Scared the life out of me :(

[dawnkyung]

I had given Swaps a sock, cut down the middle so it was a little cloth, to play with. He liked to "preen" it and cuddle with it...

When i got home today, i opened my bedroom door and called out to him..peered in his cage, and he tried to hop to me and fell over. I looked closer and saw that he had torn apart the sock so the little threads were hanging off of it...and it was wrapped around his foot! He was stuck .

I managed to get him out, got sissors, and toweled him. My roomate held him while i (carefully) cut away the sock. It was wrapped so tightly around his foot. I just feel awful. I called the vet and he said to watch it and make sure the swelling goes down. I wouldn't say its very swollen, but i wouldn't say its just a little swollen either. I don't remember the last time i felt so awful. I should have known better. Please hope with me that the swelling in his little foot goes down.

So, don't give birds socks to play with. Although im sure everyone but me knows that. Poor Swaps. I'm a terrible mommy.

[Valo's Moirana]

you are not a terrible mommy - we make mistakes, all of us... we're humans, and unfortunately we don't come perfect. but we can learn. i'm glad, everything turned out to be alright and your baby didn't get hurt.

an adivce that i follow closely - everytime i give valo a new toy, i first let him play with it when i'm around so i can watch him what he does with it and if there's something that could be a potential danger. and then it goes into the cage. now, if valo plays with something that is NOT a specific bird toy (ie something that i give him to shred, something that i made) it NEVER goes into the cage, but is an out-of-cage toy only where i can supervise him.

maybe with that you can avoid situations like this... again, glad everything is fine.

all the best, bee

ps: the way you talk about your baby is way too concerned to be a bad mom. just take it as a situation you learnt from!

[FeatherLover]

Hopefully Swaps' foot will be okay and we can ALL learn from this.

How's he doing?

[bustersbuddy]

Accidents happen and you are not a terrible mommy! Go kiss Swaps and forgive yourself.

[Maui's Mom]

my thoughts are with you and the baby. we all make mistakes, actually it wasnt a mistake, it was a misfortune. could have happened even while u were with him .. keep checking the foot ( im sure u are) let us know how he is doing. Im sure he is loving all the pampering you are giving him right now,.
Blessings to the baby.

[svolk]

You are not a terrible mom. Luckily you were able to catch the mistake before it got any worse - like everyone else has said, we can all learn from each other. And we all make mistakes.

[karrieluvsbirdies]

you're not a bad mommy!don't be too hard on yourself.i hope everything's o.k.

[dawnkyung]

Thanks, everyone, for your support. I really felt so awful, in tears even. i gave him cuddles and he laid in my hair for a while, then i put him to bed a bit early. I really want him to take it easy, unfortunately he doesn't really understand that concept...he's climbing all over and running back and forth on his perches. He's not favoring the foot at all, but since i know birds dont like to show if they are hurting im not sure if this holds any weight or not.

I'm putting up a picture of his feet, but my camera phone sucks and you probably won't be able to tell much. It's his unbanded foot (his right, our left) that got tangled. When i found him it looked kinda like if you wrapped a rubber band around and around your hand real tight- the thread looked almost embedded in his little foot. The swelling is more like a little raised lump over the top. Hopefully he was not wrapped up for too long.


I almost drove him to the vet anyway, even though i was just told to watch the foot.

I will try to get a better picture tomorrow. I threw away the offending sock immediately. I'll never forget how he looked as he tried to stumble over to me, dragging the dreaded sock behind him.

[Doyle'sMommy]

You are not a terrible Mommy. We've all made mistakes, Doyle's first day home I burnt scented candles all night and then was wondering why he was sneezing. I felt like such an idiot and bad Mommy when I found out that you couldn't do that. I am glad little Swaps is okay and that you love him so much, he is a lucky bird! Tiffany

[dawnkyung]

Update -

I didn't want to disturb him, but i peeked in...and from what i can see, the swelling has gone down. Whew!!

I'd like to thank everyone again for your support. I feel much less horrible about my parrontship now. <3