Is this a massive molt?

[Laurasea]

We will be waiting on pins and needles with you till your appointment. I hope for good news. Or at least an easy fix!

 

[LaManuka]

My fingers, toes & eyes are all crossed for JoJo!

 

[Inger]

I’ve got everything crossed over here too! Anxiously awaiting news.


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[Laurasea]

Flyboy how is JoJo? I'm hopeful for a positive post vet update....I'm watching for your post.

 

[Flboy]

Hi, vet really believes it is a big molt! I have to admit, I was totally wrong about what I was seeing! I had said the down was coming through his feathers, I was wrong! I rarely ever check the bottom tray in his sleep cage, he never goes potty in there. Yesterday, I found the missing feathers! As I am writing this I am realizing there is definitely plucking going on too! I am starting to see quite a few pin feathers coming in, that I swear weren’t there yesterday morning!

 

[EllenD]

Wow, so it's a combo of molting and plucking...That is a huge molt, poor guy is going to be miserable once all of those pin-feathers start coming in...

I'm hoping for his sake and your's that he's not actually "plucking", but rather just over-preening due to the massive molt that he's going through, and it's just driving him a little crazy, and this will pass once his new feathers all come in...But he's going to be absolutely covered with pin-feathers...poor little dude...

You might want to invest in some Molt-Ease spray, it's made by Ecotrition, and it contains only natural Purcellin Oil and Aloe Vera, and it really does help them feel better during molts, and just a dab of the stuff on the pin feathers is all you need...works great, and might keep him from continually over-preening and feeling miserably itchy...

 

[Laurasea]

So glad you got good news!!!! Happy day!!

 

[Tami2]

Hi, vet really believes it is a big molt! I have to admit, I was totally wrong about what I was seeing! I had said the down was coming through his feathers, I was wrong! I rarely ever check the bottom tray in his sleep cage, he never goes potty in there. Yesterday, I found the missing feathers! As I am writing this I am realizing there is definitely plucking going on too! I am starting to see quite a few pin feathers coming in, that I swear weren’t there yesterday morning!

I'm sorry to hear that you do believe JoJo is plucking.
I hope you and your Vet can figure out the cause and correct it.
I'll be praying it's an easy fix.

 

[RavensGryf]

David, I’m sorry this has been going on with JoJo. I know that can be such a stressor for the humans. I didn’t want to mention earlier, since you were saying he’s not plucking, but it looked clearly to me like that was more than a huge molt. Makes sense now if you’ve seen a little plucking too.

Did the vet address it? There is usually a medical reason behind it, and not as commonly behavioral. Is it at all possible that JoJo could have gotten his beak into or onto something (even for a quick second when you were looking the other way) that is a metal, or even tiny objects that can contain heavy metals? The reason I mention this, is several years ago, Robin had been vomiting and diarrhea intermittently, and his x-ray showed two tiny (TINY!) Like a very large grain of sand or super small rocks in his gizzard causing his symptoms. In his case the rocks extracted during surgery, contained lead. Robin is definitely NOT a bird who wanders everywhere. While not clipped nowdays, he doesn’t fly, and stays where he’s put. See? Even a bird like that can accidentally ingest objects somehow! I know JoJo’s symptoms are different, but my vet said heavy metals (depending on the metal), can also cause itching or skin irritation which leads to plucking all of a sudden in a bird who never used to do it before. If it doesn’t stop, it’s just something to look into.

I wish you all the best for your little guy!

 

[Flboy]

Vet talked about broad spectrum antibiotics! We both agreed to wait and see! JoJo is only plucking in his sleep cage and I just realized a possible stress factor! Past 3/4 weeks I been playing talk shows while in bed, sleep cage in room with me. I know I can always hear him cranking about the noise! 50% of the time I fall asleep with it playing. Am going to switch over to a headset and be more considerate of my room mate’s needs!

 

[RavensGryf]

Sorry David if you already mentioned it. I failed to read every word of the post. Just trying to help where I can. Great that it’s not an issue!

 

[Flboy]

Oh sorry, heavy metal! I had a concern about a stupid toy I made using embroidery hoops
That had metal! But JoJo has zero, any other symptoms for heavy metal poisoning! Good appetite, still extremely alert, sleeping as normal cranking and biting as normal!

 

[RavensGryf]

Oh sorry, heavy metal! I had a concern about a stupid toy I made using embroidery hoops
That had metal! But JoJo has zero, any other symptoms for heavy metal poisoning! Good appetite, still extremely alert, sleeping as normal cranking and biting as normal!

That’s why I mentioned it... they don’t always have acute symptoms. Sometimes it’s low level, and gives some symptoms here and there long term for seemingly “no reason”. My avian vet says it’s so common. Even if it doesn’t apply to JoJo (hope it doesn’t) I just wanted to get it out there for anyone else.

Anyway hopefully all is well, and it’s just something small that will pass and JoJo will be back to normal soon. How’s he doing?

 

[Laurasea]

How is Jo Jo doing? How are the feathers?

 

[EllenD]

I was wondering about this too, as this was a really extreme case of what looked to be mostly plucking combined with a little molting...And honestly (didn't want to say anything then), I was really quite surprised that his CAV didn't do at the very least a Fecal Culture/Gram-Stain to rule-out a Fungal/Yeast Infection, which very commonly causes sudden/acute extreme plucking...I think he said that his CAV didn't run any tests and actually mentioned just starting JoJo on an antibiotic, though you certainly don't want to do that without doing at least a Fecal, and I would say that running routine Blood-Work (including a heavy-metal panel, just to be sure) would be wise...I have routine Blood-Work and a Fecal run once a year on all of my guys at their yearly Wellness-Exams, just to be safe and so that I have recent "baseline" blood-work levels to compare to in-case they do happen to become ill...But when a perfectly healthy parrot starts plucking to the extreme like JoJo did, seemingly out of nowhere, most CAV's first do a Fecal and send the culture out to be grown, and then do the gram-stain/microscopy on the spot in the office to look for yeast, bacteria, parasites, etc. And with a parrot who plucks they typically run routine blood-work including a heavy-metal panel and a biochemical panel to rule-out any type of poisoning/toxicity...If JoJo is fine and not showing outward signs/symptoms of being sick at this point then it's not poisoning/toxicity or heavy-metal poisoning, as he'd be very ill by now, but back when he took him to the Vet over a month ago it definitely could have been heavy-metal poisoning or some kind of toxicity without any outward signs of illness, as they hide them so well...And even at this point, over a month since his Vet appointment and since the acute/sudden plucking started, he could still be suffering from a Fungal or Bacterial infection, either internally OR externally, or a parasite, and still not be showing outward signs/symptoms. Depending on what the infection or parasite is they can hide all outward signs/symptoms for months...

Either way I hope JoJo has stopped plucking himself like he was and that he's got all of his feathers growing back-in, because that was a very extreme case of sudden plucking that was very, very heavy...