Who has a bird that is blind in one or both eyes

[parrotluv]

since having to have Zoe's eye removed, I am curious to know if others have birds with limited vision? How has it affected there lifestyle? Do they fly and if so how well do they do? What modifications have you had to do for them?

 

[Tyrion]

How is she doing BTW ?

 

[parrotluv]

Well it did open and she had to have it recut and stitched back.m won't really know for a few weeks once the stitches fall out. Praying it works well this time. She is in a small cage till next week after she has her follow up. For fear of hurting herself she has not had as much freedom as she would like, but sometimes we need to do what we need to do. I will be modifying a cage for her to be lower to the ground. She has not flown, which is good to prevent injury right now. But I think she is definitely conscious that her vision is not the same and steps up only when she feels stability. I move slowly with her so she does not startle and fall. She is finished today with antibiotics but staying on metacam till Monday's appointment.

Have been hand feeding her from a spoon baby bird formula and sweet potatoe or squash and this is how she takes her meds. But the high protein has sent her back into hormone mode, so she is very vocal when hormonal. Plus not pleased to be in a small cage. I have given her more things to chew up to keep her busy.

 

[Tyrion]

Sorry for the set back but hopefully things will mend and she will be on her way ...best of luck

 

[Karen]

I have a bird that is blind in both eyes now.

When she was lacking sight in just the one eye, I didn't feel it bothered her too much. I would always approach on her good side and she could turn her head to see what she wanted. She was never a big flyer but it was diminished with the lack of eye sight. It didn't affect her eating as she could still see what was in her bowl. Same with getting around, she could make do very well with the one eye.

Now that she has lost sight in both eyes it has changed so much more.

I take care to place her on a perch in the same way and direction each time. She will reach out with her beak to feel the perch and I wait for her to be very secure in her balance and footing before moving away. I do stay right with her until she knows what location I've placed her. ie: cage, play stand, scale, travel cage.

I have started adding verbal cues to everything I do and ask of her. I place her dishes in the holders the same way each time, with the food items in the same location, so she knows where it is. ie: birdie bread on left, sunflower seeds on right, nutriberries in the middle, etc.

I no longer change her cage around and try to keep the same types of toys in the same locations.

Her floor play time is almost zero now. Floor surfing and playing with her ball used to be one of her favorite things to do. It's sad she's lost that pleasure.

We've been running into some food issues. I have to remind her that there are food items in her bowl that she likes. She hasn't lost weight, but I have to offer her, her food bowls throughout the day and I wait much longer for her to eat her dinner before bed.

Wishing all the best for your little girl. I'm hoping she'll adjust easily to sight in one eye.

 

[DQTimnehs]

@roxynoodle (not sure why I can't tag her) has a mostly blind CAG. I don't think she flies.

 

[Birdbabe]

My little Kiwi, cockatiel, is blind, he's on the floor all the time.He also has half a wing on one side, no tail. And bad feet.. As long as I dont move anything, he knows where the food, water, playstand are. They can adapt.

 

[parrotluv]

I have a bird that is blind in both eyes now.

What type of bird do you have? How did she go blind? I think it would be so sad if my grey lost her vision in her good eye.

 

[Karen]

What type of bird do you have? How did she go blind? I think it would be so sad if my grey lost her vision in her good eye.

I have a Green Winged Macaw. She's elderly and lost her eye sight due to cataracts.

 

[parrotluv]

I have a Green Winged Macaw. She's elderly and lost her eye sight due to cataracts.

I know someone who runs a rescue and has a cockatoo with cataracts and was pretty much blind. They have had improved vision giving red palm oil from Aviteh. And believe she has regained some vision. Might be something you could try.

 

[carolz7]

AHH i have a friend with a african grey who is totally blind and although she does not fly around the house she plays on top of her cage and even plays with toys Especially bells.

 

[parrotluv]

AHH i have a friend with a african grey who is totally blind and although she does not fly around the house she plays on top of her cage and even plays with toys Especially bells.

Oh wow, would love to know more about her bird.

 

[Chihuahua]

i fostered a blind bird. it was super important that i told her when i was going to touch her or she would get startled and lunge. she did the same if anything was presented to her, treats toys etc until she figured out what it was. i had her in a low cage because she was pretty clumsy. i would approach your bird on the sighted side always.

 

[rocky'smom]

Rocky was blind in one eye from cataract. he did very good most of time. I keep his cage the same as possible at all times. he could get around fairly well even out side of his cage. they learn to use the other eye. just remember that if you walk up on his blind you are likely to startle them.

 

[faislaq]

Our Harley (gcc) came to us last year with no mention of blindness. She doesn't have cataracts, so we didn't realize it right away but we believe she has very limited vision & is possibly completely blind in one eye. Once she became acclimated to our home, we rearranged her cage but she had trouble finding her way around so we put everything back as best as we could remember. From then on we've kept her main perches, dishes & hammock the same, and swap out her toys for different ones but put them in roughly the same spots. Her favorite toys are jingle balls that she throws around the bottom of her cage and a "chandelier" type toy over a perch where she likes to stand with her head in the middle where she can bite at all of the shiny, dangling pieces. She steps up easily, but will give a firm test-bite if we don't snap or scratch our thumb with a thumbnail to make a noise first to let her know our hand is there.

In spite of her challenges, it turns out she is quite the explorer! She "knocks" to be let out of her cage by lifting one of the feeder doors with her beak and dropping it until we open her doors for her. One time she climbed between the wall and her stand and began exploring the area behind it & under the boys' cage. She enjoyed it so much that now she climbs down almost every day, and has earned the nickname "Dora" from our kids! Since she couldn't find her way back up, we stretched out her boing perch until it reached from the floor to the top of the cage so she has her own spiral staircase so she can get back to her cage easily.

 

[faislaq]

Also, Harley has never flown as long as we've known her even though her wings are not clipped. So we're not sure if not flying is a habit? or a by-product of limited vision. Even when startled she will only squawk.

 

[Luvss2ride]

Our Louis (CAG) is blind. As was already mentioned , we just take care to keep things routine . He has perches that connect all the way around his cage. We use a step up stick to transport. He's also learned word cues ... touch, eat, spray (for misting), look out (for floor walking and not bumping into things). He doesn't fly.
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[Gimby]

My BF Amazon is blind in one eye. She manages well. She isnt able to fly due tp her wing being previously broken way before I got her off of CL. I approach her always from the side she can see on even though she lets me approach from the blind side I figure if I was in her situtation id prefer approaching from the good side. She does well. I hope all goes well woth your little bird.

 

[Karija]

I had an elderly GCC, Mozart, that was completely blind in one eye due to injury and then developed cataracts in both eyes severely limiting her vision. I had her about two years before she passed and this was what I picked up from caring for a blind bird:

I had everything she needed on the bottom of her cage. Food dishes, water, hidey-hole, toys, heater. I kept everything in the same spot. Whenever she was away from her cage (due to traveling), when she came back she'd run around the bottom of the cage and check each of the spots to make sure her things were still where they were supposed to be. On the sides of the cage I had platform perches out the wazzoo that were staggered so if she ever fell off of one she'd land on the other. It took months but eventually she figured out they were there and how they worked so she had full run of the cage. All the perches in the cage were platforms of some type, either solid wood, wire ones, or the multi-dowel corner ones. She did best on solid wood platform perches. If she had a new travel cage or vacation cage or something, when she first went in I'd lure her to the important places (sleeping spot, food/water spot) with treats so she'd know the lay of the land.

Everything had a verbal cue. Stepping up, stepping down. Always announced that I was going to handle her before I did, i.e. "pets" before petting or "name of treat" before offering her it, etc. so she could expect me near and not accidentally attack. She had a toy with bells on it that she'd ring if she needed me instead of screaming. That worked out well, but I felt like a bit of a butler. She really loved toys that made noise.

She couldn't tell which way I was moving when I held her and walked, so I always had a hand around her side incase she lost her balance by trying to brace for me going a different direction.

All that said, when she was out, she was a crazy explorer. I had to make some draft snake tube-things for the edges of my counter top because she'd just put her beak down to the counter like it was her walking stick and RUN. She was an old girl and even having her flight feathers, if she went over the counter edge, she'd just drop like a rock. She also still loved shreddable toys, you just had to let her know they were there - if I held one near her and started tearing it up so she could hear what I was doing, she'd come over and start playing with it. Otherwise she wouldn't know it was there.

Hope that helps. Good luck on your little dude's recovery!

 

[DQTimnehs]

How is Zoe doing @parrotluv ?