Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 1/26/2008

Question
My parakeet has lost many feathers on the left side of his throat. It looks raw (was bleeding but has stopped). He recently boarded at a vet's office for the first time (4 days).  I thought he may have gotten nervous and rubbed his "cheek" on the bars of the cage. Any ideas?

Answer
Hi, Mari,

If you recently boarded your bird at a vet's office, your bird could have contracted something from the vet's office.  The worst place you can take a healthy bird (or any other animal) is to a vet's office where people bring  their sick animals!  It could be that your bird was stressed out from being away from home and rubbed his cheek on the cage bars.  However, this may not be the case.  I really don't have enough information to render an opinion, but would advise that you might consider taking your bird to a certified avian vet for a medical evaluation.  I would also advise finding another resource for birdsitting when you have to be gone from home.  Even my own bird vet tells me to only bring my birds in to the office when they are sick and not yearly for medical checkups.  I also leave them in the car until my appointment time and immediately take them back to the car after my vet has seen them in order to avoid them getting an illness from the vet's office.  

Chrys