Kiwibird08
Jogging around the block
It's been a while since I've posted on here. Kiwi has overall been in good health, happy and all that good stuff. Got an all clear from the vet in November at his last well-bird exam, in fact she said he was healthier than most amazons she saw his age. In the past few months though I started noticing him preening his butt region more than the rest of himself. At first I thought I was being crazy/paranoid as my husband hadn't noticed anything wrong and thought I was being a hypochondriac. But as time has gone on, I have become more and more convinced he is definitely preening his butt much more frequently than anywhere else. In the past 2 or so weeks, the preening has become frantic and the feathers in the region have become frayed and blackened at the ends from the excessive preening (this is nowhere else on his body, the rest of him is in perfect feather). Last night I saw his leg twitch a bit before he started frantically preening his butt, which for me was the last straw. He has an appointment to see the vet (he sees a CAV) next week, but I'm just concerned at this point as I can see he's clearly experiencing some kind of discomfort (my interpretation of his behavior is that of intense itchiness). More looking to know what to prepare myself for when he sees the vet next week, as I have every confidence she'll be able to figure out what is wrong. I just need some kind of idea if I need to brace myself for something bad.
Kiwi is about 20, eats a mostly fresh foods diet, healthy weight of 420 grams, very active, gets several baths a week, never been sick in the 9+ years we've had him except when very newly adopted (came home with a URI which was promptly treated with antibiotics). I have noticed absolutely no other "symptoms" of illness, such as sleeping more than normal, being less active, eating less, abnormal poops etc... He seems totally fine except his itchy butt. He does come out and about quite a bit with me, but this started when it was still far too cold out for him to go outside and he had been indoors all winter with no exposure to the outside world for several months (I think his last outing before I first noticed a suspected increase in preening in the butt region in Feb/Mar was his vet appointment in November). Anyone ever heard of anything like this before? Ideas?
Here is his vent. It seems perhaps there are some little feathers growing where they shouldn't be and perhaps that is where the itchiness is stemming from? I see no lumps or redness or anything (though I've never looked all that closely at a birds butt to know what normal looks like per se). Please note the ratty blackened feathers are no where else on his body but in his butt region, presumably from excessive preening/itching down there:
Kiwi is about 20, eats a mostly fresh foods diet, healthy weight of 420 grams, very active, gets several baths a week, never been sick in the 9+ years we've had him except when very newly adopted (came home with a URI which was promptly treated with antibiotics). I have noticed absolutely no other "symptoms" of illness, such as sleeping more than normal, being less active, eating less, abnormal poops etc... He seems totally fine except his itchy butt. He does come out and about quite a bit with me, but this started when it was still far too cold out for him to go outside and he had been indoors all winter with no exposure to the outside world for several months (I think his last outing before I first noticed a suspected increase in preening in the butt region in Feb/Mar was his vet appointment in November). Anyone ever heard of anything like this before? Ideas?
Here is his vent. It seems perhaps there are some little feathers growing where they shouldn't be and perhaps that is where the itchiness is stemming from? I see no lumps or redness or anything (though I've never looked all that closely at a birds butt to know what normal looks like per se). Please note the ratty blackened feathers are no where else on his body but in his butt region, presumably from excessive preening/itching down there:
