Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Feather plucking/mutilation

Photos taken with a few months apart, the photo to the right taken the 23rd of August. Her feathers have since then further improved (see the header photo).

The blog hasn't been updated in quite some time and during this time Sarabi has, unfortunately, developed a feather mutilating behavior (starting in January), which is sadly very common especially among the very sensitive African Grey parrot species. The problem was adressed immediately with a visit to the vet, knowing that the behavior can have very various reasons - anything from a physical change in the environment (like a piece of furniture being moved to a new location in the room) to poor diet, lack of stimulation or parasites. The vet took a sample of a flake from Sarabi's skin, to test for parasites, but the test results showed that it was plain dandruff or simply "dry, flaky and sensitive skin." The days before Sarabi started mutilating the feathers on her chest area, nape and partially her wings I had installed a bird bath to her cage, to enable her to bathe at will and add more moisture. This had of course been introduced days ahead and in small steps and Sarabi did take a liking to the bird bath straight away. My thought was though that the bird bath, i.e. change in environment, could have been a cause of stress - even if it seemed to have been positive stress.

The vet recommended a diet change - a transition the the Harrison's pellets (I use High Potency Coarse, which is recommended for African Grey's that have extra nutritional needs, combined with some Power Treats) as a base plus fruits and greens - from a previous diet of other colorful, non-organic, pellets, seeds, fruits and greens and some "table food." The seeds, and the "table foods", have now been completely excluded from the diet and I have added palm nuts, which is a natural food for African Greys and contains a very nutritious "juice", and the occasional cashew nut as a treat. Besides this a UV-light has been added to the cage, a humidifier and air cleanser to the room and I have started spraying Sarabi daily with the AVIx Soother Spray. Her feathers have now almost completely grown back and recovered and she is happier and more content than ever! I think that having gone through this worrying experience together has, in a way, further strengthened our bond. Thanks to quick action the behavior has, seemingly, not developed into a bad habit - which is of course more difficult to break than behavior that is simply the cause of something else which ceases if the cause is dealt with.

This might have been possible to avert, having taken these necessary steps earlier, but at the same time it has been a learning experience for me as a parrot owner and I hope that our experience can help others to avoid a similar one with their birds with proper information and care from the beginning. Many bird food manufacturers promise that their foods will "cover all the bird's nutritional needs" and seeds, for example, are almost taken for granted as "the" food for birds. Yet they contain large amounts of fat and lack of nutrition. Many pellets also contain non-organic ingredients that your bird may be sensitive to or become allergic to. "Table foods" also often contain chemicals, salts, saturated fats etc.

It is important that your bird receives proper nutrition, stimulation (time out of the cage, cuddle time, foraging toys, word games etc.), enough moisture (showers several times a week and possibly some kind of soother spray - aloe vera, for instance), proper sleep (10-12 hours of non interrupted sleep) and a clean and healthy environment. Even with all of these components your bird might still develop a feather plucking or feather mutilation behavior - go straight to an avian veterinarian if your bird starts plucking or mutilating its feathers and, with your vet's help, go through all of these important areas to see if there is anything missing or that can be improved.

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