Squished toe

[ctwo]

My Indian Ringneck snuck under my office chair and I heard him squawk just as I rolled back to stand up. We have hardwood floors.

I do not know exactly what happened but suspect the end of his large toe got pinched. I would have expected to see a lot of damage but all I could notice is the skin half way up the toe was somewhat pale.

He was definitely injured as he was nibbling at it, had a slight limp, and was tucking this foot, the opposite one he would usually stand and sleep on. The toe was in the right location and he had full range of motion, but I could see he struggled with grip on the cage bars. He even elected to use it to grip a nut while he ate. The toe got slightly bruised over the next couple of days.

This is about 4 days, the bruising is gone, but I see some skin damage.

I'm wondering if he could have a fractured or crushed bone, and would it heal on its own or should I still consider snow shoes? His talons are so long though so I think his toe would still twist and I think he will not tolerate anything attached to his foot.

 

[GaleriaGila]

First of all, what a beauty! And thank you for sharing and reaching out.
My first though is to seek advice of an avian vet.
Certified Avian Vets

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If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians

http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet.
International contacts, too.
If none are near you, maybe you could call and ask for a recommendation for somebody in your area.
And... sometimes, distant vets will offer brief thoughts or advice...

 

[ctwo]

Thanks for the advices.

I found the Duerr Splinting Manual and had been thinking of ways to create a shoe using a curved piece of plastic tube cut out to match his toes. I don't think flat would be good for him and a splint would need to stabilize his talons as well.

He took two very deep baths in succession the other day, which I think facilitated the slight skin tear to advance to the end of his toe and the top layer peeled forward like a reverse hangnail. He was working on pulling that off, so I used a small scissor to remove it for him before he caused any deep tearing. He already had a fresh layer of skin under that so it was just the top layer that came off.

He continues to improve and the past couple of days I would not even know he ever had an injury, and yesterday I caught him napping while perched on his injured toe side. He is able to grip parallel bars on the side of his cage and climb around like normal, and no more limping. It looks like he'll come through without any lasting affects, and that's good because the end of the same toe on the other side has never been able to fully grip, although he uses it just fine.

Now I work on measures to ensure this does not happen again. I wish he would just fly to me but he has never been one to fly ever since I got him at 5yrs old. I estimate he was born in 2014 with the terse information given to me then.