Urgent Cockatiel limp foot

[Mr. Bets]

Good evening, guys.

About 20 minutes ago, Tully was just sat on her cage door, singing away, She then tried to fly over to me and crash landed on the floor.

I immediately rushed over to her to see how she is and she cannot put any weight on her right leg. I must stress she's not in any pain, she's not bothered by it at all. She's sat with me now having cuddles, having a preen but I've given her leg a thorough examination and there is no brusing, she hasn't screeched at all in pain but it's just very limp. She wants to use it but she's struggling to grip anything and is putting all her weight on the other leg.

She can move around but as you can imagine, she's hobbling, not walking as she usually would. I've lowered all perches and food bowls in her cage incase she struggles, I've also put a soft towel in the bottom incase she loses her grip. Upon reading about it, it does seem like she's sprained it, not broken it.

My main problem is my local avian vet has recently closed down and the next closet one is in the next city which is miles away so taking her there is going to be extremely difficult.

Any advice/ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Birdbabe]

It won't bruise right away, could take few hours. Could be a sprain, or a fracture..not a compound fracture,,you would definitely see that! Is the foot hot, or cold? Hot usually means small fracture or sprain...cold usually means a break...just watch her for the next few hours..just because you examined the leg, dosent mean it wont be higher up into the hip/ pelvic area.., hope shes ok!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I hope her leg feels better soon! You just might have to make the trip to that other vet if there isn’t any good improvement. Keep us posted on how she is doing!

 

[Mr. Bets]

It won't bruise right away, could take few hours. Could be a sprain, or a fracture..not a compound fracture,,you would definitely see that! Is the foot hot, or cold? Hot usually means small fracture or sprain...cold usually means a break...just watch her for the next few hours..just because you examined the leg, dosent mean it wont be higher up into the hip/ pelvic area.., hope shes ok!

Her foot is warm, like when you hurt a finger or something and it gets warm.

I put her in to see her manoeuvrability and she can perch fine, she can move around her cage but she's absolutely reluctant to put weight on that foot at the moment. Like I said, she wants to use it but it's just limp. One observation is that she can move her toes somewhat but that's about it.

For now I've got her out with me again just to try and comfort her and other than the foot, she's fine.

 

[Smbrds]

Aww, accidents happen. I second taking her to the vet if she doesn't get any better with her foot. But I hope she gets better!

 

[finchly]

Maybe wait a day, since it's so difficult?

 

[Lady Jane]

With the possible complications of to injury she may need ex Ray and neuro exam. @Milo

 

[iamwhoiam]

Continue to monitor her. If you do not see any improvement then a vet visit is in order. Don't wait too long, though.

 

[Milo]

A number of things could have happened, including dislocation of her hip. At the very least she needs some pain meds. I know you said it would be difficult to get to a vet but that's really, really what should happen.

For right now you need to put her in an enclosure where she can't climb and risk further injury, a large clear tote would work great, you can put towels on the bottom and just place the food and water bowls on the floor of it so she can reach them easily

 

[enigma731]

She absolutely is in pain, there is no injury that would cause a foot to be unusable that would not be painful. Birds don't express pain the way we would expect, because it would make them vulnerable to predators in the wild. Instead they act like everything is fine and suffer silently. She is depending on you to get her the medical care she needs, as others have said.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

How’s she doing today?