jdeviese
Meeting neighbors
So, it's now been about 2-1/2 months since I inherited Maria, the 41-year-old YNA from my deceased cousin. Since then, she's gotten herself a significantly larger cage (thanks to everyone for advising me to move forward with that sooner rather than later!), she's not afraid to take treats from my hand or let me stroke her head (though, only with her permission!), and we've slowly been working on her stepping up onto my hand. Overall, she's made tremendous progress, and loves to sit on her perch with the cage door open and listen to the radio--she will even sing a couple of notes when she gets riled up and starts to "perform". So, I want to thank everyone for all of your advice and kindness in helping this first-time bird owner navigate the tricky waters of an Amazon rescue!
Now, I've noticed a problem recently. Some of you who followed Maria's story (and my desperate pleas for advice early on) may recall that her nails were severely overgrown--to the tune of about 5-6 inches, and curled in such a way that she could barely walk, and depended heavily on them for perching and climbing around the cage. She consistently would use--and continues to use--her beak to stabilize herself (as you can see in the attached picture). At her first vet visit, the doc trimmed her nails back as far as he felt comfortable--it took her a few days to regain her balance, but everything was fine after that. She's due for another trimming, in the hopes of finally getting the nails down to an appropriate length, and I'm sure there'll be some more re-learning for her.
Her overgrown nails for many years basically led to her fourth toe on each foot being permanently turned inward (see the second photo), to where she has a difficult time gripping her various perches (and my hand). I don't know if the muscles in her feet have atrophied from using her nails to grip for so long, or what, but she just doesn't get a tight grip, and as her nails have grown out a bit she's been having a hard time hanging on--which has resulted in a few spills whilst trying to train her up onto my hand.
So, my question is this, would a larger or smaller perch be better for her to get a grip? Her cage has a variety of sizes--I don't know if that's good or problematic. Is there anything else that can be done for deformed toes (therapy, prosthesis, etc.)? I hope to discuss it with her vet, but I also know many of you have lots of expertise and experience in these matters, so I figured I'd put it out there for the group. Everything else concerning her foot health seems to be fine--no sores or lesions, no tenderness--and she's eating a healthy diet (at last!!).
Once again, thank you all for your help! Sorry for the long-winded post!
Now, I've noticed a problem recently. Some of you who followed Maria's story (and my desperate pleas for advice early on) may recall that her nails were severely overgrown--to the tune of about 5-6 inches, and curled in such a way that she could barely walk, and depended heavily on them for perching and climbing around the cage. She consistently would use--and continues to use--her beak to stabilize herself (as you can see in the attached picture). At her first vet visit, the doc trimmed her nails back as far as he felt comfortable--it took her a few days to regain her balance, but everything was fine after that. She's due for another trimming, in the hopes of finally getting the nails down to an appropriate length, and I'm sure there'll be some more re-learning for her.
Her overgrown nails for many years basically led to her fourth toe on each foot being permanently turned inward (see the second photo), to where she has a difficult time gripping her various perches (and my hand). I don't know if the muscles in her feet have atrophied from using her nails to grip for so long, or what, but she just doesn't get a tight grip, and as her nails have grown out a bit she's been having a hard time hanging on--which has resulted in a few spills whilst trying to train her up onto my hand.
So, my question is this, would a larger or smaller perch be better for her to get a grip? Her cage has a variety of sizes--I don't know if that's good or problematic. Is there anything else that can be done for deformed toes (therapy, prosthesis, etc.)? I hope to discuss it with her vet, but I also know many of you have lots of expertise and experience in these matters, so I figured I'd put it out there for the group. Everything else concerning her foot health seems to be fine--no sores or lesions, no tenderness--and she's eating a healthy diet (at last!!).
Once again, thank you all for your help! Sorry for the long-winded post!
