Elderly cockatiel

[marypar]

Hi, newbie here - I have an almost 31 year old male cockatiel named Opus. I originally had eight cockatiels some lived into their late twenties. Opus is the last one. He has never been to a vet and was born in my apartment; his two siblings lived long lives too but poor Opus is now alone. There is no way I can bring him to a vet as he would definitely die of a heart attack out of fear. My other elderly birds died in the apartment of old age. Opus is blind in one eye, doesn't fly, and his wing was getting caught in the grill on the bottom of the cage; he sometimes loses his balance causing him to take a few spins. I removed the grill and put newspaper on the bottom of the cage.
Any advice for him would be welcomed - especially I would like to know if newspaper is safe for him to walk on. I am afraid he might slip on it but so far he seems okay; of course, I have to be on the alert when he poops during the day. He has fallen off the t-stand as he tries to preen himself and loses balance. Thank you for listening. I read the oldest cockatiel lived to early thirties so I must have done something right even though I never brought them to a vet.
His food has always been Harrison's bird food; rice puffs, eggs, avicakes, millet spray.

 

[Brittany0208]

You could pad his cage with fleece and cushions. This is the kind of setup I have for my bird.

 

[marypar]

How do you handle the poop issue on cushions? Can you give me an example of what type of cushion you use? Thank you.

 

[Brittany0208]

How do you handle the poop issue on cushions? Can you give me an example of what type of cushion you use? Thank you.

I line my bird's cage with fleece (he has one leg) and I hand-wash his blankets two or three times a week. To make cleanup easier, I cut rectangles out of the material and place them where he spends the most time. When it gets soiled, I replace it with another rectangle of fleece and wash everything once there's a small pile. As far as cushions, I use small pillows, dog/cat beds, extra blankets that I don't use, really soft pillow cases that I fold up. I have a ton of pictures of my bird's setup on my page. If you still need some help, just let me know and I'll try to help anyway that I can

 

[Tiel Feathers]

You’ll have to post pictures of Opus! You must be doing something right, I hope my tiels live that long. I would definitely keep the bottom of his cage soft and his perches and food bowls low.

 

[Tara81]

Not sure if it would work, but one lady used a large sea grass mat near the bottom of her cage, so if her bird fell, he would land on the mat instead of metal bars. They have holes so poop falls through most of the time.

Here is a photo of a sea grass mat I use as a hammock on my birds playground , I attached chewable toys to it.

 

[sunnysmom]

You can try giving him senior nutriberries. It has a lot of nutrients in it that are good for older birds. Is he having gripping issues? Do you think that's why he's losing his balance?