Preening gland problems

[metalstitcher]

Gracie has an appointment on Tuesday which is the soonest I can get her in due to having only one car and working opposite shifts from hubby. His car is in the shop till Monday and he has to be at work by 7 in the morning.

Over the past few weeks Gracie has been recovering from a particularly bad molt. She lost a lot of tail and rump feathers and almost had a balled butt for a few days. She has been seriously picking by her gland and a few times has made herself bleed from pulling a feather out. Today when I checked her the preening glad had a spot of blood on it and a mark like a bruise a little bit away from the top. Has anyone ever had something like this happen before? Just looking for info so I know what to expect when we go to the vet on Tuesday.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Hope all will be well with Gracie. Never had anything like that with any of the birds but SETI did have a cyst near his preening gland and Dr. McD popped and drained it. Do you see any kind of growth in that area?

 

[metalstitcher]

What kind of growth? lol The only thing I have seen is down coming in and she pulls it out.

 

[iamwhoiam]

SETI had a small bump (the cyst) which I didn't notice but vet found it when she examined him during his check up. It was sort of yellowish looking. However, he never picked at that area.

 

[metalstitcher]

She has been picking at her feathers back there because they are coming in messed up from a bad molt.

 

[CeciliaZ]

I had a tiel that had an infected preening gland. I noticed her picking at this area - it was bloody and it seemed to cause her some pain as she chirped as she picked at it. Her vet drained it and put her on antibiotics. I think she stayed a couple days before she could come home.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Let us know what happens after the vet visit. Hope there is a solution/treatment and that everything will be OK.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I hope she will be okay and that there is an easy solution!

 

[Monica]

Could be a cyst, infection or impacted gland.... likewise, pinched nerves may also result in that behavior.

Bad molts typically don't result in bad feathers, so I'd have to wonder if something else is going on.

 

[metalstitcher]

She was picking around her gland again today and made herself bleed. I had to hold her down for a little bit until the bleeding stopped. The shafts on her tail feathers are all coming in right now because of her having a bad crash into the side of her cage a few weeks ago. She stopped flying midway to her cage to go after her preening gland area and hit her cage pretty hard. When I got her a bunch of her feathers from her tail where missing. I found them on the floor and in her cage. She was okay after I puller some weird looking feathers out but she started up again so we are going on Tuesday bag of funky feathers and all.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Aw, poor girl. It must be really bothering her to mess with it mid flight. I hope Tuesday goes well!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Sending positive thoughts for Gracie.

 

[metalstitcher]

So the vet visit went well. Gracie is going through the lovebirds version of menopause with a side of bad hormones. Dr prescribed shreddible toys and metcam for her arthritis. She is pulling the feathers and trying to put them back in poor thing. So off to do some shopping.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Poor little Gracie. Hope the shreddables help with the feather issue and the Metacam helps with the arthritis. Good that there is no infection or impaction.
Never heard of lovebird menopause.

 

[metalstitcher]

She said it's similar to menopause and that was the best way to explain it. I gave her some Homeopet Anxiety drops too hoping it will calm her down a bit.

 

[webchirp]

 

[metalstitcher]

@webchirp do you have any ideas for any good shredables for Gracie? The vet was thinking paper stuff or palm like material.

 

[webchirp]

@webchirp do you have any ideas for any good shredables for Gracie? The vet was thinking paper stuff or palm like material.

Does she like paper puffs? balsa? There are also balls you can make with crinkle paper and a wiffle. Oooh yucca might engage her. Shawna uses cellophane in some of her toys. Happy loved it.

 

[metalstitcher]

She said the easier to shred the better. She loves paper stuff especially any book mommy is reading or cross stitch chart left unattended.

 

[webchirp]

Yucca is probably even easier than paper...maybe roll piece of paper and stick it through a yucca piece to get her started.