Cockatiel Beak Growth

[artist_lace]

I am new to this forum, but have had pet birds all my life.

Recently, my 18ish year-old Cockatiel, PJ, formed a fleshy looking growth on the side of his beak. I looked all around the internet, on different forums, trying to find pictures posted of a similar growth. I could not find anything, and now that my family has been with PJ through this new development, I thought I’d join the Parrot Forum and share his story.

PJ is a very special bird. He’s certainly part of the family. He can whistle the Andy Griffith theme, he can wolf-whistle, he can say his name, as well as “I Love PJ,” along with a myriad of other cute noises. We’ve taken him to the vet in the past, working out ways to deal with a liver disease he’s developed (a little Milk Thistle sprinkled over his food seems to help immensely). We’ve also had trouble with “scissor” beak lately and his beak is often overgrown.

The most frightening health issue he has had lately, though, was the fleshy growth. It started small, and within a weeks time it had doubled in size, and had a smaller growth beside it that was connected.

We took him to our vet at this point, wondering if there was anything we could do, and wanting to know how seriously this growth would affect his health. The vet told us that at this point, the growth was not affecting PJ’s health in any negative way, but that if it were to grow larger (something near 1/2 the size of a pea) that it may begin to affect his ability to eat, and at that point, it may be too large to remove.

We had two options. We could have PJ put under, and the vet could remove the growth using laser surgery (which was a surprisingly affordable option). Or, we could wait, and see if the growth grew larger. It was our decision to make, but the vet did inform us that these growths (though they look fleshy) are actually hard, like the beak, and it’s possible that PJ could hone it off on his perch, cuttle bone, etc. The vet thought that there would be a good chance that it may fall off completely, so long as it stopped growing soon.

So, we waited another week or so, and the growth did seem to get a little bigger. This frightened us, and we had a family meeting in which we compared photos of PJ’s beak the week prior to photos taken that day. It hadn’t enlarged significantly, so we waited. PJ is elderly, in bird years, and the idea of putting him under for anything worries our family quite a bit, especially if it ends up being unnecessary.

A few days after we compared photos, PJ’s growth turned a dark grayish/maroon color. For lack of a better description, it looked “dead.” This seemed to happen overnight, and the evening his beak turned gray, he had a very serious diarrhea problem (which is very odd for him). His stools were runny and dark, and they happened often. This happened on the weekend, and we considered taking PJ back to the vet if this didn’t clear up.

Luckily, it did clear up by the next morning. Within a week of PJ’s beak growth turning gray, he started to hone it off. It seemed that the growth (that he previously seemed indifferent to) was really starting to bother him. He got about 1/2 of it off, and started playing with it, by moving it into his beak and out of his beak, as if it were on a hinge.

Now, it’s just a little tiny black thing attached to his beak, and we expect that any day he will remove the rest. He seems a little happier and healthier than he has in the last few months, and we’re so glad that the growth didn’t end up being anything serious.

I hope you find this helpful, if you find you have a cockatiel going through something similar. As always, it did us a world of good to talk to the vet about this issue.

-Lacey

 

[parrotqueen]

Fascinating. I have never, ever heard of this. I'll try to find more out!

 

[birdcrazy]

Wow! PJ is soooo lucky to have you as his owners. I have a cockatiel, and found this very informative if this ever occurs... She should have plenty of years ahead of her, however she is starting to get up there in age. You are an amazing person for taking such good care of him. Welcome to the forums!

 

[artist_lace]

Thanks for the kind words. Our birds are so important to us!

Since I couldn't find sufficient information online about PJ's particular issue, I felt I had a duty to share it with my fellow bird lovers.

Our vet gave us the impression that this isn't the most common occurrence, but he was able to give us a price quote for laser surgery during our visit, and he has seen this with other birds in the past. So, it must happen from time to time.

 

[luchimim]

Hi Lacey, I too have a cockatiel with exactly the same looking growth at the side of his beak. It started at the corner of his bottom beak at the sides looking like it was flakey then like it was growing outwards at the sides then this lump appeared (just like PJ's) which we have been very worried about as he is 15 years old. He too has liver disease and has milk thistle powder sprinkled on his food and seems to help. I was quite relieved when I read your post because I had been searching the web for answers and your is the only one I could find. Soo, thank you very much it has helped me with some answers and if Timmy does not do anything about himself I will have to take him to the avian vet. - Jan

 

[Bobby34231]

Hi Jan and welcome to the forum, I'm not sure if you'll get a response from Lacey as she hasn't been active for a number of months now, I read both of your posts today for the first time, though her post was written back in March, I'm not sure you should wait and see if your situation turns out like hers before taking your bird to an avian vet, anytime a bird has bumps,lumps or growths they should be see ASAP, and especiaaly if there are changes such as size, color and apperience, I don't have all the facts on how her vet handled her situation but it was never mentioned if the vet did a scraping or biopsy of the growth to see if it was malignant or not, just offered to zap it off with a laser, just some friendly advise, I wouldn't wait to see your Avian Vet, time could make a difference, I'm not trying to scare you but I posted a sad story of a woman that lost her bird to cancer, even though no expense was spared and the best medical technology was used to try and save him, due to a misdiagnosis by a prior vet, precious time was lost getting the proper care he needed, good luck with your situation, keep us up to date on how you make out

$75,000 in Cancer Treatments Couldn't Save Areba the Parrot | Amazing | News | PEOPLE Pets

 

[Gemmie94]

I am also new to this forum however i am experiencing the same problem with my cockatiel who is almost 7 years old.

She has grown a pink bubble/pimple looking thing exactly the same as the picture from Lace. It has now turned blackish so hopefully it will fall off soon.

I have not noticed any changes in my birds eating or habits which is good i just really hope its not something major or cancerous. If it does not fall off within the next week or so or gets bigger and bigger i will be taking him to the bird spe******t.

Thanks guys it really helps. Hopefully its not a cancer or something major because she means the world to me

 

[roxynoodle]

I am also new to this forum however i am experiencing the same problem with my cockatiel who is almost 7 years old.

She has grown a pink bubble/pimple looking thing exactly the same as the picture from Lace. It has now turned blackish so hopefully it will fall off soon.

I have not noticed any changes in my birds eating or habits which is good i just really hope its not something major or cancerous. If it does not fall off within the next week or so or gets bigger and bigger i will be taking him to the bird spe******t.

Thanks guys it really helps. Hopefully its not a cancer or something major because she means the world to me

I hope that your bird will be ok

 

[Genie51]

I just came across these posts...I recently had a similar problem with my 18+ yr old cockatiel. One morning I was changing their food and water (I have 2 mature cockatiels), and noticed on my Sunshine, a tiny "thing" on his beak, where it meets the face. It looked like a pc of seed shell, so I ignored it. In a couple of days, it looked like a skin tag, fleshy and pink. So I called the bird farm when he'd originally come from, and was told to watch it, but it would probably fall off in a few days, and not to do anything with it. A few days later, it turned very dark, and had grown. Then a couple of days later, it had this "peeling" look to it, like peeling skin, but I was also worried that it might have been a tick, tho I have no idea how he would have gotten one! A couple of days later, when I went to see how he was, it was gone! Just like that. At that point, I changed their cage. I still have no idea what it was. I did take some pix of it, during the process, not that they helped me find anything on the net.
Genie

 

[Clifford666]

You are great!
Providing the wonderful stuff for every bird!
I think I should start to working on your suggestions as soon as possible.

 

[Genie51]

UPDATE: I see that no one has posted any more on this subject, but I wanted to update my original response...Sunshine had that same growth again a few months later. I just watched it, and, as with the first time, it "did it's thing" and vanished just as quickly as it began. He hasn't gotten it since then! No one seemed to have any idea what it was and it didn't seem to cause any problems. He's doing very well.