Some of you may or may not remember that, back in Oct 2010, one of our local avian vets brought me an 8 week old Scarlet Macaw with severe splay leg. The bird had been surrendered by some of her clients: a couple who knew nothing about birds but decided to spend their retirement money buying a bunch of breeders to start their own breeding business. They didn't know that birds needed substrate in their nest boxes, so the parents made as much substrate as they could out of their own feathers and let the oldest baby stay there, while the youngest was relegated to the hard wood floor of the nest box. Growing up in that environment, with no cushion, so her feet wouldn't stay underneath her, when her bones were still soft and pliable, created splay leg syndrome. The couple had taken the baby to the vet at 4 weeks old, asking for advice, and the vet taught them how to splint and sling, but the couple never did it. So by 8 weeks of age, the baby's toes were actually pointed backwards, and she was completely prone. She could not stand up at all. So the couple brought her back to the vet, said they couldn't afford the surgery to correct the splay legs, but please give the bird to someone who can.
So, the vet asked me to raise the baby Mac, do the physical therapy, find people to help donate towards her surgery, and she would do it at a steep discount, then we could find her a permanent home. Of course I said yes. How could I not? I named her Ixchel, who was the Mayan goddess for mothering, medicine, and rainbows--perfect for an unweaned, ailing Scarlet Macaw, I thought.
This is what she looked like when I first picked her up:
That was how she always was. She couldn't pull her legs underneath her, even to squat. I had to sling her for a couple of hours after each feeding, because she would throw up some of her food since her weight was pressing down on her crop. Slinging kept her off her crop so she could properly digest her food.
She was very small - only 740 grams - and very thin. In addition to losing some of her lunch after each feeding because she was prone (I think it's a miracle that she never aspirated), the breeders had also already been trying to wean her (yes! at 8 weeks old!)--onto rice and Corn Puffs. They said the other baby had already been weaned for two weeks (!!) but she was being "frustratingly slow" to wean.
So, of course, I regressed her a little bit, went back to four hand feedings a day, and started incorporating HEALTHY solid foods into her feedings. Here's some pictures of Phoebe Green Linden, who came to visit us a few weeks after Ixchel's arrival, giving her some food and lovins:
Every day we'd do physical therapy, and once a week we'd go into the clinic for x-rays and additional PT under anesthesia. The reason we weren't jumping right into surgery is that every bone was a little warped, every joint completely rotated, to the point that even the pelvis itself had been misshapen. As she was, she wasn't eligible for surgery, but the hope was that PT would get her to the point where she would be.
Well...that never happened. We (the vet and I) consulted two other board certified avian vets, and the consensus was that surgery would not work in her case, but would only make it worse. Our best bet was just to try to arrange her environment to adapt to her special needs.
Instead of putting her in a cage, I turned my laundry room into a bird room. Her toys and playgyms facilitated her needs, and most everything was on the ground. Over time, she learned how to stand up by pulling herself up by the baby gate that lined the walls of her bedroom. Then, she learned to stand up on her own steam, even on slippery surfaces:
You can see that her feet had rotated somewhat, compared to when she was completely prone, but were still laterally warped and rotated 90 degrees.
Then she learned to walk by using her beak as a crutch. She'd put down her beak, scoot forward, put down her beak, scoot forward... Then she figured out how to do that vertically. Here's a picture of the first time she climbed a cage:
I also taught her to fly by gently tossing her to soft places, like the sofa, or her favorite chair, from gradually increasing distances. She became an excellent flyer, turning corners, changing directions, navigating small spaces, etc., but always crash landed on soft objects.
And finally, she learned how to walk, upright, without using her beak as a crutch. She still couldn't pick up food in her foot and feed herself, or groom herself with her feet, or hang upside down without falling, but she could walk, fly, climb, perch, and forage. In short, she was ready to go to a permanent home.
Shortly after her first hatchday, she went to live with another Austin Parrot Society member. This is what her feet looked like when she perched (she'd just had a bath, which is why her feathers look all wonky):
You can see that her feet are still rotated 90 degrees, but that she's learned how to grip the perch sideways.
WELL!!! Last week, I asked Ixchel's new owner how she was doing. She reports that Ixchel can now pick up food and bring it to her mouth. She can (and does, frequently) hang upside down like a bat (her favorite game is to trick the husband into thinking she's caught on a toy, and when he opens the cage door to "rescue" her, she bolts out of the cage, climbs on top, and laughs at the sucker-husband). She grooms herself with her feet.
Here is a picture of her, standing on one foot and stretching the other:
And here, you can see how much her feet have rotated forward:
They're almost normal! Or at least at a solid 45 degree angle!
Since her new mom is a friend of mine, I've been getting all kinds of great reports on her for the last six months, and I knew she was happy, loved, and well cared for, but I only recently got these photos showing how drastic her improvement has been, and I have to say, I am absolutely thrilled!
Her rehabilitation has far exceeded my expectations.
I just wanted to share her story, partially to share my excitement, but also to show that you should never underestimate your bird's ability to cope, heal, or recover. They constantly surprise us with what they are capable of!
So, the vet asked me to raise the baby Mac, do the physical therapy, find people to help donate towards her surgery, and she would do it at a steep discount, then we could find her a permanent home. Of course I said yes. How could I not? I named her Ixchel, who was the Mayan goddess for mothering, medicine, and rainbows--perfect for an unweaned, ailing Scarlet Macaw, I thought.
This is what she looked like when I first picked her up:
That was how she always was. She couldn't pull her legs underneath her, even to squat. I had to sling her for a couple of hours after each feeding, because she would throw up some of her food since her weight was pressing down on her crop. Slinging kept her off her crop so she could properly digest her food.
She was very small - only 740 grams - and very thin. In addition to losing some of her lunch after each feeding because she was prone (I think it's a miracle that she never aspirated), the breeders had also already been trying to wean her (yes! at 8 weeks old!)--onto rice and Corn Puffs. They said the other baby had already been weaned for two weeks (!!) but she was being "frustratingly slow" to wean.
So, of course, I regressed her a little bit, went back to four hand feedings a day, and started incorporating HEALTHY solid foods into her feedings. Here's some pictures of Phoebe Green Linden, who came to visit us a few weeks after Ixchel's arrival, giving her some food and lovins:
Every day we'd do physical therapy, and once a week we'd go into the clinic for x-rays and additional PT under anesthesia. The reason we weren't jumping right into surgery is that every bone was a little warped, every joint completely rotated, to the point that even the pelvis itself had been misshapen. As she was, she wasn't eligible for surgery, but the hope was that PT would get her to the point where she would be.
Well...that never happened. We (the vet and I) consulted two other board certified avian vets, and the consensus was that surgery would not work in her case, but would only make it worse. Our best bet was just to try to arrange her environment to adapt to her special needs.
Instead of putting her in a cage, I turned my laundry room into a bird room. Her toys and playgyms facilitated her needs, and most everything was on the ground. Over time, she learned how to stand up by pulling herself up by the baby gate that lined the walls of her bedroom. Then, she learned to stand up on her own steam, even on slippery surfaces:
You can see that her feet had rotated somewhat, compared to when she was completely prone, but were still laterally warped and rotated 90 degrees.
Then she learned to walk by using her beak as a crutch. She'd put down her beak, scoot forward, put down her beak, scoot forward... Then she figured out how to do that vertically. Here's a picture of the first time she climbed a cage:
I also taught her to fly by gently tossing her to soft places, like the sofa, or her favorite chair, from gradually increasing distances. She became an excellent flyer, turning corners, changing directions, navigating small spaces, etc., but always crash landed on soft objects.
And finally, she learned how to walk, upright, without using her beak as a crutch. She still couldn't pick up food in her foot and feed herself, or groom herself with her feet, or hang upside down without falling, but she could walk, fly, climb, perch, and forage. In short, she was ready to go to a permanent home.
Shortly after her first hatchday, she went to live with another Austin Parrot Society member. This is what her feet looked like when she perched (she'd just had a bath, which is why her feathers look all wonky):
You can see that her feet are still rotated 90 degrees, but that she's learned how to grip the perch sideways.
WELL!!! Last week, I asked Ixchel's new owner how she was doing. She reports that Ixchel can now pick up food and bring it to her mouth. She can (and does, frequently) hang upside down like a bat (her favorite game is to trick the husband into thinking she's caught on a toy, and when he opens the cage door to "rescue" her, she bolts out of the cage, climbs on top, and laughs at the sucker-husband). She grooms herself with her feet.
Here is a picture of her, standing on one foot and stretching the other:
And here, you can see how much her feet have rotated forward:
They're almost normal! Or at least at a solid 45 degree angle!
Since her new mom is a friend of mine, I've been getting all kinds of great reports on her for the last six months, and I knew she was happy, loved, and well cared for, but I only recently got these photos showing how drastic her improvement has been, and I have to say, I am absolutely thrilled!
Her rehabilitation has far exceeded my expectations. I just wanted to share her story, partially to share my excitement, but also to show that you should never underestimate your bird's ability to cope, heal, or recover. They constantly surprise us with what they are capable of!
