Bleeding Beak/Tongue

[LoriBabies]

I had a moment of absolute panic yesterday. Went to feed Zazu a chunk of apple yesterday, look down and there's bright red blood on it. He was happy, playing, bouncing, eating and drinking, and there didn't seem any signs of distress at all except he wasn't sticking his tongue out as much as normal (cue me thinking he's torn his tongue off - crazy I know).

I have kept an eye on him, he doesn't seem at all phased by it - its been close to 24 hours now. There's no more blood and hasn't been since the initial little bit.

Should I take him to the vet or, considering his continued cheery disposition, should I just keep an eye on him and hold off the vet trip??

 

[weco]

That is really a question you need to answer for yourself.....our birds, though many people fret at the littlest thing are much like human children, they're going to have bumps, bruises & a cut once in a while and I, like many parrot slaves, try to make rational judgements, based on the information I have at hand.....birds, like we humans, normally will stop bleeding relatively quickly, as long as they are healthy.....even broken blood feathers will coagulate & stop on their own.....

If what happened concerns you and taking your bird to your veterinarian will ease that concern, you need to do what you think is best, for both you and your bird.....but personally, if you can't find an open wound and do not see additional blood, I would probably look over my bird's cage very carefully, to try & figure out what happened...and if I was still concerned, I might call my vet, run it by them & see what they had to say about it.....

Good luck.....

 

[MikeyTN]

I'm with weco there!!!!

 

[LoriBabies]

Thanks muchly guys, there was a bit of a screech prior to finding the blood, methinks perhaps Pistachio wasn't so friendly through the cage bars and might have bitten him on the tongue - he's done it once before but didn't draw blood (just to clarify, normally once they're separated by cage, they're friends. I wouldn't have them that close if fighting/disagreeing was a constant thing)

There's been no more blood since the first bit, and he's still my happy, hungry baby so I'm going to hold off a vet visit at this stage.

Thanks again, I guess I just needed some confirmation that I wasn't being negligent by not taking him.

 

[MikeyTN]

Lories can be hateful towards one another so that might of happen again today....I know mine is hateful towards other birds.....

 

[LoriBabies]

Yeah, Pistachio can be a bit mean, but its only ever been when they're out of the cage together. Inside (separated by partition) they're chirpy and friendly and affectionate.

Pistachio's quite hateful of me at the moment which is odd - I've done something to annoy him

 

[MikeyTN]

It might be hormones, that's when Malachai gets mean towards me....

 

[LoriBabies]

Yeah, you're probably right, all the other behaviour points that way at the moment also, how long does it normally last with Malachai?

 

[MikeyTN]

He have his moments, one minute he might be sweet, next he's the devil, attacking and biting. Usually just a few week as it don't normally last very long. He knows if he acts crazy I don't take him out or play with him. During hormone, he would literally fly straight out of his cage and start attacking. He shocked me the first time he did it....

 

[LoriBabies]

I bet - hmmm thanks for that, hopefully Pistachio calms down soon!