Julie
02-08-2008, 11:58 AM
Oh, so when we woke up this morning, I could hear Carl wresteling around on his heated perch (hard plastic so his nails make noise). This is our first clue that he is itchy and un-comfortable.... :sadeyes:
So we wake up, get him into the bathroom, and yep he is picking again. It is pretty shallow so far, just about the size of a dime this time though. :eek:
Carl has several large chest feathers that he will pinch down to the skin and break it off. Or it could possibly be that as it grows in he will start to mess/bite at it then. Either way, the featehr folicle startes to get irritated so he will pick at the feather and the skin around the feather. Normally we see just his normal one feather that he does this to, but this time there were 2.... So out came the medicated cleaner from the vet, and the georges aloe gel for on top of just the wound, and the cone is back on. Which leads him to sit in his cage and click his beak constantly out of irritation.
Poor guy, I just don't know what else to do for him. We have had him 2 1/2 years now, and last spring was the first time that he started picking with us. It was when we were in the process of buying our first home, and we were out of the house more because the new home was an hours drive away. We got him healed up and over the late summer and early fall he was ok. Around late Sept he dug in again, but we caught it sooner as we had started to notice small behaviour changes in him when he starts his picking.:glare:
So it will be at least a couple weeks that he will have to stay in the cone. Out on the weekends/evenings when we can watch him very closely, and of course for showers. I just feel so bad for the little guy. He even eats less when he is in his cone, well of course it is difficult to do anything with that thing on, but I will make sure to give him extra of his favorites....
So we wake up, get him into the bathroom, and yep he is picking again. It is pretty shallow so far, just about the size of a dime this time though. :eek:
Carl has several large chest feathers that he will pinch down to the skin and break it off. Or it could possibly be that as it grows in he will start to mess/bite at it then. Either way, the featehr folicle startes to get irritated so he will pick at the feather and the skin around the feather. Normally we see just his normal one feather that he does this to, but this time there were 2.... So out came the medicated cleaner from the vet, and the georges aloe gel for on top of just the wound, and the cone is back on. Which leads him to sit in his cage and click his beak constantly out of irritation.
Poor guy, I just don't know what else to do for him. We have had him 2 1/2 years now, and last spring was the first time that he started picking with us. It was when we were in the process of buying our first home, and we were out of the house more because the new home was an hours drive away. We got him healed up and over the late summer and early fall he was ok. Around late Sept he dug in again, but we caught it sooner as we had started to notice small behaviour changes in him when he starts his picking.:glare:
So it will be at least a couple weeks that he will have to stay in the cone. Out on the weekends/evenings when we can watch him very closely, and of course for showers. I just feel so bad for the little guy. He even eats less when he is in his cone, well of course it is difficult to do anything with that thing on, but I will make sure to give him extra of his favorites....