Injured cockatiel, any insight welcomed

[brittany1289]

Hi, I got home from work and my 7 year old cockatiel, Aster, has an injury. He seems to have injured his face. Not sure how, no recent incidents I can think of.

His right eye is swollen, his right nostril hand dried blood in it, he seems to have difficulty eating seed. I gave him some cooked egg yolk and some rice. He ate some.

He is our only bird. He hasn’t his wings clipped. I can’t recall him flying into anything recently. He stays in his cage while we are at work, no evidence of disturbance to his cage. My only thoughts are maybe he freaked out at something and flew/slammed around in his cage while we were away.

I want to know if anyone’s seen anything like this before. I plan to keep hand feeding him and take him to the Vet tomorrow. I live a good distance away from any vet that treats birds.

He still acts like himself and is alert, but more tired (likely from eating less) and obviously in some pain. It almost looks like his eye is dented in or something...?

 

[Lady Jane]

Is there anything in the cage that could have injured him? Sometimes the toy hooks come apart and really do a bad injury. Is his cage near a window where he could have seen something that really scared him? I am sorry he is hurt. For tonight keep him warm and calm and watch for bleeding. If he looks worse take him to an emergency vet place right away. Hope he is ok.

 

[suileeka]

I have had a cockatiel with a concussion before (from flying into a wall), and also had a bird with an injured eye (mystery injury overnight). Actual injuries to the globe of the eye will usually bleed profusely. My cockatiel with the concussion had swelling around the eye, like your tiel.

Keep him quiet and in a calm place overnight. If you have a smaller travel cage he can stay in, even better.

I would NOT recommend supplemental heat in this case, as that will increase inflammation which could be dangerous if he has a concussion. If possible, make some homemade electrolytes and see if he will drink them to give him some supplemental fluid and calories.

 

[cassiesdad]

Something probably frightened Aster and he injured himself banging into his cage, like you think.

Monitor him closely...I'm glad he's getting checked out tomorrow.

Sending out good thoughts...

 

[brittany1289]

Thank you. I am taking him to the emergency vet first thing in the morning. I am hoping they will say it can heal on its own and have something to ease any pain. I can’t do expensive imaging and surgery, so just hoping for some good news.

I feel so sad about this, especially since I didn’t see it happen and don’t know if there’s is anything I could have done if I had. It’s incredible how much you can care for something so small, he has a huge personality.

Made some electrolytes for him, hope he will drink some. Going to try to get him to eat more egg yolk before bed.

 

[brittany1289]

 

[brittany1289]

 

[brittany1289]

Thought I had included photos on the original post, didn’t see any. Here are a couple

 

[iamwhoiam]

Poor guy. Definitely monitor him closely and, if need be, get him to emergency vet tonight. He either hit something really hard and injured his cere and eye or something internal is causing the nose bleed and eye issue. When one of my birds had a concussion he couldn't hold his head up and was off balance. Never saw any bleeding or swelling. Hope all will be well.

 

[BirdManDan]

Sorry about Aster. Hope he gets well soon.

 

[Lady Jane]

Aww he looks like he has a bad headache.

 

[Jay Johnson]

Oh my gosh, I am sure your heart is just racing. Please keep us posted. Positive thoughts for your baby!

 

[suileeka]

Oh gosh! His poor eye. It does look like there is hemorrhaging in the actual eye. Please keep us posted.

 

[Icey]

Sorry to hear about Aster. Hope all goes well at the vet.
He got a good bang from something...OUCH!

 

[Lady Jane]

How was the vet visit and your injured Cockatiel?

 

[suileeka]

Hope Aster's vet visit went okay.

 

[Love My Zons]

Oh my, how scary to come home and see that! I hope your bird is doing well! Update us if you can.

 

[Birdbabe]

Oh crap! He definitely will need some metacam, and a smaller cage or fishtank till he heals up..poor guy, hope he heals quickly. Give him some extra kisses from us!

 

[blewin]

Wow, he did a number on himself, poor guy. :-(
Keep us posted.

 

[tielluver]

poor baby, I hope he's OK. something probably scared him. I know mine have had night frights and sometimes get scared from a very noisy vehicle driving by.