Poor Mia... She had a BAD night fright!

Well, today has been a crappy day. I uncovered the birds this morning only to find quite a bit of blood in Mia's and Peewee's cage I guess through the nite Mia had a nite fright and broke all her flight feathers and a few more off and she had blood on her. I tried to rinse her off so i could have a look at her wings and that only made the bleeding worse as she kept fluttering them. I have put her in a little cage by herself so she keeps quiet and warm with a towel in the bottom. I haven't seen her drink and she only nibbled on a piece of bread. I read in another site to use Cayenne pepper and make it into a paste and put it on where the blood is coming from,which i have done. The bleeding has stopped, which is good but i just hope she'll be ok for the rest of it. On one wing i can actually see the bone!

Anyone have advice???

Get better Mia...*heavy sigh*

If you can towel Mia and find which feathers are broken I would advise to pull them out. If they are too short to get even with tweezers you need to get her to a vet. Those broken feathers need to be removed asap. Until you can remove them you can use either the quick stop or corn starch to stop the bleeding but they will keep opening up and she could bleed out. Good luck

I second what Carol said. In addition, Mia really needs fluids. You should try an eyedropper full of water, and putting the water on the side of her beak. That way she doesn't have to go get it herself. Good luck, sending healing thoughts.

Hope Mia is okay. My Pionus can have night frights and it is pretty upsetting.
I make sure I have a night light in the room so that they are not in total darkness.
I am in aggreement with Carol and Andrea.
Extra cuddles never hurt either.

When I was younger I had a lutino tiel that regularly broke blood feathers...she would bleed and the blood showed up so bright on her yellowness and it always stressed me out. I would have to hold her down while mom used our emergency hemostats to pull the feather. My tiel would be stressed for a few hours...but then get back to normal.

We only had to bring her to the vet for broken feathers once, when a small bit of pin didn't come out and she kept bleeding...but again, once it was removed she was fine. I know it seems a bit draconian at first to pull the feather, but in truth it's the best way to stop the bleeding. Blood feathers are tapped right into the vein, and the hole can't close while the feather is still there.

Please keep us updated.

Thanx for the replies ladies. Here is a few pic's of the feathers that came out and they look like the whole feather came out. But it's hard to really look under her wings where the blood was cause the blood has dried up and i also put the cayenne pepper under there. I did bring her out a few times to give her snuggles and she seemed more herself. It looks like a couple of these are tail feathers too cause her tail isn't like it was. I'm going to try to get some water in her beak this morning. We only have 1 avian vet in Barrie and she isn't there everyday but i'm going to call shortly. I brought Mia in my bedroom last night and kept checking on my poor baby,i couldn't sleep worth a hoot worrying about her. I will keep you's posted .

I just called the Avian vet here in Barrie and she's not in until Tues . They directed me to a another Avian vet in Ivy which isn't far from here and i have an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:45 am. I'm going to try and get a bit of water in her beak today and keep her quiet still...poor girl isn't used to being in her cage except for sleep

They look fairly whole

Do you have a T-perch you can sit her on just so that she can be in your presence all the time? It might be less stressful than the cage.

andrea wrote:They look fairly whole

Do you have a T-perch you can sit her on just so that she can be in your presence all the time? It might be less stressful than the cage.

Yes i do Andrea but the only ones that use it are Bella and Emma, the tiels won't stay on it. I was just visiting Mia and she is a whole lot more perkier than yesterday but she is also trying to preen under her wings and there is dried up blood under there plus the Cayenne so i think in a bit i will try to get some water to clean it a bit(just spray her with a water bottle)then i can see for sure if any feathers under there are BROKEN. She took a sip of water for me and when i put her back she went to the water bottle in her cage and i seen her drink on her own thank god! I'm sooooo stressed over this but trying my best to keep calm for her. I am definately going to plug in a night light by their cage and i kept the bathroom light on for Mia last night so she could see.

It sounds like you are doing everything right. It is a good sign that she is starting to preen away the blood - it means that she has energy AND it doesn't hurt too much. Please be extra careful when bathing her...if she likes spray bottles that would probably be best. You can get her a bit damp and then let her preen things back to normal (while swallowing some extra water ). A dish or sink bath might be a bit too vigorous if her clots aren't fully anchored, and we don't want her to start bleeding again.

Don't worry! She might look like a horror movie extra for a few weeks until she molts the feathers with blood on them, but then she'll be back to brand new! In the meantime, maybe they are filming a 'Zombie Parrot' movie nearby

If she isn't taking water you can also try a little fruit juice or cut up some apple or other wet fruit to get her to take some fluids. Is she eating ok? Try to coax with some of her favorites to help get her strength back up. I always keep a bit of hand feeding formula around in case of emergency and a feeding shringe and just put a bit in the side of the beak. Usually they naturally swallow. Robby was a pain to try and hand feed with that crazy lory tongue pushing the shringe away but Rosy is really good.

Keep us posted I hope all goes well.

That's what i'm going to do is put her on a towel and put WARM water in it and just mist her to try to get some of the blood off. I have brought her upstairs and she is in her cage beside her man Peewee so now they have been chirping back and forth,which is also a good sign cause she hasn't since yesterday! I seen her take another drink of her water but i haven't seen her eat yet.

Oh geez. My thoughts are with you, Kimmie. I've had some klutzy birds, but never had anyone break a blood feather. I'm just glad everybody else could give you advice.

I stopped in to PJ's pet store where i used to buy my dog food cause i know there is a manager that works there that breeds birds etc and luckily she was there. I explained the situation and she said to bring Mia in and she would have a look. I went back home and got Mia,tried to get some Cayenne off of her and it wasn't coming off and nor was Mia thrilled with being sprayed with water.

Anyways, she looked her all over and i mentioned the one piece of bone that had no feathers on it from the night fright and she said Mia probably got that wing stuck in something in the cage... which makes sense to me. She said to leave her be for now but to keep an eye on her of course. I still have her beside Peewee but when i go to bed i'm bringing her in the room with me.

The best news of the day is...MIA IS EATING HER MILLET AND HER PELLETS TONIGHT!!! I also put some seeds and treats in her bowl for her. She is also chirping up a storm as usual

Ohhhhh...what a stressful time when one of our animals is sick or injured,talk about feeling helpless

Thanx for the kind thoughts Chris!!!

She must be feeling better if she's eating.

Eating and chirping! YAY!

Way to go Mia...........keep up the good work Kimmie

That is a relief.
Good job Kimmie

Thanx everyone... Mia ia doing even better today I let her out with Peewee and she had some veggies,rice and fruit!!! She stayed out for a couple hours but what i was afraid of was her trying to fly and crashing into something or a hard landing...it was if she knew she couldn't,she just stayed on top of their cage eating,preening and took a nap.

Thank heavens for that! Freddy's either getting senile or nearsighted because lately he's been mis-judging distances, throwing himself off the top of his cage, and dropping like a stone. I wish he'd figure out he can't fly!

Chris wrote:Thank heavens for that! Freddy's either getting senile or nearsighted because lately he's been mis-judging distances, throwing himself off the top of his cage, and dropping like a stone. I wish he'd figure out he can't fly!

Awwwwww poor Freddy! How old is he Chris? I think you said before he is 20???? Poor little guy,it's amazing his age though!