Lost Birdie

[kaialeena]

I actually haven't thought of a microchip. I think I am not used to birds having that. Thanks! I will check with a vet office to see if I can get him scanned.

I figured as much, as sweet as your bird is, it would be a bummer if he changed. Darn.

Have you considered me may have a microchip? I have friends with birds that are chipped, hopefully he is, or you find his owners another way.

[SunDance]

Thank you for taking him in!

If he's been out on his own for a while, that may be why he's hesitant around you...and may explain why some more local attempts to find his owner have failed.

[JenC]

I found a lovebird in our tree when we lived in CA years ago. It is actually what got me to get my own. I put signs up around the neighborhood and in a couple of days, a family called, and it was theirs. I felt bad since the temporary cage I bought was bigger and nicer, but the kids clearly missed their pet. I would put signs up, not every one is internet savvy.

[kaialeena]

Update on the bird:

In the end, I decided to keep the bird as the previous owners have not been located. I have to keep him separate from my first bird (although I will test for their cages to be next to each other soon). He doesn't mind Sierra walking about near his cage and he was fine with Sierra sniffing him. I can watch shows on my computer with him on my shoulder and Sierra next to me at the same time. That isn't something I can do with the first bird and Sierra.

After taking him in for a visit to one of the local avian vets because something seemed wrong with his feet (he curled it a lot and the injuries on his feet didn't seem to heal), it turns out that he has arthritis. So he had been self mutilating his own feet because of the pain. My assumption and the vet's assumption is that he is an old bird and the previous owner may have turned him loose because they did not want to deal with his condition. The vet gave me a recipe for giving him glucosamine by crushing up over the counter tablets and mixing with water and agave nectar (or pancake syrup). If this doesn't work, then we are going to try other meds. Right now his right foot is all bandaged up because of his biting, but we have a vet appointment on Monday when she removes the bandage and see how he takes to the glucosamine.

Here is Nalowale (means lost in Hawaiian). I just call him Nalo for short. Paid a small fee to get a gender test done and it is a male. My 5 year old niece wanted me to name the bird Nala since my first bird's name is Simba. I think she will be happy enough that if I explain it is a boy bird and not a girl bird, it is why I have to name him Nalo instead of Nala.

[SunDance]

Lucky birdie, ending up with you...kind soul. Hope his healing goes as planned.

[labsnewfy]

Breaks my heart that Nalo was in so much pain he was chewing his own leg. Thank you again for taking this sweet baby in, keeping him safe and loving him, Nalo is a very lucky fellow. Is there anyway to give him pain meds of some kind or a topical to help with his arthritis? He is such a handsome guy and I love his name.

[kaialeena]

He is currently on a glucosamine mixture that the vet gave me a recipe for. She gave me an anti-inflammatory (meloxicam) after his first visit when we could tell he had wounded toes, but she was unsure if it was due to injury from being outside or if it was something more permanent. Then during the second visit because of his chewing, she confirmed he definitely had arthritis and put him back on antibiotics and meloxicam. She wants to see if the glucosamine will work first and if he goes back to chewing, then he will need stronger meds.