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How to accommodate for a messed-up beak

Rain Bow

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Is it possible it was just him playing w/ some wood or a hard bead? I don't know if Budgies play like a Zon. Maybe that's a dumb question. Is his after break beak soft? I know this was an issue when he 1st was sick, I'm not sure if it's an issue still (after all the meds). Also, I wonder if more or extra calcium would harden or help this too. I let someone like @Hankmacaw answer this one. Mary has way more nutritional to bird advice in these sorts of situations. If she doesn't know then she'll probably know who to ask. Sorry I'm not more help, just more questions.
 

taxidermynerd

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Is it possible it was just him playing w/ some wood or a hard bead? I don't know if Budgies play like a Zon. Maybe that's a dumb question. Is his after break beak soft? I know this was an issue when he 1st was sick, I'm not sure if it's an issue still (after all the meds). Also, I wonder if more or extra calcium would harden or help this too. I let someone like @Hankmacaw answer this one. Mary has way more nutritional to bird advice in these sorts of situations. If she doesn't know then she'll probably know who to ask. Sorry I'm not more help, just more questions.
He doesn't chew on wood, never has. He prefers to twirl things in his beak (like crinkle shred) and give kissies to toys. No, his beak isn't soft, it's that fleshy bit inside that we've been managing.

Chirp is getting swiss chard and kale for the extra calcium + vit. a, plus some carrots. The vet suggested giving veggies high in Calcium and Vitamin A, so that's what I've been doing, in addition to all the meds and supplements.

He gets it all mixed in his mash every day: cinnamon, yunnan baiyao, milk thistle, flax oil, carrots, kale, swiss chard, a tiny bit of quinoa, a senior nutriberry, and his pellets. And milk thistle in the water.

Plus his medications: Itraconazole (antifungal) once a day, celebrex (pain med) every other day, clavamox (antibiotic) every 12 hours, and silver sulfadiazine cream on his beak along the edge.
 

Cynthia & Percy

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I have a birdie Bread recipe for five birds for a month that could be cut down that optimize the calcium level with the other ingredients to go with the calcium but I it is on a thread here but I don’t remember that much about it anymore
 

Rain Bow

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Ok, the question I have now, (Please bare w/ me as I'm probably making you explain something again).

Does the vet do anything @ the visits to Chirps beak? Trim, remove dead tissue, debreed wound?

This is why I ask...
Just read a quick summary about the Silver Sulfadiazine, as I thought I remembered something about it. I was wrong & hadn't but I saw this reaction/side effect...

easy bruising/bleeding

Also paired w/ that was itching as an allergic reaction. This was for the skin cream specifically. I just picked one that popped up on google.

Is it possible that Chirps rubbing his beak on a perch frequently due to itching or just birdy happiness & chipped it? Maybe it's natures healing power in the cream & damaged tissues to free it a bit.

Thanks for explaining budgie play, it's so much better than the little flying green woodchuck I have. Here's his last week or so of ripped paper tubes & wood that I put out in my lawn.

20191228_000255.jpg
 

taxidermynerd

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Does the vet do anything @ the visits to Chirps beak? Trim, remove dead tissue, debreed wound?
She does little trims. It used to be his top beak, as of recently it was his bottom beak, now I don't know if she'll be able to do trims (there's not really enough to trim).

This is why I ask...
Just read a quick summary about the Silver Sulfadiazine, as I thought I remembered something about it. I was wrong & hadn't but I saw this reaction/side effect...

easy bruising/bleeding

Also paired w/ that was itching as an allergic reaction. This was for the skin cream specifically. I just picked one that popped up on google.

Is it possible that Chirps rubbing his beak on a perch frequently due to itching or just birdy happiness & chipped it? Maybe it's natures healing power in the cream & damaged tissues to free it a bit.
It's possible, although the bruising (on his beak specifically) started before he went on any meds, it was one of the things that tipped me off. The bruising near his vent is a more recent development, not sure what that is from. Chirp does rub his beak on stuff (mostly to wipe mash off of his beak) frequently, so it's totally possible that he just hit it the wrong way.

One of my theories is that maybe he was climbing and happened to grab a bar a bit too hard, causing the chipping. He prefers climbing from perch to perch, he always has (even though he knows he can fly). He also likes to just hang on the bars and watch me or the dog sometimes.
 

Monica

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He's still gorgeous as ever! :) Hang in there!

If you haven't already, ladders. Otherwise, I don't think you need to do much as long as he can still figure out how to move around.


At this point, I'd be kind of inclined to look into removing the "dead"/"dying" tissue on his beak and see if it either regrows correctly or if he'll need trims for the rest of his life... whatever it takes to get rid of this "bad" area while hopefully also improving his life. :(
 

taxidermynerd

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At this point, I'd be kind of inclined to look into removing the "dead"/"dying" tissue on his beak and see if it either regrows correctly or if he'll need trims for the rest of his life... whatever it takes to get rid of this "bad" area while hopefully also improving his life. :(
My vet and I have talked about this... Unfortunately, we can't do anything really. Chirp is too fragile, he's too small, his body wouldn't be able to handle the anesthesia, and he bleeds so easily that he'd bleed out very quickly. The risk highly outweighs the potential benefit... So we're just trying to see if the meds help and we're trying to keep him comfortable.
 

finchly

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@Rain Bow wow - good call on the silver sulfadiazine.

Taxi - i don’t think you can really protect him from himself unless you cover all the bars with towels or move him to a tiny cage, and even then he could bang the beak on something, you know? I’m not sure you can protect him from himself.

Ladders are a good idea if he’ll use them. My Clint falls all the time but refuses to use his ladders to go back up.
 

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Now that it looks like the time Chirp may lose his beak is drawing near (check other thread for updates), are there any preparations I should make?

I have a small, low and wide cage, I have fleece to pad the bottom. This week I will get some small saucer-like dishes so it would be easier for him to eat without a top beak. Any other ideas? Perches, comfort items, etc? I have a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) so I could keep him warm, and handwarmers for transport warmth if needed.

The vet and I talked, the nearest 24/7 ER that takes birds is 1.5 hours away, any tips to keep him comfy if I need to make that trip (if our vet isn't open)? It's been a long time since I've had to take him there, but those were much less urgent matters.

The last thing I want is to think I'm prepared, and then have it happen and realize I'm not prepared at all.
 

finchly

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I don't know how anyone can really be prepared for such a thing. When this happens, did she say it will bleed? What preparation did the vet suggest?

I think you aren't getting answers because.... none of us know. :(

:sadhug:
 

taxidermynerd

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I don't know how anyone can really be prepared for such a thing. When this happens, did she say it will bleed? What preparation did the vet suggest?

I think you aren't getting answers because.... none of us know. :(

:sadhug:
She says it might bleed just a little, or he might have catastrophic blood loss and bleed out. We won't really know until it happens. Once it happens, she said to pack a bunch of yunnan baiyao on there (an anticoagulant herb) and high-tail it to the vet.

We talked about it at our last appointment and she says as long as he's getting around okay, I don't need to make any changes yet, although I did add some padding to the bottom just in case.

I have the smaller cage available for when he needs it, I spent last night wrapping a few platforms in fleece for the little cage. I'm just kind of at a loss right now, I don't know what else to do. There seems to be a lot of posts on the forum about birds without legs or wings, or even without vision, but not very many about birds missing a top beak. That makes it kind of hard.
 

Shezbug

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Was there any useful information in Lady Hamptons thread about her conure (Wall-E) with the missing top beak?

I also believe some one here has a vet who owns a bird with a missing beak.....if we can find out who the vet is it may be worth giving them a call to see what they can recommend for you to make things easier and safer for Chirp.

You are so good to him......you are both lucky to have each other.
 

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I can't remember if I've mentioned it here, but I asked the vet if there is a possibility that once the beak falls off, if we could send it in for biopsy, and the vet said we can do that. So that's the plan, as it stands.

Was there any useful information in Lady Hamptons thread about her conure (Wall-E) with the missing top beak?
I didn't really see anything I could apply, at least nothing I didn't know (soft foods).
 

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I can't remember if I've mentioned it here, but I asked the vet if there is a possibility that once the beak falls off, if we could send it in for biopsy, and the vet said we can do that. So that's the plan, as it stands.


I didn't really see anything I could apply, at least nothing I didn't know (soft foods).
Bummer! I wish we could help more but I have a feeling with how chill Chirp is he will adjust with less stress than we are all feeling for him.
 

taxidermynerd

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I think if/when this happens, I will have to modify his current cage for more long-term housing. I can make a false bottom out of egg crate (it's like a plastic grid, I've used it in aquariums and terrariums) and zip tie it in place. I have plenty of platforms, will need to get more rope perches and ladders. Tomorrow or Saturday I will get some cat saucers as dishes.

It makes me feel better to plan things out, so forgive me if I sound like a raving madman.
 

Monica

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Not at all! If anything, I feel you are smart and with a great head on your shoulders! I wish there was more I could help with, but the only bird I had that ended up losing her upper beak didn't live long enough to see a vet about it. :( She was an older bird, anyway... not that that makes it any better. Which leaves Charlie, who's only missing half of his lower beak.
 

taxidermynerd

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Today I got some plastic egg crate to make a false bottom, and a couple of shallow glass dishes for food and water. I also mixed up a spray bottle of F10 (1:500). I also looked and noticed in the small animal section of the pet store they have these little bendy bridge things, maybe those would be good for him in the bigger cage?
 
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