rearranging the living room, where her cage is located, so she is up against a different wall and can see things differently, and bought her a couple foraging toys. Before now she has never had a foraging toy before so they were simplistic in difficulty; a net that hangs on the side of the cage with cups to hide treats in, a plastic container that hangs at an angle that would require her to simply tip it the opposite angle to get access to treats, and a net ball full of scraps she can tear into.

She has ZERO interest in any of them, or in most toys in general. She has this one wooden toy she came with that she likes, and a ball with a bell in it she'll occasionally whack against the side of the cage, and that's it. Everything else she ignores or outright hates, even if we put her favorite treats in the foraging toys. Despite this, being in a different area of the room seemed to help a little and little bits of feathers were starting to regrow on her legs. We watched her like a hawk, making sure she didn't pull the new ones out, and I thought we were in the clear.

Then a couple days ago we found her one morning with completely bare legs once again, she had gone and yanked all the new feathers out. Other than this there are no behavioral changes. She acts completely normal except for the leg plucking.

We have not yet taken her back to our vet, who said in our last visit that a bird cone was also a possibility. This whole ordeal is stressing me out which I know probably isn't helping matters, but I am so concerned for Izzy. Just the thought of uncovering her in the morning to see her chest the next thing being bare is a fear I have. If she is secretly unhappy, how can I help her? How can I make her interested in her foraging toys? Is there anything else I can do?

She's sitting in my lap as I type this, licking my arm and making little quiet bird noises. I wish I knew what was wrong. =(

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum. Do you have a choice of another AV. Often plucking legs and lower abdomen is a sign of.liver issues. She on a seed diet? She get lots of vitA rich foods? Maybe check for enlarged liver and some blood work, imo. However I'm not an AV, just my .02 worth. Find a better AV.

 

[CBL]

Welcome to the forum. Do you have a choice of another AV. Often plucking legs and lower abdomen is a sign of.liver issues. She on a seed diet? She get lots of vitA rich foods? Maybe check for enlarged liver and some blood work, imo. However I'm not an AV, just my .02 worth. Find a better AV.

Thank you for the welcome and your reply! We had not considered getting a second look by a different vet but I will start looking for one hopefully close to us. We have not had any blood testing done on Izzy, our vet said it was an option we could take to be safe but gave us the previous recommendations first. When we next visit we will request bloodwork, but I will look into getting a second opinion.

She is on a pellet diet, more specifically Zupreem brand. She is an extremely picky eater but she will indulge in grapes, apples, and sometimes bananas. Completely ignores greens.

 

[RavensGryf]

One of the common misconceptions is that most plucking in pet birds comes from boredom. My avian vet once told me this (he's worked exclusively with birds for decades), and that very commonly, the issue stems from a medical reason.

He took some time with me to show me x-rays of several of his patients who had accidentally swallowed the tiniest seed beads, or some sort of tiny objects from a table or the ground or wherever. In Robin's case it was tiny rocks like large grains of sand that he picked up somewhere (?) (that stayed in his gizzard) containing heavy metals. Not enough to make him acutely ill. Robin didn't pluck, but he showed other signs. Anyway, metal poisoning can cause plucking, and I was actually shocked to hear how "common" of a reason it was. Another extremely common reason for plucking is hormones. Certain birds pluck seasonally, some stay plucking. Could also be food allergy or some sort of allergen.

I'm not saying it's 'not' boredom, just sharing a little of what I learned from a well known exclusively avian vet in the US who sees and diagnoses plucking issues for a living.

In the case that it does stem from needing to occupy herself more, you can 'show' her how to play with the toys that she seems to have no interest in. Many times birds are interested when they see that we're having fun doing a particular something.

Good luck! Please keep us posted.

Edit: just saw henpecked's post... that's a good idea too, to get a blood panel. I would also look for another avian vet.

 

[CBL]

One of the common misconceptions is that most plucking in pet birds comes from boredom. My avian vet once told me this (he's worked exclusively with birds for decades), and that very commonly, the issue stems from a medical reason.

He took some time with me to show me x-rays of several of his patients who had accidentally swallowed the tiniest seed beads, or some sort of tiny objects from a table or the ground or wherever. In Robin's case it was tiny rocks like large grains of sand that he picked up somewhere (?) (that stayed in his gizzard) containing heavy metals. Not enough to make him acutely ill. Robin didn't pluck, but he showed other signs. Anyway, metal poisoning can cause plucking, and I was actually shocked to hear how "common" of a reason it was. Another extremely common reason for plucking is hormones. Certain birds pluck seasonally, some stay plucking. Could also be food allergy or some sort of allergen.

I'm not saying it's 'not' boredom, just sharing a little of what I learned from a well known exclusively avian vet in the US who sees and diagnoses plucking issues for a living.

In the case that it does stem from needing to occupy herself more, you can 'show' her how to play with the toys that she seems to have no interest in. Many times birds are interested when they see that we're having fun doing a particular something.

Good luck! Please keep us posted.

Edit: just saw henpecked's post... that's a good idea too, to get a blood panel. I would also look for another avian vet.

I almost felt sick when you mentioned metal poisoning. She likes to chew on her cage bars and on the chains that toys hang on. Could she contract it this way? Should we also request an X-ray along with the blood work? If something is in her gizzard it may explain a little tweak in her behavior that I'm reminded of. She no longer likes her neck scratched, when before this incident started, she would go out of her way to scratch her neck using your finger. Now though, if we try she will grab our finger with her beak, not biting but just grasping, as if to say "no". Would this have anything to do with it, or is she just not in the scratchie mood and I'm paranoid?

 

[RavensGryf]

It's hard to say if she's getting particles in her mouth that way or not, and since we're not vets, my suggestion would be first to find a more knowledgeable avian vet than the one you have now. If you get one who is skilled in reading and diagnosing by digital x-ray, while it is initially expensive, it can cut out a lot of cost in the long run (paying for guess work and many tests), and give you a diagnosis right there. From what I hear, not all avian vets are skilled enough with it to be confident enough to use it as a first line diagnostic tool. If you do some research for avian vets in your area, I'd look for reviews, and call the offices and get a feel for them. They also have a blood test for heavy metals to hopefully rule it out.

Did this just start happening out of the blue? Have you been feeding anything different lately?

 

[CBL]

It's hard to say if she's getting particles in her mouth that way or not, and since we're not vets, my suggestion would be first to find a more knowledgeable avian vet than the one you have now. If you get one who is skilled in reading and diagnosing by digital x-ray, while it is initially expensive, it can cut out a lot of cost in the long run (paying for guess work and many tests), and give you a diagnosis right there. From what I hear, not all avian vets are skilled enough with it to be confident enough to use it as a first line diagnostic tool. If you do some research for avian vets in your area, I'd look for reviews, and call the offices and get a feel for them. They also have a blood test for heavy metals to hopefully rule it out.

Did this just start happening out of the blue? Have you been feeding anything different lately?

Sorry for the delay, I was talking to the BF about what I've learned here and our new options. Thank you. I have located another avian vet in our area and will do some more research on them tomorrow. Yes it really did start out of the blue. She's had no change in diet, which is primarily the pellets and whatever fruits we can tempt her with. She also gets a bit of granola, raisin, pasta, and wheat bread crust but none of those are new. Her plucking was just so sudden, and she doesn't even act like she's distressed about anything.

 

[RavensGryf]

Interesting. Please let us know when you go to the new vet!

 

[Anansi]

I just want to cosign on the excellent advice by Richard and Julie (Henpecked and RavensGryf). A blood panel should definitely have been a first step. And Julie is right, an x-ray would be a great tool as well. Medical reasons should always be eliminated as possibilities before moving on to potential behavioral ones. Or, at the very least, explored concurrently.

I'm glad you've found another avian vet and I hope you find a swift answer to what's happening with Izzy. Please keep us updated.