I’ve been following your saga, and have decided to pass our story to you. Boo is my 14 year old Quaker DNA sexed male. He’s a single bird. When he was around 4-5 years, I noticed a small wound under his right wing. Haldol turned him into a zombie. It healed quickly without anymore consequence. Slowly over the next few years he would get hormonal in the spring and pluck and mutilate under the same right wing. It’s so common with Quakers, there is a name for it, Quaker Mutilation Syndrome. He would wear a collar for a few weeks and it would pass. Then he began barbering all his chest feathers. This was year round. In 2018, he wore a collar for six months. I tried a lower dose of Haldol, Gabapentin, and finally Prozac. Those six months were heartbreaking. He would not play, stayed in his sleep hut constantly, and almost lost his will to live. His labs and tests were always normal.
Prozac works on the brain chemical Serotonin. Same in humans as birds. It helped jar him out of his depression. Since then, I’ve weaned it off, and had to restart it last spring for a short time.
some birds are going to pluck. As long as they are healthy and not mutilating. Sometimes, you end up with a naked bird. Until you can safely keep the collar off, I don’t think you’ll get his real personality.
One tip for placing the ruffled collar on; fasten the collar closed loosely and hold the collar in front of Opie. As he moves forward to get away from you, he will sorta walk into the collar. You can slip his head in the opening while you unfasten the opening and refasten it tighter. It’s very trying with a plucker. If only they could tell us why. People who bite their nails, or pull their hair often don’t know what started it. Ask your vet about Prozac. It may settle him down.
