Urgent Chirp broke off part of his beak

[taxidermynerd]

I grabbed Chirp to get him his nighttime medicine, and I noticed the very tip of his beak cracked off! I found what I *think* is the beak tip in the cage, so I put it in a ziploc baggie. I also put him in his smaller hospital cage just in case (heavily padded and sparsly decorated)

I took a few pictures to show. There's no bleeding or anything there, does it warrant an ER trip? For reference, the ER is 1.5 hours away. I don't think there's really anything they could do for him there, since there's no bleeding. Otherwise, we will call the vet first thing in the morning (they open at 8am).

 

[MiniMacaw]

I’m so sorry little chirp and you are going through this. My personal experience with my macaw having a massive beak injury was that so long as food is able to be eaten (even if just mash) and water can be swallowed it can wait until morning. My vet did recommend removing any hard toys or rope that could potentially hurt the beak or get caught on it. It sounds like you’ve already done that and the new cage being padded is exactly what I did for my guy too, so I think chirp should be ok to settle down for sleep and see the vet first thing in the morning.

 

[Shezbug]

I don’t think you need to panic if it’s not bleeding or bothering him but given the issues he’s been having I’m not totally positive. I think what you’ve done is the best at the moment and unless he’s bleeding or distressed/pained I would leave it till the morning as long as he’s eating and drinking ok.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Thanks guys. I will keep checking in on him until I go to bed in a few hours. I doubt there would be much they could do anyway at the ER. If I were to leave now (half past midnight) I wouldn't get there until 2am! Sure glad I don't need to do that. I will let you all know what the vet says in the morning.

 

[Mizzely]

I think your gut is correct and waiting until morning is best in this situation.

 

[enigma731]

I also agree this isn't an emergency, BUT when you call tomorrow, you might ask whether they can use the broken piece to do any diagnostics they were unable to do before without anesthesia.

 

[rocky'smom]

Darn it, but agree with the others, wait until morning. I know that you are stressing out, but remember calm you calm Chirp. Please keep us in the loop. WD strikes again.

 

[taxidermynerd]

So we called the vet as soon as they opened, at 8am. The receptionist said she was with a patient, so she took a message for us and told us the vet would call back.

She called us about 10:30, she says that since he isn't bleeding and he can still eat that we don't need to come in today. We have an appointment on Friday, so we'll just come in then. I also told her I have the beak tip, and I will bring it with.

We talked about some other stuff too but I will put that in the main thread. Thank you everyone for the help.