Well first off, merry christmas all, secondly I need advice urgently. I took Smarty to a local non avian vet over the weekend as she had a minor bald patch on her chest, but being a non avain vet they were fairly useless! Over xmas day she has got alot worse and will not stop scratching and pulling out feathers & below is a picture of how she looks right now

 

 

What could cause her to do that to herself? I was lucky enough to get that snap of her as she is literally scratching that bald patch constantly & continuing to pull out more feathers, she's also made herself bleed in that bald area. The nearest avain vet is 60 miles away but I will be ringing them first thing in the morning as they have an emergency service so hopefully I'll be able to take her even though it's boxing day

 

I don't know whether she's in pain, or just that the bald patch is itching like crazy, but is there anything I can do to help smarty in the mean time?

Edited December 25, 200717 yr by budgies_are_great

A lot of time it is because she is bored. There are sprays that will stop her but it will only be a short term remedy until you find out the real cause.

 

She looks healthy and doesn't appear to be drawing blood yet.

I'd be surprised if it was down to that to be honest, she has loads of toys & does play with them alot, also has plenty of human company & also another budige for company (they are kept in seperate cages but in the same room & do fly around together). I actually think it may be down to the other bird & possibly stress but I'll hopefully know more when I see the vet.

Oh, poor little thing ... You could try some sort of collar, to stop her getting to it. Not 100% sure how you do it though, perhaps cardboard... I think others have used them in the past, maybe do a search? It may not last for long, but may keep her preoccupied for a little while. Let us know how you go... Maybe try bathing it in warm water??? not sure if this may agrivate whatever it is more though. Good luck to you both and let us know how you go. maesie xxx

Looks dreadful, doesn't it? One of our members had a bird that did that too. When the bird stopped breeding and came to live at my house, where there was lots more space to fly and many other birds to interact with the feathers grew back within a week.

It seems to be some kind of stress related thing I would say. Many reasons for that.

Once you have eliminated all the aggravations like feather mites ( possible ? ) and red mite infestations ( unlikely ) .....I would say most likely stress realted. Best of luck

Edited December 26, 200717 yr by KAZ

Hi there

You've probably already treated her for mites.She could be bored if she's in a cage all day,you could try giving her something to play with like some tree branches grass etc,try to get branches with bark on them and she will pull off the bark.If she is in a cage most of the time,try letting her fly around in a safe room and observe her to she what she does.Some birds pluck themselves or their babies out of sheer boredom.. Good luck

Has anyone ever heard of Airophagia, it appear this is what Smarty is suffering from it's a very rare condition, in 25 years of being an avian vet, the vet said he's only seen 2 birds with the condition & smarty is one of them! There appears to be no successful treatment.

 

Smarty looks alot worse than she did in the photo at the start of this thread, she wont stop using her beak to scratch & bite at her skin, especially around the crop & her neck, she just continues to self mutilate her skin around those areas.

 

It's heart breaking because she's making her skin so sore, I just wish I could stop her

I have never heard of it this is what I found about it http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...;articleid=2418

 

Did he determine the underlying cause because from the article there are many causes of what can cause it and there looks like there can be things that can be done by the pet owner to relieve the behavior.

 

Also have you tried a collar for her to have her stop the plucking? Did the avian vet suggest any course of treatment or diet change to relieve the symptoms? I understand it can't be cured but to help reduce symptoms or behavior?

 

Sorry to ask so many questions, I am just concerned and wanted to see if anything more was elborated by your avian vet.

 

I am so sorry she is doing poorly (hugs)

Edited February 16, 200817 yr by Elly

:ygbudgie: I have only seen 2 budgies in my rescue lifetime at the shelter that were pluckers, it's usually the larger parrots. One looked exactly like your first picture. My lovebird, Phoebe, constantly picks at her one shoulder, sprays didn't work at all and to leave her in collar for a month and then remove it would just start the process again. We think she has mutilated that one area of her body so much that there is nerve damage (remember, she was surrendered to rescue with behavioral problems). My vet and I have found that putting her on anti-anxiety drug per beak daily and putting her in a plastic collar when I am away during the day, help a lot. This device is plastic like (but is used by astronauts so she cannot destroy it)and has a plastic screw and nut. She will still pick and debride the shoulder but she doesn't mutilate anymore and is fast asleep on my shoulder with her buddy, Mango, as I type this. Maybe you can try an approach like that, good luck!

How big is her cage and how is it set up ? Have you tried changing the cage around or giving her more space or freedom ? Reason I ask is that a bird I have looked just like yours but when she got a lot more space and friends it all changed. Its behavioural...it has to be. I would try a lot more things out before I rested on it being "diagnosed" as an "illness".

Good luck

Edited February 16, 200817 yr by KAZ

That is a bizarre diagnosis. It means literally to "eat air". I assume the vet found air in the crop causing it to bloat, leading to discomfort and hence the plucking. Poor girl :yellowhead: Did the vet mention any further treatment for symptoms rather than cause? Something to stop her trying to pluck, like an E collar? I'd try to make her as comfortable as possible, such as relieving the plucking even if you can't treat the aerophagia.

 

My first guess would have been, as Kaz said, behavioural. The most common reasons a bird starts plucking are boredom and stress.

 

The diagnostician in me is intrigued. Aerophagia itself is a symptom. What about underlying causes of the aerophagia? I don't know much about it in birds, but a bit of googling tells me that in other animals it's mainly due to diet, how they eat, and anxiety. Some of these can be treated. I think more investigation is needed rather than to just dismiss this as untreatable.

Edited February 17, 200817 yr by Chrysocome

Aerophagia: Swallowing too much air, a common cause of gas in the stomach and belching. Everyone swallows small amounts of air when eating or drinking. However, rapid eating or drinking, chewing gum, smoking, or ill-fitting dentures may cause a significant increase in swallowed air.

Well since this all started back in december Smarty has been wearing a collar which the vet put on, we did take it off occasionally to let her preen herself etc, but we had to rush her to the vets last monday because the skin on the front of her neck & her chin was red raw & very sore, also had a bad infection there as well. Ever since she had the collar fitted she's tried to get it off & where she's trying so hard the collar is rubbing against her skin & making things worse.

 

She also couldn't sleep well at all with the collar on, kept falling off the perch as she's falling asleep & that was very upsetting to watch. We did put a platfrom in her cage for her to stand on, hoping she'd go to sleep on there but the little sod wont stay on it, I also put a thick layer of cotton wool at the bottom of her cage under the newspaper to cushion her fall. The worrying thing now is, even though she's not wearing a collar she is still having trouble sleeping & slouches on the perch until she ends up falling off, or suddenly wakes up & stands back up straight on the perch, if you know what I mean. She is very tired all the time but I don't know how to help her with that, I wish she was more friendly, I'd let her lay in my hand & go to sleep or something, I used to have a budgie that liked to do that. Lack of sleep can't be doing her any good at all :/

 

Apart from looking a right mess, smarty isn't acting ill, she comes out of her cage often, plays with her toys etc & is a right pain to catch when it's medicine time.

 

At least the cream we're rubbing on her skin is helping & smarty isn't having a go at her skin as much, but she hasn't stopped 100%

Help with the sleeping - I had a friend who had a bird that had to wear a collar for some reason and could not sleep as he kept falling off his perch. What they did was get a small cage and put one perch as low as possible and cover the floor with this matting stuff up to just under the perch. At night the bird was transferred into this cage to sleep and brought out each morning. After about a week he got use to it. Use to freak them out as he sleeps on his back with his legs in the air and wings outstreched! so they would wake up and think he was dead. Now days he no longer has a collar but still sleeps in his "bed". He goes up to the cage when he thinks it's bed time and screams until someone lets him in and then throws himself onto his back and little legs get streched up and off he goes to the land of nod!

 

You night want to try something like that, just letting you know that there is hope to sleep with a collar.

Aerophagia: Swallowing too much air, a common cause of gas in the stomach and belching. Everyone swallows small amounts of air when eating or drinking. However, rapid eating or drinking, chewing gum, smoking, or ill-fitting dentures may cause a significant increase in swallowed air.

' :(Laughing out loud): Daz, do any of your budgies have dentures, chew gum or smoke??? Good idea about the sleeping perch, and glad the cream is helping a bit. :hap:

We are way past feather plucking now as fas as Smarty is concerned, during the early hours she actually cut her chest & made it bleed She is breaking my heart but smarty is intent on causing herself harm

 

We've got to the stage now where not wearing a collar is not an option, but the collars the the vet uses caused her skin to get all red & sore in the first place! In desperation my sister made some collars out of elasticated tubular bandage, the fabric is very smooth to the touch & so far she is okay with the collar on, it's not tight around her at all & she is eating & drinking & coming out of her cage when she wants.

 

But I know we're just delaying the inevitable in that as soon as we take the collar off she would be back to self harming. At the moment her crop doesn't look air filled at all but still she's trying her hardest to bite & scratch at her skin & it's not just her chest & neck anymore she's going after, there's bold patches on both her wings too.

 

I'll admitt I really hit rock bottom when I found her bleeding during the night, even had thoughts about putting her to sleep because this has been carrying on for 2 months & it's getting no better, if anything it's getting worse. We've spent hundreds of pounds on vet bills on test after test on Smarty, hospital fees etc but we're getting nowhere.

 

I'm not saying the vet has made a mis-diagnosis as you can clearly see the crop certainly is enlarged sometimes, but I don't understand why she is intent on biting and cratching her skin away from where the crop is, like her wings for example.

 

I don't want to give up on her, hence the collar being back on, but if this type of collar makes her skin worse then I really don't know what to do anymore . Anyone got any tips on what would make a good collar?

I'm really sorry for the news... Could you get a second opinion? Another avian vet? Maybe it's in her head... I'm not sure if you can get meds to put her on to stop this though. Sorry... wish I had an answer

Can you think of anything that has changed in the last 2 months, anything that changed when or just before she started feather plucking??? Airophagia isn't a diagnosis, i would say that it is another symptom, which in most other animals, especially horses, is a behavioural disorder. In horses it is often related to diet. Horses that are fed highly concentrated grain tend to windsuck, because usually they spend 16 hours a day grazing on grass, when fed concentrate feeds, they eat for 1 hour and have 15 hours to fill up. Thus it could be that you bird is bored. However this is not the only reason why a bird could be feather plucking. She, as suggested before, could be stressed and in this case you need to identify and remove the stressor, which is why you need to think about what could possibly have changed around the time she started plucking. She could have a behavioural disorder such as obsessive compulsive disorder, which can only really be treated (not cured) by anti-anxiety medication (this can also help treat an over stressed bird). It could also be due to her diet too, like the horses. Even though horses spend less time eating when they are fed concentrates, their feed also affects their behaviour too to some extent. Have you changed Smarty's diet recently?

She may have developed an allergy to something as well. You could try to see if it is a food allergy by eliminating things from her diet and see if that reduces the plucking. Start her on something basic like canary seed or something and see if her plucking goes away then try addinng a new ingredient every week or so and see if her plucking comes back. If it does then you should have identified a food allergy.

I hope this helps.

I'm sorry you are having troubles

She has such pretty colours to her feathers.

Just a thought... What is her cage like?

i personally think diversion therapy could help. I know she has lots of toys. My son still gets bored when surrounded by tons of toys.

 

My budgies love to play with a bunch of long grass in their cage - even better when its wet coz they have a bath at the same time . They also love to strip leaves and bark from branches.

 

When dose she do the plucking??? is she doing it when you are with her or when she is alone, or is it only at night. Maybe she gets anxious in the dark and a night light might help??? Odd idea i know, but you never know what might work hehe.

 

Edit

 

You made a good point SailorWolf... she could have an allergy of a sort. but I'm not thinking a skin allergy but something internal.

 

Her plucking is concerntrated around her crop. perhaps her crop is irritared in some way and she is plucking at that area trying to feel better...??? A avian vet could check her crop to see if there is any inflamation inside her crop.

Edited February 21, 200817 yr by **Liv**

Well first off, merry christmas all, secondly I need advice urgently. I took Smarty to a local non avian vet over the weekend as she had a minor bald patch on her chest, but being a non avain vet they were fairly useless! Over xmas day she has got alot worse and will not stop scratching and pulling out feathers & below is a picture of how she looks right now

 

 

What could cause her to do that to herself? I was lucky enough to get that snap of her as she is literally scratching that bald patch constantly & continuing to pull out more feathers, she's also made herself bleed in that bald area. The nearest avain vet is 60 miles away but I will be ringing them first thing in the morning as they have an emergency service so hopefully I'll be able to take her even though it's boxing day

 

I don't know whether she's in pain, or just that the bald patch is itching like crazy, but is there anything I can do to help smarty in the mean time?

 

Feather picking can have many causes, sexual picking, internal disease, malnutrition, boredom or nervousness, giardia, bacteria, yeast or fungus infection in the feather follicles, skin parasites, hormononal imbalance, viruses or overzealous preening.

 

I would, if she presents healthy, cover the bald spot with vaso, then spray her with a good quality mite and lice spray a couple of times through a week. I would also clean and check everything in her cage. Then place some multi-vitamins in her water ( as I've said before budgies are always lacking in something ) a good supply of quality seed and a piece of fruit or veg once or twice a week Having something else to chew may help. And lastly leave a radio on when your not there in case there is a anxiety or bordom issue.

Since you have already gone to an avian vet as spoken about and received a diagnosis she/he should have a suggestion on what you can do to stop this or have a collar made up for you. What was the avian vet's suggestion?

 

You have received a lot of great advice here to help you through this. I am sorry she is getting worse.