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Digby Cut Her Foot

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BethySue

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G'morning, everybody.

Digby is still asleep. I peaked in at her to make sure she was okay, and she was.

Thanks everybody who is praying for her and thinking of her. I appreciate it.

BF, I did notice yesterday that the joint where her foot and leg meet did seem a little swollen in comparison to her other leg. This was new yesterday, though it may have actually started Friday and I didn't notice until yesterday. I will try to get a picture in a little while. She has been getting cayenne daily. I've been putting it on her foot and it's in her food.

I will mention gout to the vet tomorrow, especially since one of them we talked to yesterday said something about a possible mineral deficiency. She can be a picky eater, so a mineral or vitamin deficiency is definitely a possibility. My initial fear from the beginning was that this was just a symptom of another, underlying issue, but when she started to do better and I couldn't find any information to support that, I let it go, thinking she just got hurt somehow.
 

BethySue

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I tried to get pictures to show the swelling on her foot. It is the right foot I'm more concerned about, but I think her left foot is also a little swollen. First picture shows both feet, second picture shows her right foot, and the last picture shows her left foot.

DigRightFoot2.JPG DigRightFoot1.JPG DigLeftFoot.JPG

She managed to make it bleed again sometime early this morning, but it wasn't much and had stopped before I saw it.

I mentioned gout to my mom and she remembered that one of the vets she had talked to yesterday when we were both calling around said it could be gout.
 

Anne & Gang

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poor girliekins :hug8:
 

Quest

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Keeping Digby in my thoughts and prayers.:hug8:
 

all4stvoyager

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Don t they recommend cherries for gout in birds? You could try that. It won't hurt if it isn't gout.
 

LovieLuvr

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Poor girl :( I hope things don't get any worse for her
 

BethySue

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Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

I thought I would give a quick update before I went to bed. Digby isn't much different today than she was yesterday. I had her out for quite a while as she seems to be happier when she's not in the tank. She was being very sweet, wanting to me to give her scritches, and went to sleep while on my shoulder after she played in my hair. I put her in her cage for about a half hour so she could play, and she just sat in one spot playing with her favourite toy. I noticed that when I have her out of the hospital tank, she pays less attention to her foot and doesn't pick at it and make it bleed. She was feeling well enough today that she even ate a new food without having to be coaxed into it at all.

Her poops seem drier than normal, and they also seemed that way a few times yesterday (but not every time). I was worried that she wasn't drinking, but I have seen her drink a few times. Today I only gave her wet foods so I could get a bit more water in her, even though I know she is drinking.

Don t they recommend cherries for gout in birds? You could try that. It won't hurt if it isn't gout.
I did find some information about that. I will keep it in mind. Thank you.
 

BethySue

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We are on our way to the vet. There haven't been any changes in how she is since yesterday, though I will note that she hasn't made her foot bleed since yesterday morning and the scab looks slightly better today.
 

Daisy's Mom

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We are on our way to the vet. There haven't been any changes in how she is since yesterday, though I will note that she hasn't made her foot bleed since yesterday morning and the scab looks slightly better today.
Oh poor sweet little Digby.. :( Please let us know how the vet visit goes.. :hug8:
 

BethySue

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We are done at the vet, but not at home yet. We're waiting for one of her meds to be compounded.

The vet is hoping that the cuts were caused by the new pedicure perch that had been in her cage for a couple weeks and that it's being slow to heal because she keeps messing with it. She gave us an antibiotic, Baytril, and an anti-inflammatory medicine, Metacam (I forget the more technical name). She also explained to us how we can bandage her foot if we need to. She and one of the techs went over husbandry and diet, and said it sounded like we knew what we were doing. She said that other than her foot, Digby looks good, weight-wise and whatnot.

She said if we do not see improvement with these meds, or if we do and it happens again, then we'll look at other possible causes.
 

Quest

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Bethany,
How is Digby? Taking the meds like
a good birdie? Hope the foot is healing
and the leaning has resolved. Let us know.
:hug8:
 

Thugluvgrl187

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Aw poor Digby. How is she today?
 

BethySue

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Digby is doing a little better. Her foot does look like it's starting to heal. She had her last dose of Metacam yesterday morning, and we still have a few doses of the Baytril left. She gives me a little bit of hard time about taking her meds, but she's not being too bad about it. I noticed that she is starting to put the tiniest bit of weight on her foot.

As for the leaning, she stopped doing it once she was on the Metacam. Right now, though, she is sleeping and it looks like she is leaning a little. She is not doing it while she is just resting though.

She has not picked the scab off since Sunday. It looks like the swelling has gone down a bit too. She has not lost a significant amount of weight during this whole ordeal. She was weighing in about 3 grams less than usual for a couple of days, but this week, she gained that back plus an extra three grams, which puts her at 49 grams.

All in all, I think she is improving, even if it is slow and just a little.
 

LovieLuvr

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I'm happy to see that she's doing better!
 

Billie Faye

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Glad to hear she is doing better!:hug8:
 

Ziggy's Parrot Place

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Hello Bethany and Flock,

I am going to suggest, although you probably already have, thoroughly examine all of her toys to see if you can determine the source of injury. If a toy is not suspected then I would proceed to look for other hidden dangers. A particulary nasty source of injury is those "Jingle Bell" round bells. It is all too easy for a toe to get trapped in those!

I have not posted here in a long time but am planning on being more active. I do have a website and, among other things, sell Dr. Burkett's Avian First Aid DVD. This is a great DVD to watch and keep on hand for emergencies such as this. I am not sure about the rules but have inquired. Until then, I will not be posting anything about my website.

I hope that Digby will be just fine.
 

BethySue

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Another update. :(

Digby's in more pain again. Yesterday she mostly just laid around (literally laying). She's not laying on her side, but she's doing what she can to take weight off her feet. As I mentioned yesterday, we finished up the Metacam (the pain medicine) on Thursday. I also noticed the tiniest spots of blood this morning. I think her picking at the scab is directly influenced by how much pain it is causing her.

One of the vet techs called yesterday morning to check on Digby. She suggested that if her pain returns again, to call and talk to the vet today to see if we could get more Metacam. I called this morning and left a message requesting the vet to call back. I'm waiting for her to call me.

On a more positive note, her foot IS looking better. :) She's still eating and drinking. She's also playing a little, mostly tearing up the paper towel in the bottom of the tank.

Hello Bethany and Flock,

I am going to suggest, although you probably already have, thoroughly examine all of her toys to see if you can determine the source of injury. If a toy is not suspected then I would proceed to look for other hidden dangers. A particulary nasty source of injury is those "Jingle Bell" round bells. It is all too easy for a toe to get trapped in those!

I have not posted here in a long time but am planning on being more active. I do have a website and, among other things, sell Dr. Burkett's Avian First Aid DVD. This is a great DVD to watch and keep on hand for emergencies such as this. I am not sure about the rules but have inquired. Until then, I will not be posting anything about my website.

I hope that Digby will be just fine.
William, I have checked everything in her cage multiple times. The only thing I could see it being is the same thing the vet thinks it was, which is a pedicure perch that was put in her cage about two weeks before this happened. The first week and a half, she ignored it, but then started using it a lot. There are no jingle bell toys in her cage. Several years ago, I had sugar gliders and knew from that to stay away from the jingle bells. The vet felt pretty certain it was caused by the perch since that was the only thing in her cage that was new and was the only thing that was rough enough to possibly cause it.
 

Billie Faye

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I'm wondering why there is still so much pain if the perch has been removed and the bird is not on it now. This has been two weeks now and healing should have taken place by now....BUT if there were issues with the tendons/joints could be causing pain...you haven't said anything about Xrays...Could it be possible that he has a tumor around the spine that could be putting pressure on his foot? :hug8:
 
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