By Eb Cravens
This second of our health care articles emphasises the fact that consistent loving care and a good herbal remedy book can be important to the aviculturist or pet birdkeeper in non-life-threatening pet parrot injuries. By all means, establish a working relationship with a good avian veterinarian, but also keep a home first aid kit and learn to treat some bird injuries when emergency makes it necessary.
One weekday afternoon in the early summer, Ohia, our 10-year-old male Amboina King Parrot, got out of his cage and was sparring with his perceived chief ‘rival’ on the outside wire wall of the flight holding our Hawk-headed Parrot ‘Chen’. The aggressive male Hawk-head then grabbed Ohia’s foot through the mesh and viciously bit down. When we got the two apart and took our King Parrot into the house, we saw that the bite bled only a little, but was worse on the bottom of the foot where the three toes come together. We sterilised the wound with Betadine and sealed it with a large amount of fresh yellow aloe vera gel, which was allowed to dry stiff. Ohia was put back in his cage where he favoured the foot, but seemed okay.
The next day we were gone all day. The morning of the third day it was apparent Ohia was worse and was having trouble perching on the injured foot. Despite his dislike of handling, he was caught and removed from his aviary and put inside our cabin in a hospital carrier with a heating pad on low for warmth. Inspection of his foot showed excellent sealing of the wound, moderate swelling and no indication of infection. Nevertheless we syringe fed him a drink and placed him on a water mixture of grapefruit seed extract (10cc per gal.) to help guard against any possible infection not apparent on the surface.