Hello all,
This is my first time posting here and I'm hoping some of you can give me your opinion or tell me if you've seen anything like this before. My military macaw Simon has been having some skin and feather issues since about the middle of December. We've been to our avian vet numerous times in an attempt to find out what the issue is. Simon's been prescribed three separate instances of antibiotics (Baytril) and upon his last visit to the vet, last week, it was decided that our best bet was to put a collar on him to stop him from being able to cause himself more damage.
We did blood work back in December and again last week, along with a gram stain. Our vet's office says that all the blood work results and stain look normal and they see nothing of concern from the tests. Simon's weight has not fluctuated excessively and is around the range it has always been since he's been with us. At this point in time, the doctor's thought is that Simon probably had some sort of infection that was causing him discomfort and Simon's solution was to pick his feathers and scratch himself with his beak in an attempt to get some relief. After digging and drawing some blood, his skin started to scab at which point in time our vet thinks Simon was interested in opening the scabs as they were "foreign" to him and not something he's used to having on his body. While I trust our vet, this is also our first major medical issue in the 8 years we've had the birds and it really has me concerned.
I know that birds are sensitive to changes in their environment and I'm thinking our situation may have also been a catalyst in this problem. My partner and I were living in an apartment with our two birds, Simon and Calypso, in the front room up until October of last year. At that point in time, we moved into our house and, due to the layout and extra rooms, decided to give the birds their own "bedroom." They have their own television for entertainment during the day, along with plenty of toys and a homemade playstand. They both receive adequate time out of their cage interacting with myself and my partner, although not as much time as we would like them to have in all honesty. At this point in our lives, my partner is working full time and attending culinary school while I myself am currently working one full time and one part time job in an attempt to get some debt taken care of. This has been the case for the past two years so the amount of time they spend with us has not drastically changed recently. Shortly after moving into the house, my partner's sister and her kids moved in due to some financial trouble of their own. The birds hardly have any interaction with the sister-in-law and absolutely no interaction with the kids. Simon has always been extremely friendly and outgoing, so I don't believe the additional individuals in the house would cause him issues by itself.
After the second trip to the vet, we thought things were getting better as Simon had quite a few feathers growing in and he started to look better. Over Memorial Day weekend, however, we were misting Simon down (he HATES the shower) and it was at this point that we realized the scabbing and missing feathers had actually spread. He was missing quite a few feathers under his right wing where this all started back in December. During his shower, we found quite a bit of scabbing under his left wing and on his chest. I've attached pictures that were taken during his misting below. They look a bit worse than they really are because of the water loosening and "re-liquefying" some of the dried blood.
The pictures made my stomach turn because it made me feel like a horrible parent as does his new neck collar. The situation has gotten a bit better since the pictures were taken. He has quite a few new feathers coming in under his right wing. The scabbing under his left wing and on his stomach no longer has any dried blood on it; however, it's really tough and leathery. The vet has suggested we leave the collar on him for 90 days to see where that puts us. He also suggested that we put Neosporin on the affected areas, if we want, to help put some moisture back into his skin and hopefully help it clear up faster. Simon's not exactly happy having the collar on, but he seems to be adjusting pretty well. His attitude hasn't changed throughout this ordeal and he still waves, dances with, talks to and crawls all over me for attention like usual. As stated previously, his body weight isn't fluctuating excessively so we believe that he's eating and drinking normally.
I should take this time to mention that our female military macaw, Calypso, who shares the same bedroom with her own cage, is not having any issues at all. Her weight is spot on like is always has been. She's as feisty and playful as she has been over the past few years and my partner says she has no missing feathers or any scabs to be found. She's bonded more with my partner than she is with me so I'm not able to do as thorough a home body scan on her as he is (vice versa with Simon). I could be totally wrong as I'm not a vet but I do take some comfort in the fact that we have two birds living in the same condition (on the same diet, in the same room, etc.) but only one of them is having issues. If this were some crazy virus, I would think they'd both be showing symptoms.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to give some background and history so everyone knows what is going on. Anybody ever seen anything like this or have any ideas? Is he maybe allergic to something at the new house? Is it plucking because of the move and new roommates? Any idea?
Under his right wing
Under his left wing
Belly shot
View attachment 146387
Under his left wing taken today. Can't get a better shot because I'm by myself and holding a camera, spreading a bird's wing and trying to take pictures isn't easy.
This is my first time posting here and I'm hoping some of you can give me your opinion or tell me if you've seen anything like this before. My military macaw Simon has been having some skin and feather issues since about the middle of December. We've been to our avian vet numerous times in an attempt to find out what the issue is. Simon's been prescribed three separate instances of antibiotics (Baytril) and upon his last visit to the vet, last week, it was decided that our best bet was to put a collar on him to stop him from being able to cause himself more damage.
We did blood work back in December and again last week, along with a gram stain. Our vet's office says that all the blood work results and stain look normal and they see nothing of concern from the tests. Simon's weight has not fluctuated excessively and is around the range it has always been since he's been with us. At this point in time, the doctor's thought is that Simon probably had some sort of infection that was causing him discomfort and Simon's solution was to pick his feathers and scratch himself with his beak in an attempt to get some relief. After digging and drawing some blood, his skin started to scab at which point in time our vet thinks Simon was interested in opening the scabs as they were "foreign" to him and not something he's used to having on his body. While I trust our vet, this is also our first major medical issue in the 8 years we've had the birds and it really has me concerned.
I know that birds are sensitive to changes in their environment and I'm thinking our situation may have also been a catalyst in this problem. My partner and I were living in an apartment with our two birds, Simon and Calypso, in the front room up until October of last year. At that point in time, we moved into our house and, due to the layout and extra rooms, decided to give the birds their own "bedroom." They have their own television for entertainment during the day, along with plenty of toys and a homemade playstand. They both receive adequate time out of their cage interacting with myself and my partner, although not as much time as we would like them to have in all honesty. At this point in our lives, my partner is working full time and attending culinary school while I myself am currently working one full time and one part time job in an attempt to get some debt taken care of. This has been the case for the past two years so the amount of time they spend with us has not drastically changed recently. Shortly after moving into the house, my partner's sister and her kids moved in due to some financial trouble of their own. The birds hardly have any interaction with the sister-in-law and absolutely no interaction with the kids. Simon has always been extremely friendly and outgoing, so I don't believe the additional individuals in the house would cause him issues by itself.
After the second trip to the vet, we thought things were getting better as Simon had quite a few feathers growing in and he started to look better. Over Memorial Day weekend, however, we were misting Simon down (he HATES the shower) and it was at this point that we realized the scabbing and missing feathers had actually spread. He was missing quite a few feathers under his right wing where this all started back in December. During his shower, we found quite a bit of scabbing under his left wing and on his chest. I've attached pictures that were taken during his misting below. They look a bit worse than they really are because of the water loosening and "re-liquefying" some of the dried blood.
The pictures made my stomach turn because it made me feel like a horrible parent as does his new neck collar. The situation has gotten a bit better since the pictures were taken. He has quite a few new feathers coming in under his right wing. The scabbing under his left wing and on his stomach no longer has any dried blood on it; however, it's really tough and leathery. The vet has suggested we leave the collar on him for 90 days to see where that puts us. He also suggested that we put Neosporin on the affected areas, if we want, to help put some moisture back into his skin and hopefully help it clear up faster. Simon's not exactly happy having the collar on, but he seems to be adjusting pretty well. His attitude hasn't changed throughout this ordeal and he still waves, dances with, talks to and crawls all over me for attention like usual. As stated previously, his body weight isn't fluctuating excessively so we believe that he's eating and drinking normally.
I should take this time to mention that our female military macaw, Calypso, who shares the same bedroom with her own cage, is not having any issues at all. Her weight is spot on like is always has been. She's as feisty and playful as she has been over the past few years and my partner says she has no missing feathers or any scabs to be found. She's bonded more with my partner than she is with me so I'm not able to do as thorough a home body scan on her as he is (vice versa with Simon). I could be totally wrong as I'm not a vet but I do take some comfort in the fact that we have two birds living in the same condition (on the same diet, in the same room, etc.) but only one of them is having issues. If this were some crazy virus, I would think they'd both be showing symptoms.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to give some background and history so everyone knows what is going on. Anybody ever seen anything like this or have any ideas? Is he maybe allergic to something at the new house? Is it plucking because of the move and new roommates? Any idea?
Under his right wing
Under his left wing
Belly shot
View attachment 146387
Under his left wing taken today. Can't get a better shot because I'm by myself and holding a camera, spreading a bird's wing and trying to take pictures isn't easy.
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