Miku - Orange-Winged Amazon: Community Advice

[jgareri]

Hi everyone, my name is Joseph, I'm new to the forum. I've had Miku, my orange-winged amazon, for 23 years now (photo of her below from 2012 I believe). She has a wonderful personality, but about 18 months ago, developed a nasty feather over-preening / picking habit. I'm at my wits end trying to find a solution and thought that perhaps some other parrot lovers who may have seen or gone throught he same thing can provide some tips or advice. Spent countless hours searching, taking her to the vet, trying different things, but nothing has worked. She has stabilized, but here's a brief summary of what's happened to date:

• In April 2023, she started to remove more feathers than usual under her wings. Didn't seem serious, but took her in to one of the main avian vets in Toronto anyways.
  • The vet did blood tests, physical exam, the works - blood tests were not conclusive to anything and any major disease issues were ruled out pretty quickly.
  • The vet suggested three avenues to go with - lupron was one option, gabapentin was another, and there was a third related to the lupron. We decided to try the gabapentin to see if it would help and go from there.
• Fast forward a bit, and the gabapentin wasn't working well. We started lupron shots to see if that would make a bit of a difference. We did quite a few - there has been no material change.
• As of today, we're back on the gabapentin, twice daily, to try and keep her calm as she appears to be very irritated with her situation. Good news is that she isn't plucking to the point where her feathers don't come back - the bad news is that she keeps going at it so her body is not looking great. I believe there's hope, I am simply tired of waiting for the vets to deliver on something.
• I think its important to note that her personality is still wonderful. She's playful, wants to come out of her cage, and overall communicative. Her demeanor hasn't really changed, she is active and I try to keep her around as much as possible.

My question for the community here (I've spent a few nights getting a good feel for the community before joining) is two-fold:

1. Has anyone gone through this with their amazon before?
2. Any alternative / outside the box suggestions I should try? I'm open to new ideas to get her back to a good place physically so she feels better.

Kind regards and thank you all in advance for taking the time to respond,

Joseph

 

[texsize]

I can’t be of much help.
I had a red Lored Amazon (female) named Pacho that started to pull her feathers out in 3 patches on her chest.
I have a picture but can’t access it right now.
Took her to the vet and and he said it was a “brood patch”

Female pulls own feathers to line her nest or something.

She only did it the one time.

Just make sure there is nothing around she would want to make into a nest.

 

[jgareri]

Thanks for your input here. Its weird - after 20+ years, its hard to tell what triggered it. I am not sure if its nesting, but I'll definitely keep this in mind.

 

[SailBoat]

It is very sad to hear that your Orange-Winged Amazon is plucking feathers. It is uncommon for Orange-Winged Amazon to pluck. NOTE: Your Amazon's Beak is overly long and needs to trimmed back using two visits as there are a nerves near the end

Back when you first saw this and went to your vet, your vet was likely unaware that there is a skin bacteria that 'CAN' cause plucking and could have been treated. NOTE: There is only a moderate chance that your specific Amazon would have had that specific skin bacteria!

Our DYHA is a plucker as a result of surgery recovery and the issue of him picking at the surgery site. Now, ten years later, he is tail-less.

If your OWA is breaking the skin surface in addition to plucking, there is a method to help vasty reduce the damage to the skin.

 

[jgareri]

It is very sad to hear that your Orange-Winged Amazon is plucking feathers. It is uncommon for Orange-Winged Amazon to pluck. NOTE: Your Amazon's Beak is overly long and needs to trimmed back using two visits as there are a nerves near the end

Back when you first saw this and went to your vet, your vet was likely unaware that there is a skin bacteria that 'CAN' cause plucking and could have been treated. NOTE: There is only a moderate chance that your specific Amazon would have had that specific skin bacteria!

Our DYHA is a plucker as a result of surgery recovery and the issue of him picking at the surgery site. Now, ten years later, he is tail-less.

If your OWA is breaking the skin surface in addition to plucking, there is a method to help vasty reduce the damage to the skin.

Thanks so much for the reply. I appreciate the time you took to respond. The issue started under her wings, then obviously spread. Is this a potential pattern for the bacteria? Is there anything do now to try to curb the behaviour and try to get her back on track?

With regards to the beak, that is a very old photo - her beak is much better now.

 

[jgareri]

Thinking about the problem further today, I would like to pursue alternative avenues that I haven't tried yet. More specifically either a cone or sweater vest. Can anyone recommend one that they have had experience with or seen in action? The vets were not recommending to use them but at this point if there's a good chance that this is a reasonable short term fix I'd love to hear about it.

 

[SailBoat]

Thinking about the problem further today, I would like to pursue alternative avenues that I haven't tried yet. More specifically either a cone or sweater vest. Can anyone recommend one that they have had experience with or seen in action? The vets were not recommending to use them but at this point if there's a good chance that this is a reasonable short term fix I'd love to hear about it.

Sadly, the use of either the cone or the vest has resulted in limiting activities in the area of concern. BUT, as soon as the cone or vest is removed the plucking returns. You can try and with luck it may help your Amazon. But, if it does not work, it is neither her or either of your's fault.

At this point, plucking has become an ingrained behavior, which leaves little to cause a reduction let alone, a solution. There are thousands of Companion Parrots that are moderate to extensive pluckers, some to the point being near bare with the exception of the area outside the the reach of the beak (the head).

A very long time ago, we had a LC Amazon and she was one of those that was near bare. It took a long time for her to become comfortable with us and with much effort and very crewed fingers, she accepted us and became comfortable with being on us. She quick became comfortable with being out of her cage as we became comfortable with her being out. When I was not traveling I would leave her out of her cage 24 hours a day with her cage and perches in view of each other. That progressed to a point of her being out 24/7/365. Within a year she was growing back feathers and within three years she was flying.

WARNING: This is a single case and it has not been duplicated in the last thirty years, that I am aware of!

 

[jgareri]

Sadly, the use of either the cone or the vest has resulted in limiting activities in the area of concern. BUT, as soon as the cone or vest is removed the plucking returns. You can try and with luck it may help your Amazon. But, if it does not work, it is neither her or either of your's fault.

At this point, plucking has become an ingrained behavior, which leaves little to cause a reduction let alone, a solution. There are thousands of Companion Parrots that are moderate to extensive pluckers, some to the point being near bare with the exception of the area outside the the reach of the beak (the head).

Thanks so much for this message. I recognize that the behaviour is likely engrained, but this is something I haven't tried yet and really want to give a go on. While I recognize the probability of a successful outcome is likely lower than I'd like, I have few other viable options available to me.

Are ther any particular products that anyone can recommend or guide me towards?

 

[SailBoat]

I do not want to steal your want for your girl back as we would love a DYHA with a tail. But, at this point, we love him deeply for who he is! We are not ashamed of him nor his lack of a tail!

Amazons are true believers in " IF you cannot Love the one you want, Love the one you are with "!

Remember, If your efforts damage your Amazon's Trust Bond, things can become even worst!
Love Your Gal!!

 

[jgareri]

It's not necessarily about the feathers. Because it's more barbering than plucking, she's always fidgety and never comfortable. So if I can bring some level of peace for her, I'm willing to give it a go.

 

[texsize]

There is an African grey parrot named Einstein that lives in Texas.

The owners have used a special collar that closes with Velcro to help him recover from dermatitis.
Don’t know where they got it from though.

I used a plastic collar on one of my Cockatiels after surgery while her wound was healing.
It was very hard for her to move around with it.
Was glad it was only temporary.

My African grey was a plucking rescue.
She turned out ok in the end without resorting to extreme measures (but she never did get to the point of mutilation .