I can admit when I need help and now is one of those times. For some time now, perhaps the past 1-2 months or so, Nani hasn't been herself. Normally she entertains herself for hours and rarely screams. But lately it seems as if she doesn't know what she wants or needs. Screaming has become a real problem. She loses interest in new toys almost immediately, usually within a day or two. I have purchased numerous new toys of various types and nothing seems to do the trick in the long run. I thought perhaps she needed more one on one time but she gets bored with me as well. I'd say about 75% of the time she just beeps desperately. Beeping has been her way of saying she wants something whether it be food, to be let out of her cage, or general displeasure with where she is at the moment. Trouble is, no matter what I try it doesn't seem to be what she wants. It's like trying to figure out why a baby is crying even though it's been fed and changed.

To make matters worse she has started being more aggressive than normal. In the past few days I have been bitten several times. Usually it's when I try to remove her from some sort of trouble she's getting into. I will not go so far as to say the bites are for no reason. Each time I can identify why she's bitten but the strange thing is the frequency of these incidents. Usually she will do "warning bites" which consist of a soft nip and an annoyed noise. These don't hurt at all or break the skin. If you insist with whatever you're doing that she doesn't like it is only then that she actually bites to do damage. (there are a few exceptions when she will bite right away but her behavior lately in uncharacteristic) It is possible the aggression is related to the new cage but it doesn't explain her other behavioral changes over the past few months. Are the two even related?

I can't figure out why her behavior has changed. She's healthy, eats well, and has plenty of stimulating toys. Could it be the change in weather/daylight? Is this just a new personality trait? Is it something that Caiques go through at 3 years of age? How will she react the the new Caique? Does she need a friend to play with? Will it make matters worse? I'm at a loss and need answers.

We brought home Chipotle today, and for those of you that don't know it is the most delicious fake mexican food ever! Anyway, I always give Nani a small piece of tortilla. When I eat tortillas here at home I make corn ones, but the burritos from Chipotle are made of flower. I really don't know if that is relevant but I'm throwing that in there anyway. I happened to look over at her and she was violently shaking her head. I ran immediately to her and noticed something white in her throat, a ball just the size of her throat. She was choking! I remained calm while freaking out on the inside. I told my daughter to run and get my tweezers and my husband to help me open her beak. Wow that beak is powerful! We had a hard time prying it open. Finally he got it open and I carefully put the tweezers in and pulled it out. She could breathe again!!! She was shaking like crazy but ok. She has been fine since then, it's been about 6 hours. She's acting like a baby and wanting a lot of loving but seems to be her normal self. I will NOT be giving her tortilla again.

I almost don't want to do today's post for fear I will look like an incompetent parrot owner, but I feel I must as maybe someone out there will learn from my mistakes.

Incident #1:

The day before yesterday I was cleaning house, and had gotten to the vacuuming portion. Nani was out on her stand, and has recently learned how to fly (quote, unquote) to the couch and will either climb down to the floor or go running to her cage. But she never leaves the tree when I'm vacuuming...until now. I was knelt down on the floor trying to vacuum under her cage, the disaster zone as I call it. I didn't see that she had come over to investigate and was standing on the arm of the couch right next to me. I went to vacuum part of the food mess she had left on that very part of the couch (using the attachment hose) and flooooop! She was sucked in!!!!!! Thankfully her body is pudgy and she got stuck there. I quickly turned it off, within a second, and my poor bird was making that noise they do when they hate something (like nail clipping), kind of a growl. So I went to pull her out and guess what...stuck! I was panicking, but pulled slightly harder and ploop, out she came! I brought her up to my face with my hand around her body and she immediately started making kissing noises. I kept telling her "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" while tears were rolling down my cheeks. She seemed flustered but otherwise fine, I couldn't believe it! After babying her for several minutes I set her on the couch to see what she'd do. Get this...she goes off bouncing up and down while saying "hop, hop, hop" in her squeaky voice. Then immediately attacked her toy and started whistling away. Needless to say I was flabbergasted, and left with severe heart palpitations of course.

Here is my sermon: When you are considering a Caique as a pet (which I highly recommend) and you read all the books and online info that say they are into everything, can't be trusted, and are highly active interpret that as: Caiques are rulers of your domain...nothing is off limits, when they look innocent always suspect the worst, and last but not least are little Tasmanian devils having endless energy and can run (or hop) from one end of the room to the other with triathlon speed!

Incident #2:

This one happened today. My daughter is notorious for leaving her things everywhere and I am constantly nagging her to pick up after herself. Yesterday she had a bunch of Hershey's kisses on the living room table (Nani's room). When we were about ready to leave the house I told her to pick them up and put them away, which she did. Fast forward to this morning at around 10 a.m. and Nani is out running around from her tree to her cage and back again, as normal. Now keep in mind the house is spotless as I just cleaned. So she decides to crawl down on the floor and eat the tidbits she's dropped. I was sitting right there with my laptop, so I let her be. She went exploring under the coffee table, which is also normal. All of a sudden I hear what sounds to me like when she chews apart the dry leaves outside. crunch crunch crunch. I say to her "what are you into?" and bend down to take a look. Ahhhhh! Chocolate! It was all over her beak! I freaked and rinsed it out the best I could. Then I immediately called the vet and explained. There was only a small chunk missing so I know she didn't eat much, and I had no idea if she had ingested the foil as it was all peeled and mashed into the chocolate kiss. My vet said that judging by the amount of chocolate that was missing it probably wouldn't be a problem. But she said if she ingested the foil she could become impacted and need surgery. I reexamined the leftovers and it seemed very unlikely that she had ingested much, if any. She told me to keep an eye on her and her droppings today. Now since this happened she has been absolutely normal, singing and eating like no tomorrow. I will continue to watch her closely...I love her so much!

Moral: Don't let your birds forage on the floor and always double check after your 8 year old claims to have cleaned!

Hello to all my new readers! Nani and I would like to thank you for stopping by. Please note that on the right side of the page, just below "Categories" is a link to "Follow This Blog". Once you click on the link you will be able to choose to follow publicly or privately. By choosing to follow The Doodle Bird Blog you can stay updated with this blog's posts on your Blogger Dashboard.

"I got Tia from a breeder in December of 2006. This breeder had taken her in from a home where the owner died, but she attacked the husband and he did not want to keep her. Right from the time we got her, she was overly dependent on us - like she was lacking attention. She was moody and did not want to be removed from you. She played once in awhile, but not often.
I think I probably noticed something wasn't quite right from the beginning but I didn't look at it as sickness then, I thought it was a behavioural problem from being re-homed so much in such a short time."

That is how Delta, a parrot owner from Canada, describes how she and Tia first met. They had a close relationship from the start, but things quickly became clear as to why Tia was self mutilating.

"Later as things seemed to get worse, I noticed her reactions to things changing. When something would touch her, she would panic like it was going to kill her. She got moodier and cried if we touched her, like her skin was extremely sore. Most of her days and nights, when she was suppose to be sleeping, was instead spent pulling at herself and crying. She acted like she hated herself so much and wanted to hurt herself, but I now know that she must have been mentally exhausted from itching."

Tia's owner had no local resources, and suspecting this was more than just a case of feather plucking (which would have been bad enough), contacted a certified avian vet by email to ask his professional opinion. Here are a few of the photos she sent:











The avian vet quickly confirmed Delta's fears: this was a case of PBFD, or Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease. This illness is a deadly avian disease that, in it's early stages, may show no signs or symptoms. As it's name suggests, feather abnormalities and occasionally a deformed beak are some of the first signs that the bird may have this disease. Many infected birds will look and act perfectly normal for many years, although it is most common to manifest itself within the first 3 years of life. Unfortunately, PBFD is extremely contagious as viral particles are airborne, so no direct contact is necessary in order to infect another bird. The virus can attach itself to virtually anything; toys, feeding cups, seed/pellet mixes, used cages, nets, carriers, clothing, hair, ANYTHING. That means we should be very careful who and what we expose our pets to. In Tia's case, it is unknown where she may have been infected, but the effects were clear. Delta compassionately helped Tia to find some peace. On September 22, 2008 Tia was humanely put to sleep.*



"From what I know, she was 7 years old when she crossed over. Even though she was a challenge from the start, she was very dedicated to us. She may have attacked in the previous home but she accepted everyone in the household. She did not like strangers though and would bite. She didn't tend to want to be friends with the others either (feathered ones)... a very withdrawn bird.
She loved to surf like all Caiques do though. I have many shirts that she destroyed from chewing and surfing. She was special because she was Tia. She did not have the years she should have, and I was hoping to have spent many more with her. I have many birds whom I have dedicated to giving them the rest of their years with me - but I never intended for it to end so soon for Tia. I am so sorry she suffered the way she did and it is a terrible disease to see a feathered friend go through.




I miss her."



- As told by Tia's owner



*Not all birds with PBFD need to be euthanized, each case is individual. Many success stories have been reported of birds living with the disease. Recently, University of Georgia scientists have been working on finalizing development of a new vaccine that could effectively eliminate in companion bird populations the debilitating and often fatal disease. This vaccine would not be a cure, however, for already infected birds. Read more about the potential vaccine here.