Nigel got his legband caught on toy hook and I found him hanging upside down!!

[brianlinkles]

It was awful! I came home from doing some errands the other day and saw Nigel (my rosie baby) upside down. I thought he was just playing as usual and actually walked by and said to him that he looked like a bat! Well I had to run out again (getting school supplies, ugh!) When I got back home again I dropped off my purse and then went to let the birds out, I saw he was up in the corner again and put my hand in for him to hop up on. Well, he was just hanging by his leg band. I was so scared, could hardly get the clip off. When I took him out I realized that he was in the same place as I had seen him earlier in the day, upside down. I feel so, so awful my poor baby was not playing he was hanging upside down for probably 5-6 hours!! He wasn't flailing around or flapping (now I hear from my breeder that many times they flap, flap and then hang quietly) He let me wrap him in a blanket and hold him and cuddle him for the rest of the night. I saw that his foot was swollen but no blood and he could use his foot. The next day the swelling was down significantly but in the evening his toe was bleeding. I thought it was a little cut so I cleaned it up and put quick stop on it. The next day (yesterday)he seemed back to his normal self, eating, playing et. However last evening I took him out and there was blood at the bottom of the cage and his toe was bleeding again. I called my breeder they told me to bring him in. By the time we got there he had stopped bleeding. They told me that it seemed like his nail was still attached and that he must have cut the toe. Well... by the time we got him home and took him out of the carrier his entire toe nail had fallen off! His toe looks like a stump even though it was just the nail it looks like his toe was cut off! There is no bleeding and actually he is acting much more like normal but I feel AWFUL! If I had just paused to talk to him instead of walking by his cage that day I may have avoided this!
Has anyone ever had a bird lose the whole nail and then have it grow back? I am so sad for him that he has no nail! I am hoping that it is a possiblitly that he may regrow it. I know that I had a fingernail removed once and it grew back!
The lesson that this whole thing has taught me is to be hyper-vigilant about the clips that our toys hang from!

 

[Calace]

I would guess that it depends on how much the blood supply was affected as to whether to nail will grow back. I know in humans if there is significant damage to the area it won't grow back, or at least doesn't grow back normally. So hopefully there wasn't too much trauma to the area and all will be fine! Don't beat yourself up about it. It was an honest mistake that could happen to anyone!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Please don't blame yourself. How were you supposed to know he was stuck instead of just playing, like he normally does.

I'm glad he didn't injure himself worse than "just" dropping his toe nail. He will be fine, NO doubt in my mind. If the nail doesn't grow back, Nigel won't even miss it. Of course I hope it does grow back. Only time will tell.

Sometimes things happen with no fault of our own, and THIS is one of those cases. HUGS Lynn, Nigel will be all right, and again, don't feel guilty, please.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That's so sad, you must feel terribly awful! I know I would. The good thing is that he ended up being ok and other than his toe nail he is fine. Don't beat yourself up over this. Leg bands have always made me nervous, Rosie's were cut off(but they were causing her bad leg problems) and Kenji never had any.

It's speculated that Rosie lost a toenail many years ago, maybe at the same time she broke her foot/leg. The nail is just a nub, at one point in started to grow in at a odd angle but later broke off at the middle(no blood) and has since stayed a nub.

This image is when it was getting long, but still very short compared to how it should be

This is how the nail normally looks

 

[chippy]

I had a friend whose bird had issues with it's band, and so I removed Wlbur's band. None of our other birds were ever banded, and I prefer that.

 

[brianlinkles]

thank you for the pictures of Rosies nail. I feel better seeing that, because at least she has a little bit of a nail. I hope that Nigel gets something back, right now he just has this nubby toe. I am keeping an eye on him tonight, he still flies and eats and comes over to me however he seems sleepier than usual. It is making me nervous. He can use his foot and I know nothing is broken but he just isn't as crazy, energetic as he usually is. The breeder said that he could be a bit tired/pensive after such an event.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

thank you for the pictures of Rosies nail. I feel better seeing that, because at least she has a little bit of a nail. I hope that Nigel gets something back, right now he just has this nubby toe. I am keeping an eye on him tonight, he still flies and eats and comes over to me however he seems sleepier than usual. It is making me nervous. He can use his foot and I know nothing is broken but he just isn't as crazy, energetic as he usually is. The breeder said that he could be a bit tired/pensive after such an event.

His toe may be a little sore even if he isn't showing any tenderness towards it, and I bet the experience was a little scary. I would think he'd perk back up after a few days or a week