What a day....

[katiea]

I got a collar for my mutilating tiel, well fast forward to today and she had a blood feather. Not a big deal, I removed it, all is well. I decided to let her have a break from her collar because of how badly she freaked over the blood feather. Well an unrelated emergency happened with a different animal and I had to leave the house...completely forgot about her 10 minute supervised break. Came home half an hour later and remembered..oh god. She didn’t actually mutilate much, a couple very small places but nothing to panic about. Somehow she created 5, yes FIVE, more blood feathers on the same wing. I tried removing them but she was in a complete panic and she was bleeding an alarming amount. The vet is closed, and so is the other vet, just my luck. I call the breeder I got my 2 green cheeks from and what a lifesaver, the second time this week she’s stayed open late for me (she has a bird store as well as breeding). So I go to my truck and my purse was stolen, and I’m on E, the store is half an hour away. I try and make it but of course I run out of gas. I went to a dog & cat vet but no kwik stop there. Luckily I run out of gas in a petco parking lot. I “borrowed” some kwik stop, not something I’d usually ever do but she was still bleeding a lot and my ride wasn’t gonna be there for half an hour (she ended up getting a flat tire and taking longer!). This all started at 3pm and it’s now 7pm. The breeder had trouble removing all those blood feathers, even with me holding her down. But shockingly, after all this, padme still trusts me! I know letting her out of the collar was a mistake, you don’t need to tell me that. I just felt guilty about a collar and a blood feather happening to her in the span of 48 hours. Won’t happen again. Anyways, me and padme and sitting in my truck in the driveway now, because we’re locked out of the house. It’s been a LONG day

 

[TiredOldMan]

Deep breaths

 

[ChristaNL]

Oh my...it never rains but it pours.

Good thing:
Everybody is still alive and in one piece (minus the tire).


Shoppinglist for today: buy quick-stop

 

[EllenD]

"When it rains, it pours" is right...Wow.

You did the right thing, as once they start bleeding like that the clock has started, and you've got a very small window to get it stopped, especially in a smaller bird like a Cockatiel...

They are amazingly resilient, aren't they? I went through this with my female cockatiel, Duff, a little over a year ago, and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do to a pet by far. It happened after 9:00 p.m. of course, she was flying all around, playing before bed, and she landed funny I guess, because all of a sudden she had blood just running out of her. I went and grabbed the corn starch and the Qwik Stop, but after 10 minutes and it not even slowing I had to make a decision. I have a 24/7 Exotic's Hospital with a pretty good emergency-room set-up about 10 minutes from my house, but I didn't think she'd make it that long with the amount of blood she was losing (this was a huge primary-flight feather, it was massive, I had no idea it was there at all), and my car is a stick-shift, so there's no way I could hold pressure on it while driving, etc...So I made the decision to pull it, but I didn't realize that it was such a large wing feather, nor did I realize that it was down in the large bone of her wing...It was a nightmare. So I grabbed the needle-nose pliers and just did it. It took a huge amount of force to pull it out, and it made me sick to my stomach to do it...The sounds that came out of my baby girl made me almost vomit, but you know, she didn't bite me throughout the entire thing. It broke my heart though, because she had this look on her face like "Mommy why are you doing this to me?"...

After I got the thing out and got the bleeding cleaned-up, I had to then give her a bath because she was just coated in blood, so I did that quickly, and after I put the heating-pad down on the couch and put a blanket over it, and put her in the blanket...but she just got up and waddled on over, climbed up into my lap, and buried her head in my stomach. Even after all of that she still wanted her mamma. I'm convinced that had it been my Senegal he would have not only ripped my fingers off, but also would have been scared to death of me from that point on. But the Cockatiels are just such sweethearts...

Good job, and take a deep breath. Bad things come in-waves, this will pass...Think of it this way, your bird is alive and doing fine after having an emergency that could have ended very tragically. So things aren't that bad afterall..

 

[katiea]

Oh my...it never rains but it pours.

Good thing:
Everybody is still alive and in one piece (minus the tire).


Shoppinglist for today: buy quick-stop

"it never rains but it pours" so true, I haven't had any blood feathers in over 2 years and this week there's been 7

 

[katiea]

"When it rains, it pours" is right...Wow.

You did the right thing, as once they start bleeding like that the clock has started, and you've got a very small window to get it stopped, especially in a smaller bird like a Cockatiel...

They are amazingly resilient, aren't they? I went through this with my female cockatiel, Duff, a little over a year ago, and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do to a pet by far. It happened after 9:00 p.m. of course, she was flying all around, playing before bed, and she landed funny I guess, because all of a sudden she had blood just running out of her. I went and grabbed the corn starch and the Qwik Stop, but after 10 minutes and it not even slowing I had to make a decision. I have a 24/7 Exotic's Hospital with a pretty good emergency-room set-up about 10 minutes from my house, but I didn't think she'd make it that long with the amount of blood she was losing (this was a huge primary-flight feather, it was massive, I had no idea it was there at all), and my car is a stick-shift, so there's no way I could hold pressure on it while driving, etc...So I made the decision to pull it, but I didn't realize that it was such a large wing feather, nor did I realize that it was down in the large bone of her wing...It was a nightmare. So I grabbed the needle-nose pliers and just did it. It took a huge amount of force to pull it out, and it made me sick to my stomach to do it...The sounds that came out of my baby girl made me almost vomit, but you know, she didn't bite me throughout the entire thing. It broke my heart though, because she had this look on her face like "Mommy why are you doing this to me?"...

After I got the thing out and got the bleeding cleaned-up, I had to then give her a bath because she was just coated in blood, so I did that quickly, and after I put the heating-pad down on the couch and put a blanket over it, and put her in the blanket...but she just got up and waddled on over, climbed up into my lap, and buried her head in my stomach. Even after all of that she still wanted her mamma. I'm convinced that had it been my Senegal he would have not only ripped my fingers off, but also would have been scared to death of me from that point on. But the Cockatiels are just such sweethearts...

Good job, and take a deep breath. Bad things come in-waves, this will pass...Think of it this way, your bird is alive and doing fine after having an emergency that could have ended very tragically. So things aren't that bad afterall..

The feather that was bleeding the most was one she had been barbering, I couldn't even see it. It was just a little stub of a feather hidden in the rest of the blood feathers, I'm just glad the breeder was there to help.

I should've given her a bath as soon as we got home but she was already sleepy so I didn't. I spent an hour this morning trying to clean up the dried blood, I only got about half of it. The breeder put ointment on the spots she mutilated but she freaked out mid applying it and now there's a clump of feathers with dried ointment that didn't come out in this mornings bath. I'm surprised she still likes and trusts me

 

[GaleriaGila]

YOU are BRAVE!
I'll just count a few blessings here. Thank you for that.

 

[katiea]

YOU are BRAVE!
I'll just count a few blessings here. Thank you for that.

I'm counting my blessings too, I really thought she wouldn't trust me anymore but as I'm typing this she's napping on my shoulder. She is actually starting to bond to me already, calling for me as soon as I'm out of sight and always wanting to sit with me. Another blessing- she and the only other bird I have that's bonded to me, a gcc, get along. Not best friends by any means but I can be with both at the same time. Makes my life easier

 

[EllenD]

YOU are BRAVE!
I'll just count a few blessings here. Thank you for that.

I'm counting my blessings too, I really thought padme wouldn't trust me anymore but as I'm typing this she's napping on my shoulder. She is actually starting to bond to me already, calling for me as soon as I'm out of sight and always wanting to sit with me. Another blessing- padme and the only other bird I have that's bonded to me, a gcc, get along. Not best friends by any means but I can be with both at the same time. Makes my life easier

It's amazing how resilient they actually are. I too was certain that Duff was not ever going to let me go anywhere near her after that entire blood-feather ordeal; she must have been so confused as to why I was using a pair of needle-nose pliers and yanking a huge feather out of her wing-bone. And you have to keep in-mind that as a result of this, Duff can't ever fly again, due to the damage I caused to the feather follicle in the bone. It was her largest primary-flight feather, and it can't ever grow back-in again. So now she can glide pretty far, like if she's on top of her cage or on a tall play-stand she can make it across the room, and she never has a crash landing, but she can't ever again get any lift at all. And the pain that she must have felt when I was torquing on that feather, trying to get it out of the bone, well I can't imagine...But Duff was snuggling with me right after it happened, and she never once showed a bit of anger towards me, nor was she ever afraid of me, not once. I was incredibly thankful for that...

 

[katiea]

YOU are BRAVE!
I'll just count a few blessings here. Thank you for that.

I'm counting my blessings too, I really thought padme wouldn't trust me anymore but as I'm typing this she's napping on my shoulder. She is actually starting to bond to me already, calling for me as soon as I'm out of sight and always wanting to sit with me. Another blessing- padme and the only other bird I have that's bonded to me, a gcc, get along. Not best friends by any means but I can be with both at the same time. Makes my life easier

It's amazing how resilient they actually are. I too was certain that Duff was not ever going to let me go anywhere near her after that entire blood-feather ordeal; she must have been so confused as to why I was using a pair of needle-nose pliers and yanking a huge feather out of her wing-bone. And you have to keep in-mind that as a result of this, Duff can't ever fly again, due to the damage I caused to the feather follicle in the bone. It was her largest primary-flight feather, and it can't ever grow back-in again. So now she can glide pretty far, like if she's on top of her cage or on a tall play-stand she can make it across the room, and she never has a crash landing, but she can't ever again get any lift at all. And the pain that she must have felt when I was torquing on that feather, trying to get it out of the bone, well I can't imagine...But Duff was snuggling with me right after it happened, and she never once showed a bit of anger towards me, nor was she ever afraid of me, not once. I was incredibly thankful for that...

The worst blood feather for padme was one of her main flights, it might not grow back. But with how much she has barbered, the vet said at her checkup some or all of her flights might not grow back. I sure hope they do, she only barbers one wing, I clipped the other side but its still unbalanced.
She was screaming so loudly when the breeder removed the big blood feather, I couldn't look. I felt so guilty.

 

[MonicaMc]

There's really no reason to remove blood feathers if the bleeding will stop on their own...

Kind of worried that what you might be seeing is a weakened liver and if the blood didn't stop on it's own, then her blood isn't clotting the way it should.

 

[katiea]

There's really no reason to remove blood feathers if the bleeding will stop on their own...

Kind of worried that what you might be seeing is a weakened liver and if the blood didn't stop on it's own, then her blood isn't clotting the way it should.

I had a vet appointment for her already for the 18th, I'm going to try and get her one sooner when the clinic opens tomorrow. I called a different vet but all they had was the 20th or dropping her off for the day. But I didn't think dropping her off would work well for her, she's very tame with me and always steps up but she hates everyone besides me. Being around strangers all day would be too much for her I think

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm fine with dropping an animal off at the vets office *IF* I am a regular customer there. If I've never been there, I'm not comfortable dropping an animal off, period. I'd say it's a good choice to wait.

How is she doing today?

 

[katiea]

I'm fine with dropping an animal off at the vets office *IF* I am a regular customer there. If I've never been there, I'm not comfortable dropping an animal off, period. I'd say it's a good choice to wait.

How is she doing today?

She got an upper respiratory infection and has been at the vet since yesterday. She is responding to medicine and should come home tomorrow. The vet decided to remove the collar, it was recommended by a different vet but this vet decided to put her on an anti inflammatory medicine instead. She stopped eating and was tube fed once but she is eating now. The vet had a cockatiel up for adoption and they are chirping back and forth. Makes me reconsider not getting another tiel...I love the boys singing

 

[MonicaMc]

So glad you were able to get her in to a different vet and is on meds! She must be feeling miserable with a respiratory infection!

The two tiels I have will be up for adoption once they've received the all clear on health. The boy sure does like to sing, beak tap, "tch tch tch" noises. Really cute! I actually miss the first male tiel I took in as he had a *gorgeous* voice! He just didn't fit into my flock at the time, so I found him a home where I knew he'd be happier!

 

[katiea]

So glad you were able to get her in to a different vet and is on meds! She must be feeling miserable with a respiratory infection!

The two tiels I have will be up for adoption once they've received the all clear on health. The boy sure does like to sing, beak tap, "tch tch tch" noises. Really cute! I actually miss the first male tiel I took in as he had a *gorgeous* voice! He just didn't fit into my flock at the time, so I found him a home where I knew he'd be happier!

I've been thinking about adopting the vets tiel. His owners had some sort of scent diffuser right next to his cage so he wheezes now but otherwise healthy. Him and my other tiel get along so well too, aahhh so tempting. The 2 tiels I have now are bonded but not very strongly, they call for each other when they leave the room and spend lots of time together but don't enjoy living together, so I think they'd easily accept the new bird.

 

[MonicaMc]

Kind of sounds like my current situation! My one cockatiel and the two fosters are not bonded in any way, although I know my tiel, Casey, does enjoy having other tiels around.

 

[katiea]

Kind of sounds like my current situation! My one cockatiel and the two fosters are not bonded in any way, although I know my tiel, Casey, does enjoy having other tiels around.

Same thing with my green cheeks, they aren't bonded but enjoy each others company. I think they may end up bonding though, right now the new shy gcc gets a little overwhelmed by my very outgoing gcc.

 

[noodles123]

dang---I do not envy you. Good job keeping it together.
Maybe it was all of the adrenaline...you know, like when people lift cars etc in times of extreme emergency lol.
I HATE bird emergencies, and I tend to worry about everything, so again, good job!

 

[katiea]

dang---I do not envy you. Good job keeping it together.
Maybe it was all of the adrenaline...you know, like when people lift cars etc in times of extreme emergency lol.
I HATE bird emergencies, and I tend to worry about everything, so again, good job!

Thank you!
She ended up getting a respiratory infection and stayed at the vet for a couple days, she was about to come home but the vet thinks she has a problem with her digestive system now, and so the nightmare continues haha