It’s been five years since Louie’s “gotcha!” day — in that time, I’ve seen him go through several mojo moults. The early ones were rather horrific; when we got him, there was a patch of his head so bald that the vet thought he must have scratched it off on the cement perch in his…
Category: Health
Posts about health in birds.
Holy Liver Values, Batman! How We Lowered Our Eclectus’ Cholesterol Through Diet
Last year in July, I took my flock to the vet; she noticed the big ones’ nails and beaks were a touch overgrown, but this was especially true for Louie the eclectus. The vet recommended we get our parrots’ bloodwork done, because contrary to my earlier/misinformed belief, any bird who has a concrete perch in…
My Littlest Budgie has a Liver Infection
A little more than two weeks ago, little Beau lost 2 grams of weight; he’s really tiny (originally weighing in at 28 grams) to begin with, so any drop was concerning.
We weren’t sure what was going on, but ultimately decided not to take a chance and brought him into the vet.
He’s been fighting for his life ever since.
Broken Blood Feathers: What To Do
If your parrot is bleeding, that’s a bit of an emergency. Yes, even if it’s just from a tiny little feather. Think about how tiny a parakeet is; now think about how much blood a single droplet is in relation to how big that bird is, and how much that would equal if it were…
Allergies Don’t Disappear: Mild Toe-Tapping
Oh, the holidays–friendship, cheer, the season of giving… What more could a bird want than a bit of pizza crust? Unfortunately, Louie acquired a mild case of toe-tapping to go with it. 😦 This performance brought to you by pizza: I gave Louie a tiny bit of pizza crust (standard practice when we feel like spoiling…
Eclectus Mojo Moult: A Picture of Pinfeathers
2020 Edit: This is my most popular blog post, so I thought I’d write a follow-up with better pictures! If you’re looking for a variety of mojo moult pictures over the years, you are welcome to also check out these images of his various moults (hard ones and easy ones) from 2015-2020. Otherwise, keep reading…
Step Up Progress: Lifting a Foot
Progress! Eeee! VI LIFTED HER FOOT TO STEP UP TODAY! I MADE MY GOAL! …The reason I am so excited about this is because I didn’t think I was actually making any progress; she was comfortable leaning against my wrist to take a chip from me, but refused, refused to even try to move her foot closer…
An open letter to my new parrot.
Dear New Parrot, Wow, this must be a scary transition, huh? Everything you have ever known has totally shifted; baby or adult, this is a new chapter in your life, so I suspect you must be feeling really uneasy. You probably miss your person, no matter how poorly that person treated you–you probably don’t know…
Louie has finished dancing! Toe-Tapping Part 2.
Take a bow, Louie! Your dancing (i.e. terrible toe-tapping) is done. Hopefully. By the time we took Louie to the vet, he had stopped tap-dancing. In twenty-four hours, he went from almost violent, uncontrolled spasms to… nothing. Nothing. What…? He was a lovely little patient at the vet; his coloring is growing in vibrantly in…
Luigi is tap-dancing, and it is horrible. Toe-Tapping Part 1.
With absolutely no warning, my baby boy started clutching one foot convulsively. His entire foot would seize up, curl up–I always thought that toe-tapping would start slowly and grow progressively worse, but nope. It came on suddenly. Violently.
Love was toe-tapping.
