Pets! Arrrgh!

I'd noticed small sore on my cockatiel's wing and made an apointment with the vet to have it looked at. About one minute into the (two minute) ride he decided to take evasive action and drop down into "slam yourself around the travel cage in a blind panic" mode. Nothing would calm him, and by the time he made it to the vet both wings were banged up and bleeding.

In the vet's office, he threw a big fit and wouldn't let her touch him. He kept flying back to my shoulder and she had to restrain him with a towel. Lucky for him, his injuries weren't serious, so now he's back at home giving me the evil eye . I suppose I'll hear from his lawyer shortly.

To be fair, here's my perception of his take on the morning's events

feel your pain there. is he ok again now?

this may sound really silly but i've found it helps... talk to them about what you're going to do and why. won't claim they understand all of it but i really have gotten much better results.


kwee kwee kwee!

L.

Thanks Onionpencil.
He seems to be doing fine, although he has a followup appointment next week to be on the safe side. Next time he's going in a padded container in case he panics again.

I agree it's wise to tell your pets what's going to happen, and why, and not to worry. I don't think they get the words, but they can infer calmness and caring from your voice tone. Now if only I could get the little guy to understand that the vet is his friend and not his sworn enemy...

oddly enough my various little feathered nerdlings are pretty good with vets, which is particularly funny considering that my tiels tend to be big weenies. some of them seem to even like the vet okay.. not the tiels usually but some of the more outgoing guys.

l.

What types of birds do you have? Just curious.

I think most birds don't flip out at the vet- all the other ones sat patiently in their travel cages in the waiting room. Leave it to my bird to bodyslam himself silly. To be fair, he suffered a serious beak injury when he was young which required lots of vet treatment, so he "learned" early to fear every human except me. Ironically, my other tiel, who's less tame, is a perfect gentleman at the vet. Go figure.

Good idea - but wait until you have them secure before you do speak with them as I made this mistake once with my cat Picasso and told him he was going to the vet and he darted outside and hid five minutes before we had to leave for the vets office and I did not see him again until after 6:00 that night. The little sh*t.

Any mention of the "V" word seems to send him in hiding even if it's for our other cat, who, oddly enough does not do this.

I tend to think that Picasso may react this way because he lived at our vets office before he came to live with us because this was the only place animal rescue could put him at the time. Maybe he is afraid that I will give him back poor baby. Though he also seems to be much more focused on language that our other cat is and actually acts on certain requests (one does not give a cat commands).

*checks into thread with Quaker Parrot Harley *
He loves to *sing* along when I DJ on Twister Radio.
My new baby Umbrella 'Too is currently still egg bound due to wean around May

Thanks, Ryntha, Rose and Lector.

That's a cute bird you have there, Lector. I can just picture him singing along when you do D.J.!

citron crested 'too, 2 'tiels, 2 white capped pionus, 2 bourke's keets, a maroon bellied conure, a peach faced lovebird, and a redbelly parrot...


here's harpo the bourke.. one of the world's cutest birds 8D

l.

That's one cute bird. Thanks for the picture!

Did you put a blanket or something over the cage to keep him from seeing what was happening? I have to do that whenever I take my tiel out or else she freaks. Poor thing, you musta been a nervous wreck by the time you got there. Glad he's ok.

Lecktor, I used to have a quaker named Darby. Man was he mean to everybody but me, lmao. Better than a guard dog.

Thanks for your concern Asha.
At the vet's suggestion, from now on he travels in a cardboard cat carier box, so, as you also suggested, he doesn't see things (and doesn't have anything hard to bang into if he panics). Oddly, I used to put him in a similar cardboard container for traveling, but switched him over to a travel cage because I thought it'd be less traumatic on him than the box. I was wrong on that one!

Hi Olympia,your vet is spot on about the cardboard carrier.I had a cockatiel named Piper that would freak out like yours did in the car if she could see,but if in a box was fine and calm.Piper lived to be almost 15 years old,and would have made it longer if I had kept her wing feathers clipped,she got startled one day while out of the cage,flew into a window and broke her neck (cries)

I currently have a blue & gold macaw named Gandalf that just turned 16 years old,got him when he was 3 months old.Had to hand feed him twice a day for several months when I first got him,and as a result he's a sweet bird (at least to me,,lol) Gandalf fortunatly loves riding in the car,I have a small cage for transporting him,he sits on the perch and flaps his wings like he's flying,and takes in the world zooming past,

Here's a picture of him when he was around 4 years old.
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Sorry to hear about your Cockatiel.

Your macaw is gorgeous! Hope he's gentle with that big beak of his

Thanks for the condolences about Piper Olympia.Always painfull to lose any pet.Any of you who have cockatiels,be aware that they are VERY strong fliers,keeping the first 2 or 3 flight feathers clipped on each wing will allow them to fly,but not with the speed they have with all of them.If your not comfortable doing this yourself,have the vet do it.

And yes Olympia, Gandalf is very gentle with me,he has only given me a few "warning" nips when he doesnt want to be bothered.I am sure if he wanted to he could deliver a very painful bite as he can crack pecans and almonds with ease.Hand raised birds like him tend to be very good with thier owners,they see us as thier "mothers".

Good point for anyone who owns cockatiels.



That's good that you get along. Sounds like he has a great home.

this helps keep everyone warmer in cool weather and has saved my birds some misery with windows...

clear heavyduty film that you apply to the window with special doublesided type. a hairdryer shrinks it nice and tight. when little birds insist on trying to take out the window the poinking off is not perfect but much better than broken necks. i like it enough i keep it on windows in highly birded areas when i can.

l.

I like that phrase! good suggestion for making bouncy windows. fortunately my lovebird Zip is not too good at flying anyways. He's a dim little bird but a sweetie. Not so dim that he can't make me do his bidding though.