Ona’s Thread

[onamom]

I love reading your updates about Ona!


Albie has the swan water fountain too, he loves his but doesnt like it filled too deep , im thinking about adding a layer or 2 of decorative pebbles to it to make the bowl shallower for him .

We need an Albie thread!!

Oooh the pebbles are a great idea!!! I was trying to think of ways to make it more shallow as well. I have a small, round glass bowl flipped upside down in it now as a platform. She hasn’t used it though. I’m still not sure if she will want to use the fountain often or not. Her favorite way to bathe is perched on my finger under the kirchen sink sprayer. I’ve showed it to her a couple more times and she is interested but still wants the sink for a bath.

 

[Stitchthestitch]

I probably should hahah

 

[HeatherG]

We need an Albie thread!!

Oooh the pebbles are a great idea!!! I was trying to think of ways to make it more shallow as well. I have a small, round glass bowl flipped upside down in it now as a platform. She hasn’t used it though. I’m still not sure if she will want to use the fountain often or not. Her favorite way to bathe is perched on my finger under the kirchen sink sprayer. I’ve showed it to her a couple more times and she is interested but still wants the sink for a bath.

I am going to try the pebbles for Willow because he might want to play with them. It would be too deep without the pebbles, I think.

 

[onamom]

Ahhh! Look what Chewy sent me today!! Love them so much.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh that's lovely of them, what a pretty portrait! Almost as pretty as Ona herself ... *almost*

 

[HeatherG]

Wow! Is that actually a picture of HER?

How do you rate (or, how does Ona rate)?

I am letting Willow get used to the bird bath but he won’t go in it yet. Jasper will drink out of it but won’t hop in either.

 

[Cottonoid]

That's so cool!!!

 

[onamom]

Wow! Is that actually a picture of HER?

How do you rate (or, how does Ona rate)?

I am letting Willow get used to the bird bath but he won’t go in it yet. Jasper will drink out of it but won’t hop in either.

Yep they painted it from the photo I uploaded on her profile. In the actual photo she is on my arm - they turned it into a branch.

Good luck with the bird bath! Ona hasn’t used hers a second time yet. She just loves bathing perched on my finger under the kitchen sink sprayer. So I’m not sure if I can convince her the fountain is better. She wants to be on my finger ALWAYS.

 

[HeatherG]

Yep they painted it from the photo I uploaded on her profile. In the actual photo she is on my arm - they turned it into a branch.

Good luck with the bird bath! Ona hasn’t used hers a second time yet. She just loves bathing perched on my finger under the kitchen sink sprayer. So I’m not sure if I can convince her the fountain is better. She wants to be on my finger ALWAYS.

Yeah willow likes to be near me and is pretty happy with the shower but I have long hair and feel I have enough to do without a bird with me.

That’s an amazing painting! And she’s a pretty girl…

 

[onamom]

Today Ona had a couple more “firsts”. First birdie bread!

She likes it. Spy the crumbs on her beaky:

She also had her first official nail trim and end-of-beak smoothing at the store where we got her. I’ve been training her “give me foot” and filing her nails while I hold a foot. She’s making a lot of progress with it but I can’t reach her back nails that way and they were getting pointy. Now I feel sad though because she can’t grip as well and has fallen off her perches a couple of times I can tell she doesn’t like it and isn’t being as adventurous as normal. I hope she adjusts soon. I kinda wish I would’ve held off the nails and just kept filing them instead.

 

[Stitchthestitch]

She will absolutely adjust , it took albie about 3 or 4 to adjust when he had his done last year .



I felt so guilty he couldnt grip that i said id never do it again ....now his nails are Super sharpe and wont let me file them im having a huge internal debate about getting them done as mychest and shoulders are being shredded (he likes going under my shirts and then he digs his feet to push forward )

 

[HeatherG]

She will absolutely adjust , it took albie about 3 or 4 to adjust when he had his done last year .



I felt so guilty he couldnt grip that i said id never do it again ....now his nails are Super sharpe and wont let me file them im having a huge internal debate about getting them done as mychest and shoulders are being shredded (he likes going under my shirts and then he digs his feet to push forward )

I file or clip when nails get that sharp because I start to jerk away from the bird. I don’t want the bird to get hurt so I just feel forced to do it.

You can only take a tiny bit off the nails to keep the fairly long but decrease the punctures they make.

 

[onamom]

@Stitchthestitch @HeatherG yeah that is what I liked about the filing - they can stay long and no longer cut me. It’s taken a long time for me but training her with letting me hold her foot really does pay off. I can only file the middle two in very short bursts though. I’m not sure how I can reach the back two like that.

@Stitchthestitch it makes me feel better that you also had nail trim remorse. I think she already seems a little better this morning but I still do feel bad. And I realized I can’t train her on the filing with her nails freshly cut. Don’t want to hurt her. I suppose I could just put the file up to her toe and not actually move it just so we can still work on it. I ended up putting some towels at the bottom of her sleep cage last night because I was so paranoid about her falling in the night.

 

[HeatherG]

@Stitchthestitch @HeatherG yeah that is what I liked about the filing - they can stay long and no longer cut me. It’s taken a long time for me but training her with letting me hold her foot really does pay off. I can only file the middle two in very short bursts though. I’m not sure how I can reach the back two like that.

@Stitchthestitch it makes me feel better that you also had nail trim remorse. I think she already seems a little better this morning but I still do feel bad. And I realized I can’t train her on the filing with her nails freshly cut. Don’t want to hurt her. I suppose I could just put the file up to her toe and not actually move it just so we can still work on it. I ended up putting some towels at the bottom of her sleep cage last night because I was so paranoid about her falling in the night.

I just take the tiniest bit of nail off with clippers. But Willow chews his own nails short. I have so many pictures of him thinking with his foot in his mouth.

Ona is such a good bird.

 

[onamom]

It is not a good day. Or maybe more like a week. I made an urgent care vet appointment for Ona at my local vet. They can get her in tomorrow. I posted a thread last week questioning if I should get her to a vet because she was more sleepy in the evenings than normal. As I posted in that thread, she returned to normal for a several days after and all seemed well. Now bad things just keep happening.

Thursday she broke her first blood feather. It wasn't too bad but it was scary since it was my first time experiencing that. Something startled her and she broke it flying around. It bled a little but not too much. I did a lot of research on the subject so I'm better prepared for how to care for it next time. It's fine now but she did lose one of her big, pretty, blue flight feathers that was growing in.

Saturday she had her nail trim that I posted about above. She was subdued for a couple of days but otherwise normal and we figured it was all just from the trim.

All day yesterday, and so far today, she is standing on one foot A LOT. Not always the same foot. And she is walking and moving around normally. But whenever she is perched, even while she is eating, she is on one foot. Last night she started napping early again and was more quiet than normal. I had anxiety nightmares about her all night; waiting for the vet to open to call. They agree she needs to be seen but said tomorrow should be fine because she is still eating and drinking as normal. I have to take her for a drop off appointment where I drop her off in the morning and wait for them to call me They can't guarantee when she will be home depending on what they want to do. I will be devastated if she ends up spending the night there.

It's all very odd because she truly does seem mostly normal - bright eyed, eating, drinking, playing some (but maybe not as much), climbing around her cage, doing training sessions just fine. And then she does those little things that just give me that bad gut wrenching feeling like napping or sitting puffed up or standing on one foot. I can't imagine how she could be ill. She's only 9 months old, is never around other birds, and eats a nutritious diet. Either way, she is most definitely going to the vet.

I have a lot of anxiety in general and have been so worried about her I feel sick. I dread dropping her off and leaving her at the vet already. She will be scared and she will miss me.

-----

Edit: Of course in the two hours since I wrote this she has been hyper, playing all over her cage, eating her chop and pellets, foraging, calling "step up", and mostly standing on two feet. *shrug* Maybe she is just really upset about her nail trim. I am still keeping her appointment because I won't stop worrying until I have confirmation she's all good.

 

[HeatherG]

I am glad you will bring her in. It’s better to be too cautious then not cautious enough. And you love her very much.

 

[LaManuka]

It is not a good day. Or maybe more like a week. I made an urgent care vet appointment for Ona at my local vet. They can get her in tomorrow. I posted a thread last week questioning if I should get her to a vet because she was more sleepy in the evenings than normal. As I posted in that thread, she returned to normal for a several days after and all seemed well. Now bad things just keep happening.

Thursday she broke her first blood feather. It wasn't too bad but it was scary since it was my first time experiencing that. Something startled her and she broke it flying around. It bled a little but not too much. I did a lot of research on the subject so I'm better prepared for how to care for it next time. It's fine now but she did lose one of her big, pretty, blue flight feathers that was growing in.

Saturday she had her nail trim that I posted about above. She was subdued for a couple of days but otherwise normal and we figured it was all just from the trim.

All day yesterday, and so far today, she is standing on one foot A LOT. Not always the same foot. And she is walking and moving around normally. But whenever she is perched, even while she is eating, she is on one foot. Last night she started napping early again and was more quiet than normal. I had anxiety nightmares about her all night; waiting for the vet to open to call. They agree she needs to be seen but said tomorrow should be fine because she is still eating and drinking as normal. I have to take her for a drop off appointment where I drop her off in the morning and wait for them to call me They can't guarantee when she will be home depending on what they want to do. I will be devastated if she ends up spending the night there.

It's all very odd because she truly does seem mostly normal - bright eyed, eating, drinking, playing some (but maybe not as much), climbing around her cage, doing training sessions just fine. And then she does those little things that just give me that bad gut wrenching feeling like napping or sitting puffed up or standing on one foot. I can't imagine how she could be ill. She's only 9 months old, is never around other birds, and eats a nutritious diet. Either way, she is most definitely going to the vet.

I have a lot of anxiety in general and have been so worried about her I feel sick. I dread dropping her off and leaving her at the vet already. She will be scared and she will miss me.

-----

Edit: Of course in the two hours since I wrote this she has been hyper, playing all over her cage, eating her chop and pellets, foraging, calling "step up", and mostly standing on two feet. *shrug* Maybe she is just really upset about her nail trim. I am still keeping her appointment because I won't stop worrying until I have confirmation she's all good.

I think you are very wise to have your precious girl seen to as well. Hopefully she's just being a little drama queen but you would feel awful (understatement to end all understatements right there!) if something was wrong and it was missed. Sending all my very best wishes and hopes that your sweet Ona will be ok

 

[Cottonoid]

I agree!

I spent a LOT of time and energy panicking about things Cotton did/does, and it's been worth every moment and every dollar since to have an opinion from a professional who lives outside my head

There have absolutely been things that turned out to be normal for his species or just him during certain times of year or certain molting patterns - but how would I know?!?!

He also was VERY I'll when I met him but it was overlooked because of his personality and activity levels - so I am 100% on the side of checking with an avian vet if you're able to.

Tell Ona she has a whole lot of people hoping she's just scaring you for no reason!

 

[onamom]

Thanks all I appreciate all the reassurance that I’m doing the right thing. She’s been pretty normal throughout the day so I hope she’s just been a weird little drama queen. I only wish I didn’t have to drop her off and leave her at the vet but that’s the only way I can get in sooner. I absolutely hate leaving my dogs at the vet too. If I could stay with her I would feel so much better about it. I’ll be counting down the minutes tomorrow waiting to bring her home.

 

[onamom]

Annnnd she is perfectly healthy! We are waiting to pick her up now. The vet said she may be tucking her feet more just because she is cold to warm them up (it is winter here) or she could be just really really relaxed. She’s having bloodwork sent to the lab just because she hasn’t ever had that done before so we will have a baseline. But she said she looks great and her diet and everything we’re doing at home is great.

When the tech called me to get her history she said “and it sounds like she says step up?” Yup…. That’s my girl. She was telling them step up as soon as they got her inside.

Can’t wait to see her!