animal cruelty wake up call

[diljaa]

I know a lot of you who live in areas where there is parrot overpopulation have probably seen this many times and a lot worse but this was a real wake up call for little naive me.

I went to this petstore I've only been to once before looking for a clicker and decided to take a look at the birdies. In their birdroom they only had like 12 birds in 5 cages, budgies and cockatiels. One of the budgies who was housed with another one looked so bad I got sick to my stomach. He had a bad case of some type of scales on his feet and beak. His feet looked 3 times the normal size and like he got leprocy or something, his beak was all messed up and not aligned properly either. His nails were ca. 1/2 inch long and when perching they stuck out all over the place, he kinda looked like he was from a horror film, the poor little thing. He didn't seem that miserable though, he was chatting with his cagemate and eating and looked like a happy enough bird. I thought there had to be a story there since all the other birds looked spotless so I asked the guys what his deal was and they said that someone brought the bird there in a cage, put it on the floor and ran out! They said I should have seen him a couple a weeks ago since he had improved like they wouldn't had believed. They're putting some cream on his beak and feet and are in the process of clipping his nails, the quick has gotten so long that as soon as they started clipping the nails they started to bleed so they have to do it little by little, his nails were at least a whole inch they said.
I'm so disgusted by this I can't even put it into words, I'm getting that same sick feeling just thinking about this. Who could do that to such a beautiful creature! I think I have to go back there to get a picture of him.

[Emmilyy]

Thats horrible! but at least the pet stores doing something about his condition... i know alot of pet stored wouldn't. But why would they put him in with the other birds? They could be affected to, if its contagious? Poor little guy..

[LovelySydney]

Awww poor little guy! Im glad the pet store is doing something but like Emily said, why is he with all the other birds?

[Newticus]

Also scaley foot/face is caused by mites which obviously can spread to the other birds.
If you go back to that pet store maybe you can suggest to the staff that he should be in a cage by himself so that their other birds don't catch it. They might, since they seem to care for the bird

Melanie

[Emmilyy]

I bet its probably too late for the other birds.. which is *really* too bad, but they should be aware anyways... poor birdies!

[diljaa]

I didn't even think about that. I know who the owner is and he is very knowledgable about birds and I would have thought he knew.
I will mention it if I go there again.

[Scritch]

Definitely sounds like scaly-face mites, I had a rescue budgie with a case almost that bad! They are communicable BUT, most healthy birds' immune systems resist them. I remember hearing they're actually present in most budgie populations, but healthy budgies just never have a problem. It's when they're ill or stressed and their immune systems are compromised when the mites can cause a problem. So hopefully the rest of the birds at the store will be fine! He really should've been kept separate though... too late now.

[FiloBeddo]

Just playing a bit of "Devil's advocate" here, but at least the previous owner "cared" enough to leave the bird where there was a possibility it could be helped. He/she could've simply stopped feeding the bird, let it loose out the window or who knows what else.

It was likely an unknowledgeable parent getting a pet for a child and then knowing nothing about it when things went awry (or financially strapped owners with nowhere else to turn).

While dropping it off at a pet store instead of a vet is questionable, at least in some strange way, an effort was put forth to get the bird righted.

(On a separate note, it probably was just a little bit comical to see someone place a cage down and hightail it outta there)

[xafsmom]

Not to sound grumpy...

But, it's not shocking at all. They do this with every animal under the sun. Worse... they do it with human children too.

Some people are just unfit. Period.

[usamma]

Ugh! That bird certainly should be isolated, although it's probably too late now. My rescue bird also had scaly face very badly. It cleared up very quickly with the right meds, thank goodness. I'm glad they are treating the bird. It sounds like a severe case. If you are able to talk to the manager, make sure they treat the bird systemically with Ivermectin, not just a topical ointment. And retreat in 3 weeks because that's the life cycle of the mites.