cockatoo question

[abrophy]

I love forums!! My husband and I have several pets including three cats, a cockatiel, and two canaries. I recently acquired a very sweet umbrella cockatoo. She is 34 years old and had one previous owner, a woman who was moved into assisted living. A neighbor took the bird for three days before finding me. She has lived in a cockatiel cage her whole life (poor thing!) and I have a new cage on order for her which should be here in the next day or so. I don't know a whole lot more about her. I know that the woman also had two cats. I am trying a variety of different foods to see what she likes. She has never been taught "up" and stays on her cage. We have encouraged her and gotten her to trust us enough that she will come on our arms or shoulders for a quick minute before returning to her cage.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to bathe her or get her to bathe herself since I don't know how this was done in the past. I've tried misting her, which she did not like.

I'm also wondering if anyone has an older cockatoo and can give me any advice about owning an older bird. She has has some feather loss on her chest and legs. Some people have said this loss is normal for her age. I'm not sure I buy that. I think it is likely from neglect the past few years. Her crown feathers are also thin, but I think this is because of rubbing her head against the bars of her too small cage. Will her feathers grow back? If not, it's OK. We have had her for a week now and as she trusts us more, her wonderful personality emerges.

We have been looking for a cockatoo for quite some time and are glad that we finally have one in our family.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[RubyMuse]

Hi,
First of all - you have come to the right place, everyone on this site loves to talk about birds! Congratulations on your new cockatoo - it is simply wonderful that you have taken her in and are already working to improve her life.

The feather loss is not age related. It will be one of two things: medical or behavioral. The first thing you should do is get a vet check up and a blood test called a CBC/CHEM. I do this with every new bird to see if they are having any problems that I can solve before they get dangerous or advanced...

Poor feather condition could also be related to poor nutrition and lack of stimulation in the environment. Great that you have already ordered her a new cage! Get some soft perching options for her too since she is older and could be slightly arthritic.

Bathing: this will take time. Do not, whatever you do, force it. Take her in the bathroom with you and let her perch somewhere and see you enjoying a shower. Make playing with water really fun (slow - you have to desensitize her to this) and reward her with a favorite food treat for even letting you get her very slightly wet...

You are on the right track with her! You seem sympathetic and caring to what has happened to her and you also seem patient which will go a LONG WAY with a cockatoo.

PM me if you want to talk about anything training related. I am happy to help.

[abrophy]

Thanks for the advice!! I really appreciate it and will keep you updated!

[chapala]

Good for you to give this deserving bird a better home than she's had all these years! I would definitely be concerned about the diet and nutritional deficiencies. The best that I can recommend is a fresh foods diet (Shauna's Mash diet from Feeding Feathers Yahoo forum) supplemented with a good pellet such as Harrison's, Zupreem natural or Roudybush. Depending on what she has eaten in the past, she may well be deficient in Vit. A and Calcium, as well as complete protein. I don't suggest synthetic vitamins especially if you are going to be feeding some of the diet in pellets, but do recommend high beta-carotene and Calcium vegetables and some fruit (broccoli, collards, peas, chili peppers, cooked/mashed sweet potato, carrot, kale, mustard greens, dandelion greens, cantaloupe, apricot, peach, orange, papaya, mango).

Toys will be something else to expand her world, and 'Toos are known to enjoy foraging toys. Also shredding and chewing toys.

Good luck!

[Lori~D]

Everybody is giving great advise except for whovever told you the feather loss was noraml for her age. She is plucking for whatever reason and its not normal for any age. Get her vetted and give her something to do.