"Dislocated Beak" ???

[Alyce Johnson]

About a week ago, my blind macaw Berta "dislocated" her beak!
(I dont know the official term for this injury, so that's the best I can describe it.)

She somehow got the top half of her beak caught in the lower one, so that she couldnt open her beak any farther, and couldnt close it, obviously, either. She was taken to a pet emergency place recommended by my avian vet for after hours tx and they put it back in place.

She was sooo happy when the vet put her beak back in place!
I had toweled her and was holding her for him, so that he could use both hands on the beak. I put her upright on the exam table after he fixed it and she moved her beak around going "awww" & "ooo" in happy tones, as she discovered she could move it again. And then she laughed! Ha ha ha! And then she started to gently groom me and explore me with her tongue & beak, which is what she does because she cant see.

The emergency vets also called the avian vet at home for more advice and gave her some anti-inflamatory meds (meloxicam?) by injection to his specifications. She's since been seen by the avian vet himself, and he says nothing is broken or damaged - all her parts are working OK now but her beak is still really bruised up and she had to be on soft foods for awhile (she still mostly is). She's lost about 12 grams, but he didnt seem to think this was dangerous, as long as she's eatting better all the time, and the weight loss reverses soon.

Re the injury itself:
As part of the same injury, she also banged up the very top of her head on the left side (broke some blood feathers). I cleaned that up to make sure it wasnt a cat scratch etc, but the feathers were just broken off at the skin, after having been pushed forward. In addition, she had a bit of blood coming from her right nare which had stopped on it's own - not much blood, but just a drip down her beak. The vet said the top of her head was also very badly bruised, which makes sense, as there was kind of a goose egg bump up there, for a few days. It looked like she maybe got the top edge of her head caught on something, so that her feathers got forced forward in order for her to get loose.

Here's the thing - we have no idea at all how this happened. She was on her hanging playstand, up above her cage (we have high ceilings, and it's warm up there). I was reading on the couch and drifted off to sleep. I woke up some unknown amount of time later, and she was still on the same perch, almost in the very same place (not unusual - she hangs out up there for hours on end). But she had this injury. And she was just sitting there quietly like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She didnt even try to get my attention other than to greet me when I woke up.

I saw that she had been bleeding from the nostril (nare) but it had already stopped, by the time I woke up. I got her down from the perch and looked her over and discovered the head wound. I didnt notice the beak, except that she was holding it open wide (or so I initially thought) so I'm ashamed to say that I cant say for sure if it was fully hooked open at that point or not - I was focused on the bloody bits right at first.

Later, I looked at her whole cage and also all of her toys and couldnt find blood on anything, so I have no idea what she got hurt on. We dont have any birds nearly big enough to have inflicted this kind of damage and it's clearly not a cat injury either, so we have no idea how it happened. And in any case, it didnt appear that she ever climbed down off her play stand. She usually just sits up there and sleeps, where it's nice & warm.

The avian vet speculated that it might have been a 2 part injury, with first the beak being hyper extended (which he says is a more common injury) and then closing up into itself afterwards either as a result of closing incorrectly right after the first injury, or later closing up as a result of swelling to areas over the upper beak. All of the vets involved also thought it might have been related to a small earthquake that happened locally that afternoon, apparently while I was asleep.

The earthquake was too weak in our neighborhood for most humans to notice. Very few people in my neighborhood noticed anything at all, although some did. But I would guess that maybe a blind bird on a hanging perch would have noticed something, and may have freaked out a bit, and maybe got herself hooked on something, maybe even lost her footing temporarily.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice on this topic. She's been using that playstand for months while it was hanging outside on the screen porch, with no problems at all. And we've since taken it down and replaced it with another one that has always been inside, which we think may give her firmer footing. But I'm just wondering how to keep her safe, either in or out of her cage, from this sort of accident in the future. It could have been much worse, according to the vet. He said she could have hyper extended her beak and broken small bones above the beak. And of course, she could have bled more significantly. I was really upset by it, and I'm sure she was too! I dont want it to happen again. Any advice is appreciated. Does anyone else have any experience with birds and earthquakes? Or with this kind of injury? Thanks! ~Alyce J.

[kp_in_scott]

All I can say is thank God that she is ok now! I haven't a clue what could have happened to cause the injury but I do know that I understand how you feel about waking up to an injury. We woke one Sunday morning to find Angel with an area of soft tissue swelling under her bottom beak. She was so sick she couldn't swallow her own spit.(Yes, birds do have some saliva because I've seen it). We had to do the emergency vet thing and it was really scarey. The vet feels that she must have fallen at sometime in the night, probably the early evening just after we put her to bed. I just wanted to let you know that I know how you feel and I'm glad it turned out ok. What kind of macaw is Berta?

[Alyce Johnson]

Thanks for the support!
I've been really worried about her - the emergency vet thing is very scary, but I went because I was afraid to wait, and my avian vet recommended them. Also, I suspected they would have the "magic number" that would reach him at home, for anything that was beyond their level of expertise (which they did have, thankfully).

Berta is a ruby - a cross between a green wing and a scarlet. She's very pretty, but can't see herself anymore, as she is blind from some sort of accident/injury which put her into "foster" care. We fostered her and have now adopted her for good. I think being blind had something to do with how she got hurt, maybe. I also think she may have freaked out due to the earthquake. Even though she cant see herself, she very much likes to be admired by others -- she perks up and sits up to show herself off, when strangers look at her and talk to her. She definitely knows what "pretty bird!" means. She loves to hear it!

[Regina U.]

Alyce,
How is Berta tonight? Is she feeling better? How are you doing? I know the whole thing must have been very upsetting for you. Bless you for adopting Berta. She sounds like she is one beautiful and very special companion.



Regina

[Spinnergirl]

Hello and welcome to the BordBoard!

Glad you took in and gave Berta a permanet home.

I am sure you will have quite a journey with Berta and her blindness.

I wish you all the best!!

[rubiojwls]

I hope Berta is doing much better now. I have never heard of such injuries, I was in shock. Thank God you took her to the vet and got her checked out.
Keep us posted on her progress. I will keep her in my prayers.

[Alyce Johnson]

Thank you all for your support! It really does help. And prayers are much appreciated too, regardless of the persuasion of the person doing the petitioning.
I really do thank you all for your kindness! It's so nice to know there are folks out there who are so caring.

Berta's better every day, thankfully. She's able to climb around on the bars of her cage today, and even tried to climb down off of her playstand, although she's still pretty slow and was awfully easy to catch. She was irritated at me for putting her back up, though - she had been really working at having herself an adventure. Usually she's pretty good humored about being redirected, but today, she was working so hard to make the climb, she was briefly pissed when I put her all the way back up on top.

As for working with her blindness - it's been surprisingly easy. She bit me a few times at first, in a really big way. Once, she bit so hard I almost threw up and was doubled over, holding my finger tight with my other hand, and in too much pain to do anything but gasp. My husband asked if we needed to go to the ER and it was all I could get out to tell him I wasnt sure yet. (My finger was OK as it turned out - just a lot of pain - they can really crush with those big beaks!) And I have a few scars from some really hard, deep bites that destroyed flesh pretty deep into my arm. But, other than that brief time period, we really havent had any problems.

Once she decided I was her person, and decided I wasnt going to hurt her, it's been really easy, and a wonderful experience. She's so loveable & sweet now that the people who worked with her in the rescue program can hardly believe it. We've had her less than 6 months, and she's just really blossomed. It's kind of amazing and I think it's mostly just her own spirit, taking over her situation and moving on into a new life for herself. (I'd love to take the credit, but I really dont know much about birds, so I think I just got lucky, with Berta.)

I also think mostly it has to do with the fact that she mostly picked me, rather than me choosing her. Plus she just has a really upbeat, positive disposition, in spite of all that she's been through. So, given the chance to make herself a new start in a new home, she really took the opportunity and ran with it. She's even starting to make kissy to my husband, after being wary of him for a long time. (We joke that she's testing him out, to see if he's better at that mating thing, since I turned out to be a bit of a disappointment to her in that dept.)

She's just a really amazing creature, and I love her completely. She's got so much spirit and character! And she's just basically a happy, outgoing little feathered person, if she's allowed to be. I dont think I could cope with a handicap of that magnitude as well as she does! (I'm disabled to a degree myself, but nothing like being totally blind. That's about as bad as it gets, esp for a parrot, I would think.)

So, she's obviously the light of my life. We just got a cheapie digital camera, so I'm going to try to post some pics of my babies, Berta included, as soon as I get my husband to help me with it. (I'm technologically challenged, I'm afraid. Good with animals, not so good with machines.)

[kp_in_scott]

Well, Alyce, it sounds as though Bertie chose a good one when she chose you. She sounds to be a happy contented bird and you a content parront. I understand completely about the digital camera illiteracy thing. I've had mine(el cheepo) about 9 months and I'm beginning to get the hang of it, but it did take a while. Now I'm aspiring to get a nicer one, since I figured out how to use the other one. We will wait patiently(tapping foot on the floor ) for pictures of Bertie.

[Stizby]

I, too, am curious to see photos of all your parrots and espcially Berta. It sounds like you and she share a special bond. Glad to hear that Berta is recovering nicely. What a horrible thing to happen to her.

[rubiojwls]

Please try to post the pictures, I really want to see Berta and the rest of your birds!