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Urgent Cockatiel limping - pls help!

lilous mom

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
9/6/20
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16
My cockatiel has a tendency to either sit on the edge of or go into every drawer we open, but he attacks us if we try to get him off ourselves or take something from the drawer once he's in it. I opened a drawer to get a plate out for his food and he got on the edge of it. I didn't want him going in, and usually I just slowly close the drawer and give him enough time to hop off of the edge which has worked fine until now (and kept him from attacking us). This time though, his left foot got caught in it when it closed before I could stop the drawer. He squawked really loud and was stuck for a second or two before he pulled himself free and flew away but ever since then he's been limping and keeping his foot close to himself and balancing on the other foot mostly.

He's still walking and climbing around a little in his cage and outside of it. He did eat some of his favorite foods and he is chirping and making noises every now and then. I think it's a sprain because I read that if it were broken he wouldn't even be able to put any weight on his injured foot at all. There's also no bleeding or obvious fracture or anything, but I did notice he cant curl up his big toe completely. Right now he's just in his cage, we put him in there with the heating pad, his favorite foods, his favorite toys, and we covered it so he doesn't see us and jump all over the place. The current plan is to just give it a few hours to see if he feels better with time, since it seemed like a sprain and not a fracture but idk. I'm not sure what else to do, I don't have a problem taking him to the vet if something is wrong but I'm also really tight on money right now so if I go to the vet and all they say is that its just a sprain and all Lilou needs is some bed rest.. i dont know. Any advice? (i need advice and help but pls also be considerate, Im really not trying to be a bad bird mom :( )
 

Tiel Feathers

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Regardless of whether it is a sprain or a fracture, you should go to the vet because they will prescribe you an anti inflammatory/pain med for your bird, which will help him heal faster and ease his pain. I hope he gets better soon!
 

April

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I agree it's best to head to a vet as soon as you can. Especially since you know what cause the trauma a drawer is such a heavy thing to smash a little birdie leg,you definitely want to make sure that nothing is seriously wrong.
 
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