Spay, Neuter?

[tats4lyfe2]

Hi All, I was trying to research about spaying my african grey. It is one option I have (supposedly) because of a cloacal prolapse. OMG This bird is 15 yr old, dna tested female. I've had her since 3 mo old, finish hand feeding. She had surgery last Tuesday and is doing better. The 1st suggestion was get another bird! Spaying or behavior modification. Apparently she is sexually frustrated and bored out of her mind... She has many toys, a tree she hangs out in everyday. I am so glad to have read all these comments about spaying birds. It just doesn't seem right to spay however, if they take the stitches out, she will prolapse again. What to do?? I REALLY don't want another bird Dang...or more!!! It also doesn't seem right that she has to have stitches in her vent with only enough room to defecate...sheesh.
A friend (ex breeder) suggest to donate her to a breeder and ask for a baby...wow like trade her in I have to make a decision soon, any suggestions would be considered/appreciated....thanks....

 

[itzmered]

Welcome to the forum Laura. We have a few other members on here that have dealt with hormonal issues and prolapses. You should hop on over to Welcome Lane and introduce yourself

 

[HungryBird]

I would like to point out that it is possible to have pairs of birds without having baby birds. Not giving nest boxes or anything similar helps a lot.

 

[JLcribber]

If she is already having cloacal prolapse you don't want her laying "any" eggs at all. I understand the frustration part but "trading her in" to a breeder is absurd. Just so he can get a few possible clutches out of her and probably kill her in the process?

It's very possible to have a "pair" of birds without having chicks simply by replacing the eggs with fakes (birdy birth control) but I would not want this bird laying eggs of any sort.

If she is undergoing surgery anyway and you have a skilled competent vet, a bird hysterectomy may be a viable option.

 

[Chicklette]

I would not risk spaying unless it is needed for medical purposes. Birds are just so fragile and sensitive. Good post.

 

[Wasabisaurus]

I agree with Melody. As I have stated, Wasabi, the DYA, one of the hottest hot three, can be very difficult when he is hormonal. But he is an Amazon. An Amazon male. And somebody didn't raise him right. So yeah, he is a bit of a terror when he is hormonal. Neutering him has been mentioned to me. No bloody way. It is not medically necessary. He is who he is. It's up to me to respect his hormonal moods and that beak, or I bleed.

 

[Emie M]

I’m curious about the entire process of breeding birds in general. Because parrots are wild animals and not domesticated do our breeders breed for more docile birds (or less moody when breeding season comes along)? Of course I guess the main problem is how people deal with their birds. If you reward their behavior unknowingly (or knowingly) you’re tempting your bird to act that way and making them ‘problem birds’ only because you allow it. Also giving your bird the chance to thinking about breeding (allowing them to go into small dark spaces, having nesting boxes, and so on) doesn’t help (from my understanding). But anywho I just find it interesting and I wonder what goes into the breeding process since I know if the actual parents raise the chick the bird will not be tame. And I wonder if its like the horse industry? Breeding there is because someone wants the genetics of that particular horse but
doesn’t look into the fertility rate of that specific mare because if your prize mare doesn’t breed usually people will keep trying and trying until they finally get the foal they want. So anywho just curious if anyone knows the exact specifics bird breeders look for when breeding.

 

[Emie M]

Hi All, I was trying to research about spaying my african grey. It is one option I have (supposedly) because of a cloacal prolapse. OMG This bird is 15 yr old, dna tested female. I've had her since 3 mo old, finish hand feeding. She had surgery last Tuesday and is doing better. The 1st suggestion was get another bird! Spaying or behavior modification. Apparently she is sexually frustrated and bored out of her mind... She has many toys, a tree she hangs out in everyday. I am so glad to have read all these comments about spaying birds. It just doesn't seem right to spay however, if they take the stitches out, she will prolapse again. What to do?? I REALLY don't want another bird Dang...or more!!! It also doesn't seem right that she has to have stitches in her vent with only enough room to defecate...sheesh.
A friend (ex breeder) suggest to donate her to a breeder and ask for a baby...wow like trade her in I have to make a decision soon, any suggestions would be considered/appreciated....thanks....

When you say bored out of her mind, do you ever take her out? And not just out of her cage but I mean out out, like going to the store or just for a little joy ride and do you give her a lot of attention? Sometimes it’s hard to break a habit once there’s a positive stimulus involved but it’s possible to change her attention to something else. I know this is about 3 years late but I’m curious what happened to her?

 

[Klomonx]

Personally, I wish there was a way to spay or neuter birds more safely. The aggressiveness of a bird is a fine reason to have them calmed down in that matter; why? Because we do the exact same with dogs and the like. A LOT of aggressive dogs are simply because they are intact, not always from bad treatment. And besides, a lot of people jump on the breeder bandwagon, and that only creates problems.'Fixing' a parrot would also be helpful for egg binding - I mean seriously, I wish it was more conventional for humans to be 'fixed', having those monthly gifts is terrible for my emotional state, etc.
And if we give our birds psychotic medications, why not hormonal control? Even a bird raised well could be rehomed for these reasons; you can't look down on ALL the owners of to-be rehomed parrots of the world. (Now if the parrot was abused, etc. that's a different scenario). Some people just don't KNOW. I read a lot of books when I was young before Phoenix, and was I prepared for anything, especially her bites? NOPE.

 

[danadear]

Eerie.. I had not seen this thread but was thinking about this exact thing on my way to work. One day I believe it will be safe and it will be common practice to neuter parrots. And if it gives them a healthier and happier life I am all for it.

I truly believe this in my heart..I think it would be best if parrots were never captured to be kept as pets in the first place. I love my birds and cannot imagine life without them but if I could go back in time and ensure they were never entered into the pet industry I believe that I would. It is not natural for them to be in our homes.

Obviously I know that many of them are happy and well cared for, mine included, but they are not free. Can an animal ever truly be happy when they are not free? Just because they have never known freedom doesn't mean they don't crave it. Don't know how I got off on that tangent.

 

[karen256]

I don't think spaying/neutering is safe but there are implants which function as a temporary spay/neuter. I was looking into the suprelorin implants at one time, just since my GCC decided to lay 2 clutches of eggs this year instead of one. In other countries, suprelorin is used to temporarily fix zoo animals, both male and female (it works for about a year and can be removed sooner), and also I found people using them on 'retired' chickens adopted from egg farms to give them a break from laying for awhile. And, it has been used in parrots too - mostly larger birds. Of course the downside is that it works like lupron, by causing increased hormone production until the body responds by shutting down hormone production. And a lot of people don't like that. Plus, in the US, it seems it is only available for use in ferrets.

 

[hockeymomwood]

I was at a Phoenix Landing class last year. The speaker, Dr.Scott Stahl, said that they are getting close to being able to regularly neuter birds.

 

[danadear]

Ellen I am happy to hear that.

 

[roxynoodle]

There are hormonal injections and the implants. My Grey, Miss Merlin, takes Lupron to control her hormones because she has an inherited condition (we think) and hormones can cause her to have seizures and other neurological issues. She is the only bird I've done this with, but Lupron injections can take away those hormonal and nesty urges in females. There is an injection for males also, but I have no experience with it.

In fact Merlin started getting nesty again today so I will be scheduling her an appointment to get her next Lupron injection.

 

[cassiesdad]

Eerie.. I had not seen this thread but was thinking about this exact thing on my way to work. One day I believe it will be safe and it will be common practice to neuter parrots. And if it gives them a healthier and happier life I am all for it.

I truly believe this in my heart..I think it would be best if parrots were never captured to be kept as pets in the first place. I love my birds and cannot imagine life without them but if I could go back in time and ensure they were never entered into the pet industry I believe that I would. It is not natural for them to be in our homes.

Obviously I know that many of them are happy and well cared for, mine included, but they are not free. Can an animal ever truly be happy when they are not free? Just because they have never known freedom doesn't mean they don't crave it. Don't know how I got off on that tangent.

Dana, I agree completely-in a perfect world, humans would not keep avians as "pets", and we don't know if they crave freedom,or not. The only thing that would come close to the situation, I believe, is a formerly clipped bird being able to regrow their feathers and fly again.
I've seen that situation- the bird just looks happier to be able to fly, than not.
Sorry that's hijacking the thread.
As for being able to choose to spay/neuter a bird, for non-medical reasons, well,I think that will become the next "hot button" topic for people with avians...

 

[MenomaMinx]

I just read about someone who had their female bird fixed successfully recently.think it was another forum.I'll look for it later and link it here.