So Lada went to the vet the other day. I guess its time to officially call her adopted as I had all her past records transferred to my name. I finally learned her hatch date and some other great information! Anyways though, she was due at the vet for her feather picking and a potential weight problem (Apparently not a problem according to vet 350 - 370g). Here is a cute short video of her in her small travel carrier in the waiting room. (I use this smaller carrier only for short car trips as its so light. She has a much larger home away from home carrier for longer trips.)
Anyways, she got an essentially clean bill of health from the doc. Nothing to report from blood or poo. I'll be honest though, not saying I wish Lada was sick, no no not saying that AT ALL, but I did somewhat wish that we would at least see something telling from the blood or poo samples that might explain her weight and feather situation. Unfortunately nothing. Seems entirely behavior related. I am changing up her routine a bit, changing her diet a tad, adding more sunlight, and we have put her for the time being (at the vets recommendation) on Haloperidol. I'm not 100% convinced that this is going to fix anything though. The vet was not very reassuring. Obviously I am no vet nor would I ever claim to be (that also goes for bird expert), but I think I may do some of my own research and I may get a second opinion. For the time being though I am taking the vets advice and have started her medication. Will see if she improves with time. Obviously will need to give it some time to see a change if any.
My biggest remaining concern (which I need to ask vet again) is lack of new feather growth. She is not aggressively picking her feathers (otherwise she would be bald by now). She is also not picking her down feathers. Only the primary feathers. The weirdest thing is, there is no new feather growth. No pin feathers at all. We have already eliminated her diet as the problem. She has a GREAT diet of all types of fresh food and proper pellets. I'm not going to dive into that again unless someone is adamant about discussing it further. See some of my other health related posts first.
Anyways, she got an essentially clean bill of health from the doc. Nothing to report from blood or poo. I'll be honest though, not saying I wish Lada was sick, no no not saying that AT ALL, but I did somewhat wish that we would at least see something telling from the blood or poo samples that might explain her weight and feather situation. Unfortunately nothing. Seems entirely behavior related. I am changing up her routine a bit, changing her diet a tad, adding more sunlight, and we have put her for the time being (at the vets recommendation) on Haloperidol. I'm not 100% convinced that this is going to fix anything though. The vet was not very reassuring. Obviously I am no vet nor would I ever claim to be (that also goes for bird expert), but I think I may do some of my own research and I may get a second opinion. For the time being though I am taking the vets advice and have started her medication. Will see if she improves with time. Obviously will need to give it some time to see a change if any.
My biggest remaining concern (which I need to ask vet again) is lack of new feather growth. She is not aggressively picking her feathers (otherwise she would be bald by now). She is also not picking her down feathers. Only the primary feathers. The weirdest thing is, there is no new feather growth. No pin feathers at all. We have already eliminated her diet as the problem. She has a GREAT diet of all types of fresh food and proper pellets. I'm not going to dive into that again unless someone is adamant about discussing it further. See some of my other health related posts first.