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Pictures Taco is plucking and barbering again...

hrafn

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Taco has DECIMATED his left wing. He can't even flare it all the way now. :(

I'm starting to go crazy. The vet and I have tested for every single thing we can think of, even the wildest and most random possible physical ailments, to no avail.

I'm failing him.
 

cassiesdad

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...you're not failing him...sometimes you just can't help the situation, no matter how hard you try...I know this because of Milton.

:sadhug2: :sadhug2: :sadhug2:
 

fashionfobie

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@hrafn I can understand why you feel that way, but you aren't failing him. You even have the courage to share this with all the members of the forum. I see a concerned owner. I see a loving person.

I had a goffin who was a special bird. She had splayed legs as a chick, I don't think she was raised properly as she was a very nervous bird. Her hatch date was in 2006 and we ended up with her in 2007. She really struggled with hormones. She pulled all the feathers out of her face, using her foot. It was traumatic and horrifying for the whole family. We went to the vet several times in the course of three months. She was healthy physically, but clearly not emotionally. She went through a phase when she was in a cone (this was 2007), she was on antidepressants... which was hell. We got her off that treatment. We found some of the treatments were only adding stress, and actually harming more than helping.

She ended up getting over it on her own and stopped pulling feathers. For her I think it was just the intensity of her first real hormone season and she was frustrated and confused. She was a bird that was out 4 hours a day, when she joined our family. We had toys for her, played with her, love her deeply, we didn't offer any nesting areas.

The thing that really helped was toy rotation, reducing stress (i.e. the cone only made her more stressed), increasing sleep, giving her her own room to sleep in so we weren't disturbing her (she used to sleep in the living room), limiting physical touch during the spring, encouraging foraging. We worked hard to make a clear flock bond. She never had shown sexual behaviour towards us. She still nipped the tips of her feathers. After that first bad moment, she never went back to that severity. It isn't easy and it is heartbreaking. There is much better information available now and much better breeding practice, not all birds had that advantage.

Foraging for food will help reduce the amount of available time Taco has for self harm. Stay patient. Stay loving. Do your very best to make Taco's life more challenging and stable. It is a very difficult problem to overcome. Taco may never change his ways.
 

webchirp

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I believe strongly that not all birds, maybe even the minority of those that pluck, do so out of a psychological or habitual reason. Of course some do pluck out of stress, but very few of our AA birds have much stress.
Giggie, my worst plucker (now naked) is such a very, very social bird. She has anxiety away from the humans. Dr. Orosz and I talked about her best interests in finding her a home where she could roam with the human but finding a home willing to give meds twice a day as well...:( Although I cried when we talked about that...but if it ever was best for her and a woman needing a cling-on with a skittish boyfriend...Zephyr barbers his chest...love triangle with Jewel and Rocco. Tuck has some serious issues when hormones hit. He has been bounced to different homes several times. I think these guys do have psychological issues.
 

webchirp

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Just had a scritchfest with Taco before bedtime (I'm no longer Stick Satan, thank god) and he let me get a real good look at his feathers.

He's been barbering his wings all to holy heck to the point where almost every feather looks like frayed ribbon, some of them snipped in half, and on closer inspection I can see that he's been messing with his chest a bit, too.

My fids tend to be a bit scruffy when they're molting, but I've caught him a couple times now. It's wildly upsetting.
It will drive you bonkers if you let it. With giggie, I used to be OMG, I have to get home and let her out or she'll pluck. I had such stress and anxiety that I was failing her. Do your best...that is all anyone do. :sadhug2::sadhug2::sadhug2:
 

Erikalynnha

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So sorry you and Taco are going through this :sadhug2: just know you aren't alone :heart:

I know how it feels. Uchtred has been plucking her pin feathers for almost 2 yrs and has started plucking her leg :( The vet prescribed her a medication today that will hopefully help with the compulsion. Don't get me wrong her feather quality is still a lot better today than it was when I first got her but it does make me sad to see all the pinnies on the cage floor. I don't really mind the plucking (I'd love her even if she was naked!) I just don't want her to be uncomfortable or in pain.
 

webchirp

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So sorry you and Taco are going through this :sadhug2: just know you aren't alone :heart:

I know how it feels. Uchtred has been plucking her pin feathers for almost 2 yrs and has started plucking her leg :( The vet prescribed her a medication today that will hopefully help with the compulsion. Don't get me wrong her feather quality is still a lot better today than it was when I first got her but it does make me sad to see all the pinnies on the cage floor. I don't really mind the plucking (I'd love her even if she was naked!) I just don't want her to be uncomfortable or in pain.
Oh may I ask what meds? I'd like to try something with Zephyr since I can't control the love triangle and he's not receptive to another girlie.
 

Erikalynnha

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Oh may I ask what meds? I'd like to try something with Zephyr since I can't control the love triangle and he's not receptive to another girlie.
I'll let you know! It's being shipped to me so it should be here Monday or Tuesday. He told me over the phone but I totally forgot :O the name.
 

Erikalynnha

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Oh may I ask what meds? I'd like to try something with Zephyr since I can't control the love triangle and he's not receptive to another girlie.
It's called Amitriptyline. Hopefully this provides Uchtred with some relief.
 

rocky'smom

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@hrafn I wonder if chamomile spray would help Taco? It's easy to make and helped Monster at the clinic.
 

Shezbug

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Amitriptyline is a very strong anti depressant isn't it? Is it the same medication they use for humans @Erikalynnha?

If so, I am wondering what the results on birds are like......I have known a few people in the past who were prescribed this medication and later taken off it due to the horrific side effects they all had while using it. I certainly hope it helps you out.
 

Erikalynnha

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Amitriptyline is a very strong anti depressant isn't it? Is it the same medication they use for humans @Erikalynnha?

If so, I am wondering what the results on birds are like......I have known a few people in the past who were prescribed this medication and later taken off it due to the horrific side effects they all had while using it. I certainly hope it helps you out.

It's a antidepressant with analgesic. I'm sure it has side effects. Most medications do. I'm gonna keep a close eye on her of course =^^= Also it's a pretty low dosage 0.1cc like a drop if I can get her to take it -_-
 

Sarahmoluccan

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Taco has DECIMATED his left wing. He can't even flare it all the way now. :(

I'm starting to go crazy. The vet and I have tested for every single thing we can think of, even the wildest and most random possible physical ailments, to no avail.

I'm failing him.
I felt like I was failing Zane and I still have regrets. It's so difficult. :bluhug: You are doing right by him.

As a person who has used collars my advice is to avoid them unless he starts plucking his chest or other areas where a collar can protect. Also consider the downsides side of collars and see if the benefits outweigh the cons. One of the biggest con is they can inhibit with feather growth. Especially around the neck. Every case is different but generally I think collars are most useful for self mutilators.

Sorry I'm late to this thread but you mentioned awhile back was Taco was holding his wing funny. Is he still doing that? I assume he has had Xrays done. But I couldn't help thinking an injury or something could be exacerbating the problem?

I wish you and your flock all the best!!
:hug8:
 

hrafn

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I felt like I was failing Zane and I still have regrets. It's so difficult. :bluhug: You are doing right by him.

As a person who has used collars my advice is to avoid them unless he starts plucking his chest or other areas where a collar can protect. Also consider the downsides side of collars and see if the benefits outweigh the cons. One of the biggest con is they can inhibit with feather growth. Especially around the neck. Every case is different but generally I think collars are most useful for self mutilators.

Sorry I'm late to this thread but you mentioned awhile back was Taco was holding his wing funny. Is he still doing that? I assume he has had Xrays done. But I couldn't help thinking an injury or something could be exacerbating the problem?

I wish you and your flock all the best!!
:hug8:
Yeah, Taco's wings are a big mess in general. They don't fold flush to his body like they're supposed to, they just kind of sit at wild angles. I've had x-rays done on him a couple times, but the actual bone structure of his wings is fine beyond an old, painless, self-healed fracture that the vet doesn't think would inhibit his movement at all. So that's another mystery for my weird frankenbird.

The damage he's done now to his left wing is still so severe as to be noticeable even with his already weird wing shape, though. He's bitten some feathers in half, ripped others down to the sheath, bent almost all of them in weird directions...it's insanity. Thankfully he can actually open it sometimes now, but that just makes it even more obvious how aggressively he messed with it. It's a feather massacre!

Thank you so much for the advice re: collars! Taco doesn't mutilate his skin at all, and only occasionally pulls at his chest feathers, so a collar probably wouldn't be in his best interests.
 

cassiesdad

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As a person who has used collars my advice is to avoid them unless he starts plucking his chest or other areas where a collar can protect. Also consider the downsides side of collars and see if the benefits outweigh the cons. One of the biggest con is they can inhibit with feather growth. Especially around the neck. Every case is different but generally I think collars are most useful for self mutilators.
Milton is starting to pull feathers out on his chest. :( It's a slow process, but he's definitely moving down his chest...I've resisted the idea of a collar for quite some time now...but I think it's almost time for one.

The day we collar Milty will be the saddest day of his life...and ours...:(
 

hrafn

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Milton is starting to pull feathers out on his chest. :( It's a slow process, but he's definitely moving down his chest...I've resisted the idea of a collar for quite some time now...but I think it's almost time for one.

The day we collar Milty will be the saddest day of his life...and ours...:(
:sadhug2: I'm so sorry!

You're the best parronts Milton could have ever asked for. No matter what happens or what must be done, he'll always love you. Even in a collar. :heart:
 

cassiesdad

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:bighug: I really hope that that day never will come. :)
...the problem is that Milton's feather plucking is getting worse. I can't let it continue unabated...:(
 

hrafn

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I don't want to say this with definiteness because I promise I'm going to continue searching for possible medical answers.....but I'm really starting to think that Taco is a habitual plucker.

The fact that he was targeting his wings made me suspicious that they were causing him pain, but he has since branched out to his shoulders, his back, his chest, and his legs. He's even dug a small hole into his abdomen. His vet and I have tested him again and again and again with no answers, and with his increased levels of self-destruction I'm really considering a collar now.

No pictures unfortunately; I need a good close shot and he's still being a hormonal tyrannosaur.
 

Sarahmoluccan

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I'm so sorry. It's so heartbreaking to see them do these things to themselves :( But know you're doing your best to help him
:sadhug2:
 
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