Clomicalm??

[chez]

Hi All, this is my first post here. My vet has given my 18th old male cockatiel "clomicalm" to try and stop his feather plucking as we believe it is a physcological problem. He has been tested for any diseases that could cause this and all are negative. Has anyone ever heard of this drug and/or had any success with it. I hate to give my baby drugs but hate more to have to watch him rip his beautiful feathers out and make him self bleed :icon_cry:

[Monica]

Clomicalm is to treat anxiety. I don't really know much about it though there are other ways of stopping plucking in parrots though since there are so many possibilities as to why a bird may pluck there results in varies ways of treatment, some that work, others that don't.

First, if he eats seeds and/or pellets, you can reduce the amount of them down to 20% a day, if not less. You would want to increase the amount of fresh foods, especially dark green veggies and bright orange fruits and veggies.

You'll want to make sure he has many 'preening' type toys and remove a mirror if he has one. You may also want to rearrange his cage with different perches and toys.

Birds who are outside don't normally pluck, so taking him outside in his cage or getting an aviary built for him outside to be in for atleast 2 hours a day will help (please not through a window or screen... he would not get the full benefit of being outside with fresh air, sunlight, and the sounds).

You should be bathing him a minimum of once a day, up to twice a day, as birds who are wet don't normally pluck as they are more interested in cleaning and drying their feathers than removing them.

If you have any safe trees around where you are, you can cut some branches, and put them with leaves and all into the cage or somewhere around the cage or playstand for him to chew on.

You can buy chamomile tea (or even green tea), and make a dilution of 1 part tea to 4 parts water (though no less than 1 part tea to 2 or 2 1/2 parts water) and give this for up to two weeks, then every other day afterwards.


This is just a few suggestions and in some cases the best thing to help a bird to stop plucking is a companion, though is not always possible.

[chez]

Hi Monica, Wow thanks for the quick reply. Guess I should give you a bit of Nemo's history. He was hand reared by me from 3 wks and is extremely bonded to me. At the moment I also have 2 others, a female (2yrs old) that I have had from the age of 12 weeks who will only let me touch her when she is in the mood and an 8yr (or there abouts) male I adopted from a friend who is now over seas. These two seem to have bonded to a degree. I think she just tolerates his obvious show of affection!! They all live inside in open plan cages with loads of different tree branches to hop about in. They get fresh seeds, water, veggies and brown rice everyday. Now this where the problem starts. Nov last year I took over care of a chronic feather plucker, his entire belly, legs and back were bare. We had him on anti- depressants and a collar and lots of TLC from his new mummy - me!! So after about 5 months of this my baby starts pulling out his feathers. After a frantic call to my vet it seems quite obvious it is a jealousy thing as he is now having to share me with another Alpha male. They were both very dominant and demanding birds. One had to go so my wonderful vet took Clyde to her family of Fids hoping it would help my Nemo. Well 2 months later he is still at it and getting worse. I am thinking he is now sexually frustrated as he his always strutting around with his wings out and wolf whistling at both me and the my fem, who completely ignores him. Am supposed to keep him on the drugs for 4 weeks and if that doesn't work will try and get him a girlfriend. Please check out pics of my fids @
http://community.webshots.com/user/chezzler

[birdsnthings]

I once had a male tiel who plucked as well. He was very bonded to me after many years of not being able to handle him. Indy was a wild caught and this was back years ago before the ban on importation. It was stress. He was very bonded to me and hormonal. I just accepted his plucking realizing he wasn't a bird who amused himself with his own toys.
I am not a supporter of medicating birds unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. Sometimes the benefit does not outweigh the risk of the medication. The risk of the medication is what you need to be concerned with. Homeopathic meds may be a better choice and you should look into those remedies. I would try those first.

[The Outlaw]

There are other possibilities as well. Sometimes, plucking birds can be the model for others to LEARN how to pluck. Or, the other obvious thing is some parasite or bacteria that the plucker brought into your home. Trust me, you HAVEN"T had all tests done to eliminate everything. You have had SOME done to look for the more LIKELY pathogens. Giardia is very, very difficult to find and the sypmtoms you describe are often associated with Giardia and with tiels in particular. Your first plucker may have brought something along those lines into your home. If they ever share common space, they could both be infected. Testing to eliminate MOST of the more likely pathogens could easily cost you over $500 just to look for them.

THE OUTLAW

[chez]

Hi thanks for the replies but as my other two tiels who share the same space are perfectly fine I can only assume it is a psychological disorder. The little gut I adopted who my baby "copied" the habit from actually spent 2 mnths in the vets office b4 coming to me to be supervised. The poor darlin came from a broken home with parents who partied all night and never gave him any sleep. My baby was a healthy happy bird untill I decided to play Ms Doolittle

[Heaven]

You may want to look into Pluck No More.
All Natural and Works. It seems to be a Miracle cure for pluckers.
4 weeks and our U2 is looking 100% better and growing in mor feathers every day.
www.kingscages.com
Read the reviews and check out the pictures.
I refused to used drugs on our U2 and this is all natural.
We found just misting works fine, without him having to ingest it.

[leah9798]

Just wanted to say that Nemo is one gorgeous bird!!! Good luck!

[purplesmurf]

What coloration is Nemo? I've been told by my avian vet, a bird rescue, and read in several articles that lutinos are more susceptible to avian giardia than other color mutations.