new little guy needs some help

[birdbrad]

hello,
this is the second board I have found while searching for info on our newest addition to the family. This is a bit of a repost from another board so if any of you frequent that one too I apologize but I'm just trying to get plenty of ideas to help the little guy out. here is the story:
Yesterday we brought home a new parrotlet. A little background is in order. My fiancee introduced me to birds, when we met she had three, 2 parakeets and a parrotlet. The two parakeets lived together in one cage and the parrotlet (sammy) in another. I really love all animals as does she but due to dog and cat allergies she has birds. Well as time went on one of the parakeets became ill and passed on (this in itself is a long story and involved several trips to the vet finding a new vet and so on). After this the other one only lasted about 6 months. We were down to just Sammy the parrotlet who had grown up around the parakeets but now had no one to keep him company (he is now 4 years old).
We have discussed getting another parrotlet numerous times and it was only a matter of time until we would have another bird in the home. This weekend we were checking around and the bird store we use for all of Sammy's supplies had a young parrotlet that was returned. He is almost 6 months old if I remeber correctly. The little guy is blue but unfortunately has club feet. He was apparently bought orignially with another bird and after they were put in the cage together by the first owner he was bullied by the other bird so the store took him back.

Five minutes after he was brought out for us to see I knew we were about to bring home a new bird. He is a veriy socialable little guy seems to eat well and gets around ok just a little slowly. We named him elvis bought a new cage some toys and brought him home. The owner practially gave him to us when she saw how much we fell in love with the little guy and the workers were happy to see him get a home but you could tell they were almost sad to see him go. Due to his feet perching isn't his strongest skill. At the store we took a small later with closely spaced rungs and he tried and just managed to perch on them.

I have managed to make a nice wide perch with multiple dowl rods and since wrapped the ladder with heavy knap cloth that he can climb up with a little effort.

Other than his feet he seems to be a very healty bird and was thoroughly checked out with a clean bill of health. We both love the little guy to death and hope we can provide a happy home for him.

We are keeping them separated though we had them out at the same time and while Sammy is curious he doesn't seem to be aggresive toward Elvis but they will not be out together without very direct supervison anytime soon.

So I was wondering, has anyone else ever taken on a bird with similar difficulties and if so any advice?

I was thinking maybe taking some kind of wire mesh and using it to get him off the bottom of the cage and using it to make him some perches and ladders. The cloth seems to help but with the way his claws are curled I think he may be getting caught up in it. Any ideas or experience would be greatly appreciated. I have done some searching through google and can't find much about disabled birds more specifically how to help one with Elvis' condition.

thanks
Brad

[Beck]

I sent you a P.M.

Some people make wide perches out of those flat, wooden spoons used for cooking. You can also use vet wrap if the wood is too slippery for him.

Becky

[svolk]

Welcome to the board! That's wonderful that you gave a loving home to a disabled bird!

I don't have any personal experience with disabled birds, but there are quite a few people here who hopefully can give you advice on how to make his life easier.

I have seen little corner flat "perches" that are available (not sure that the actual name is). I also think it's great that you're making sure he doesn't have any slippery surfaces - maybe vet wrap would work better than the cloth (since you're right in that you definitely don't want his feet to get caught in anything - but I'm not certain that vetwrap would be much different, as far as possibly getting caught..).

[Sally]

Perch pads are cool. This is a flat perch that hangs and has soft covers. What a lucky birdie!

[Cindy215]

I would give him a Happy Hut to sleep in so the pressure is off the feed as much as possible and he can lean on the sides of it. I love that Perch Pad Sally, where's that from?

I'd also give some platforms, here's a corner perch:

http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merch...roduct_Count=3

Somebody here has a Ringneck with deformed feet, perhaps she'll see the post.

Thank you for helping him and giving him an enthusiastic and committed home.

[Kevin]

Welcome to the site brad.

[Cindy215]

Brad, I meant to say I think I would definitely keep his wings not clipped. Althought I'm VERY anti-clipping, for THIS guy I think it's even more important.

He may have problems landing and you'll have to work with that. But overall he'll need to be able to balance using his wings when he stumbles. Most flighted birds only rely on flight most seriously to "side step" a "situation" that they perceive is dangerous. Even though they fly around the house and visit other play stations. With this little guy he will benefit from being able to fly or hover to safety if he falls somewhere. Since his feet won't help him he'll need his wings and the eventual cardio and muscle building that comes from flight, imo. It must get exhausting for them to have to "beak" their way everywhere they want to go.

If he's not an experienced flier and needs to learn (hope not) I would suggest in a de-cluttered bedroom preferably on the bed or floor. And I'd de-clutter his cage even though Parrotlets need a bunch of toys I'd put them around the outside not too many hanging inside so he can fly/hop/climb to places inside. As he progresses, that is. Hard to say without seeing him but you get what I mean, probably.

[Cindy215]

Originally Posted by birdbrad

hello,


I was thinking maybe taking some kind of wire mesh and using it to get him off the bottom of the cage and using it to make him some perches and ladders. The cloth seems to help but with the way his claws are curled I think he may be getting caught up in it. Any ideas or experience would be greatly appreciated. I have done some searching through google and can't find much about disabled birds more specifically how to help one with Elvis' condition.

thanks
Brad

Try googling "splay legs" it's a similar challenge. Are you saying he has to stay on the bottom and can't manuver vertically much inside?

I think for now in the bottom, I'd be using non bleached paper towels smashed up in balls like clouds to support him and be able to grip as much as he's able....and soft kitchen towels that don't have any strings like "flour sacks" I think they're called. In the towel section of Kmart in the Martha Stewart stuff. They're smooth but soft for wiping glasses without leaving white stuff behind. Easy to change multiple times per day and wash like diapers if he's not really mobile.

There's also some shredding toys that he could sit on and shred and chew that would cushion him from the bottom. Here's a Photobucket link of my P'lettes favorite current shredding toys. The big on on the right is for a large bird but they LOVE it because it has alot of stuff to shred and chew and they can stand on it and do it.

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p...06Toys0001.jpg

[Cindy215]

OH I just thought of something else greens like Kale and escarole for the bottom. It sounds funny but he can eat and relax on them. My male LOVES to bathe on wet kale.

Of course they have to come out in 2 hours and you'd have to watch the stool and eating thing.

[birdbrad]

thanks everyone for the responses and some great ideas.
For now we have him in a smaller cage, I have taken the small ladder which he is unable to climb for now and wrapped it in a piece of cotton cloth, I can't remember the name of the material all the sudden but it's somewhat similar to gauze, it's soft enough with enough knap that he can climb and his claws don't seem to get stuck. I have also taken 3 dowels zip tied them together to make a wide perch and wrapped it in the same stuff. the poor little guy was trying so hard to get higher in the cage I thought this would work as a temp fix so at least he can be a little happier off the bottom of the cage and more importantly not walking in his droppings.
I set his food and water on one of those flat perches next to the long 3 dowel pirch and he immediately made his way over and got water and ate. I didn't think he was eating with that stuff on the bottom of the cage because he doesn't want to be down there at all which I think is a good thing. If he is wanting to get up higher and "pirch" then he is fighting to be normal and not just sitting around. His widened pirch is just about 4 or 5 inches off the bottom of the cage which is lined with shreadded paper at the moment which is what he had at the pet store so if he does fall off he's pretty safe, it has happend a few times already but he doesn't seem to mind too much he just goes back over to his ramp and climbs back up.

Now that he is a little more settled I took him out last and let him play a little climbing up my chest. After he settled down some and seemed pretty relaxed I managed to get a better look at his legs and compared them to a skeletal picture from the web.

His problem appears to be at the joints of both legs where the tibia/fibula and the tarsometatarsus come together, basically his "knee" This is what is supporting his weight when he walks. He is unable to raise himself up on his feet and these are red from using them as his feet but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down too much right now, though he more waddles than walks. Hopefully in time they will callus over, I need to get the bird store on the phone and talk with them about this.

Overall the guy seems pretty happy and he is eating and drinking and he wanted to play when I took him out last night so that's a good thing. I found another board with a section just for special needs birds and there are a couple of ideas for ramps using some half dowels as "steps" that I am trying to make. I actually broke out the dremmel and some wood last night and put a test one together. For now I'm trying to keep him happy and as active as possible.

Finding something that works for him until he is able to fly might be a bit of a challenge but I think as long as I can keep him interested he has a good chance of adjusting and learning his own way of doing things and getting around.

As for the ideas about decluttering the cage that is what we have done for him with just a few small toys and one he can rip up. I have a couple of ideas to refine my ramps and his widened perches so he can have some cushon without getting any claws stuck and have some mobility using his beak to pull him self along when needed.