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I feel like such a failure

Heather F

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@Solayan and I have had Frodo since he was 9 weeks old and he has always taken beautiful care of his feathers. Our other bird Mango goes through barbering phases but Frodo has always been fine.

A month ago we brought him in to the vet for a well bird checkup with bloodwork and he got a good bill of health. But within a few days of that, we noticed that he was worrying a bit at a spot on his upper back, picking at the down. We thought maybe that was where they did the blood draw and it was a little irritated but it would be fine in a few days.

Then we noticed some more down floofs floating around when he preened. Probably just starting a molt -- Mango certainly is dropping feathers all over the place.

Then watching him more closely when he preened I noticed him actually stripping the downy part off some feathers. And in the last few days I realized he's actually been plucking feathers off his chest. He's all of a sudden got a little bare patch. My beautiful baby bird is full on plucking! :cry3:

Behaviourally speaking he seems to have been fairly normal, still eating and pooping fine. He was a little extra cuddly for a week or two after the vet and now seems to be a little hormonal (wandering into the kitchen to coo to the cutlery drawer etc) but other than that nothing really out of the ordinary, other than suddenly starting the feather destruction.

We have made an appointment to take him back to the vet later this week to see if maybe the stress of the visit might have triggered something medical. Or just a coincidence and something medical just happened to have started right after the visit. We've also tried putting one of his favourite toys that he likes to snuggle up to back into his cage from the rotation we did a couple of weeks ago. And we've stopped giving him a new cage mix that we started him on several weeks ago in case he might be reacting to something in it. We're being a bit more careful about quieting the room down and turning off the lights when he goes in for the evening. But we are so baffled and distressed by this sudden development.

Any advice?
 

JosienBB

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:hug8:
I've no advice -- understand how you feel completely though. Ophelia's tummy is bare again :( Hope the vet visit shows something medical is going on -- it's always easier to deal with medical than behavioural.

One thing you said that resonated with me, however... You said he started worrying away at the spot they did the blood draw. That's how Target started plucking her legs. They drew blood from her legs and a few days later her legs were bare :( Dr. Axelson didn't believe me when I told him that's how I think Target started plucking, though -- he said he's never seen that in his 30+ years of practice. But I have my doubts...
 

Heather F

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I don't know if that's actually where they did the blood draw -- it was just our guess that it might be why he was picking at the down in that spot. It was just so out of the ordinary for him we figured that must have been what it was... but maybe not, it appears to have actually been the start of something more general.
 

sunnysmom

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So sorry to hear this. I was thinking too perhaps a dietary change? And then I saw about the switching the cage mix. That might have something to do with it too?
 

Begone

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I really hope you soon find the reason to why he has started to pluck. :hug4::hug4::hug4::hug4::hug4::hug4::hug4:
 

finchly

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Re: your title

Don't you know this is a guilt-free zone???

:sadhug2:
 

Macawnutz

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Do another fecal and maybe do a skin scraping for testing.
 

MNR

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Trust me, you have NOT failed him.

When Puck started to pluck, I felt like I failed her. I was so sad to think that she was unhappy. Since then, I have learned that some pluck even when they are in the most loving homes. You are doing right things by talking with the vet and people here.

Here is my experience with Puck: Pictures - Almost Ex-plucker’s story | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
 

ode.to.parrots

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You are not a failure!!!
:sadhug2:
You are taking all of the right steps. Hang in there!
 

camelotshadow

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:sadhug2:

Hope the vet can find it if its physical/
Could be the change in the food so good you stopped that.
 

JLcribber

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You didn't say how old be is now? Sounds hormonal to me.
 

Lwalker

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:sadhug2:
I know it is hard, but don't blame yourself. Hopefully it won't become a habit.
 

Heather F

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You didn't say how old be is now? Sounds hormonal to me.
He'll be 4 in November. But he's gone through a number of hormonal periods before including ones far more hormonal behaviour-wise (like for days every time he was out all he wanted to do was go into the kitchen and look for a dark place to crawl into and make cooing noises) with no feather destruction. So it seems weird.

Although we did have a third bird in the house pet-sitting for a friend for about six weeks, and that extra bird went home not too long before the vet visit (like a week or two) so I wonder if something about that might have been a factor too?

It's so hard to know what might have triggered it, because there are so many things it could be. Would be really nice if it turns out to be just something in his new food mix that is causing him some skin irritation or something.
 

JLcribber

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Although we did have a third bird in the house pet-sitting for a friend for about six weeks, and that extra bird went home not too long before the vet visit (like a week or two) so I wonder if something about that might have been a factor too?
That's enough of a trigger.
 

Flipburry

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You caught it early and you're trying to figure it out.
Don't blame yourself, these things happen. I hope you can figure it out as soon as possible and start working on it. It'll be okay! :)
 

DQTimnehs

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I was going to say it sounded like something related to the vet visit if it started right after. Could have been an irritated feather from being toweled. I have to be careful when I towel Tiki in the spring as she has had some blood feathers fall out on her wings/shoulders from being toweled and bled from them. I doubt the vet would have taken blood from the back. It is usually the neck or leg IME.

But yes, the other bird coming and leaving could be it too. Even if he didn't like the other bird, he could miss him/her once they're gone.
 

Nadia Bingo

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Plucking can happen at any age and for many many different reasons. Plucking has been tied to genetics as well as environment (I am preparing a post for my blog about a recent article I found).

I understand how heartbroken you can feel as you rush to try to fix things as quickly as possible.

My suggestion would be to write down everything that has changed and try to roll back as best you can (which you seem to be doing). Then I would try to change one thing at a time, writing down what you change. Since it can be environmental or behavioral keeping notes is extremely important. It can help you narrow things down and not forget about other options to try. It also helps you identify 'obvious' things that can be overlooked.

I'm lucky that Bingo is only a shredder and not a mutilator (she never draws blood or hurts her skin). Her feather quality goes up and down depending on the season but I always breathe a sigh of relief that she is no longer naked, like when we got her. I still feel guilty at times but then I remind myself that she is healthy and it could always be worse.
 
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