The picture
to the left was taken the day I adopted Cookie. The picture on the right and on
top were taken 4 months later. As you can see, medical care from an avian
veterinarian and changing a bird's diet and environment can result in some remarkable changes in a bird's appearance.
Cookie's story begins on Christmas Day 2005 and it's much like the story
of other neglected and unwanted previously owned birds. During a
holiday visit, a neighbor's niece asked me if I would give Cookie a new home.
Although I really didn't want another bird, the good Lord had a different plan for me. I asked Melissa all of the right questions about diet, behavior and general health,
and she gave me all of the right answers. After our conversation, I was certain
that Cookie was a healthy, friendly 8 year old lutino who would be a good
companion for Mama. Even though I would not get to meet Cookie until May,
I agreed to adopt her and give her a forever home.
The
months passed quickly and on May 17, 2005, the door
bell rang, and Melissa's parents walked in with a big bird cage that contained a
frightened little bird who looked sick.
We quickly scooted them into a bedroom which was set up for
quarantine. I was appalled at how neglected this poor bird was. There were no
toys inside of the cage and Cookie had feathers missing from her back, neck and
wings.
She also had raw, inflamed patches of skin on her
shoulders and under her wings. Melissa's parents told me that Cookie was left home
alone for more than 8
hours a day, and that she was on an all seed diet. The parents also told me that they
did not like Cookie because she had an attitude problem. This was not the same
bird who was described to me on Christmas Day and I realized that I had just
adopted a bird who was a feather plucker. My heart
broke for Cookie because she had been denied the attention, nutrition and
medical care
that she desperately needed.
As
soon as the parents left, Cookie's new life began. She was coaxed out of
her cage with millet seeds within a few hours and she was moved
into a new, smaller cage that was cleaner and filled with natural fiber toys. Cookie
did not know how to step up but it only took her a few days to learn that
stepping up and coming out of the cage equaled a reward. Cookie was very attached to her cage, always flying back to the top when she had finished
her treat. She seemed happy and she was spending more time shredding
woven palm strips, colorful wicker munch balls and bird kabobs then chewing on
her feathers. Cookie was also spending more out of cage time perched on my hand. It did not take long
before Cookie convinced me that she did not have an attitude problem because
within a few days, she was cuddling her forehead up against my chin and preening
my hair. This
is when I noticed that her feathers had a terrible odor, much
like that of a wet dog. Cookie was given a water misting bath to see if
bathing would remove some of the awful smell. Water did not roll off of her
back the way it did on Mama's feathers. Cookie became drenched and she
smelled even worst. It would be another week
before the cause of the odor and soggy feathers would be diagnosed.
Cookie went to Mama's avian vet for her first check-up and lab tests a week after she was
adopted. She only weighed 80 grams. She had a mass of debris accumulating in her
nares and she had an abnormal choana, (an opening in the upper palate of a
bird's the mouth that leads to the sinuses. ) Both findings were highly suggestive of malnutrition
and a vitamin A deficiency. When her preening gland was checked, several abnormal
growths containing a thick matter were found and determined to be the cause of
her feather odor and inability to repel water. The growths were manually drained.
Two weeks later we went
back to vet so he could put a collar around Cookie's neck to prevent more feather
plucking. Cookie reacted violently to having a collar around her neck. She
started thrashing her body on the bottom of the cage, then she just laid motionless. The vet said this was how all birds
initially reacted. When Cookie finally stabilized, we were allowed to
come home Wearing a collar was a horrible experience for Cookie and the
next 6 weeks were very stressful for her. She lost her appetite, was depressed
and she constantly chewed and tugged at the collar,
trying to remove it herself.
Cookie
went back to her vet in 6 weeks for a follow up and to have her collar removed. The growths on her
preening gland had filled with matter again and they were even larger. The doctor's recommendation was to surgically remove the entire preening
gland. Since the preening gland is an external organ, surgery
would be less invasive. The doctor explained the risks associated with avian
surgery because of anesthesia, blood
loss and infection, Even though the cost of Cookie's initial examination, lab tests, collar,
surgery, follow up visits and other
medical care would be over $1000 during her first few months in her new
home, I knew in my heart that this little bird deserved a second chance
for a better life. Surgery was scheduled for the following week. Cookie's collar was not
removed that day because she would have to wear a collar after surgery anyway, to prevent her
from pulling out stitches.
Cookie could not have anything to eat or drink after midnight, the day before
surgery. She was taken in to the clinic early the next morning and I came home and
cried. I knew I might never see her again if she did not survive surgery and
even if she did, if she had cancer, the prognosis would be a gloomy one. The doctor called
me at noon and said Cookie came through surgery like a little trooper. As
soon as she came out of the anesthesia, she started eating her pellets. Cookie was brought home later that
evening with pain medication and antibiotics that had to be administered 3 times
a day for 10 days. This meant toweling and restraining an already frightened,
traumatized, new bird to administer medicine directly into the beak.
Cookie's recovery was difficult the first few weeks after surgery, but the
incision healed well without infection and the stitches dissolved quickly. When
the biopsy report finally did come in, the news was good. The tumors were benign and
Cookie did not have cancer.
Cookie
was subjected to a series of negative, unpleasant and painful experiences
during the first few months in her
new home. By the time her collar was removed after surgery,
it was no surprise that she was still plucking her feathers and that she was now very afraid of humans, especially their hands. Hands were no longer the "nice"
place to perch for cuddling or the wonderful serving platter that
held millet seeds. Cookie did not want to come out of her cage
anymore and she did not want me to be near me for months. If her cage door was left
open she would come out by herself, climb to
the top and play with her toy box. Sometimes she would just stare at me from the
top of her cage, postured like a hawk ready
to attack. It took several months before she was courageous enough to come out
of the cage by stepping up again, but it came with a price tag. Cookie
started to bite and she showed me
exactly how hard she could bite if she did not want to be disturbed. On one
occasion she bit right through the middle of my fingernail, taking a chunk of
skin off of my finger.
Cookie
has shown us how bold and bossy she is now that she feels secure being in her
new home. She squawks at anything that displeases her, like Mama singing or me
talking to her when she's busy eating. Although Cookie takes great pleasure in
coming out of the cage and cuddling with me, her out of cage activities do not included Mama.
If both birds are having a treat on the kitchen
table, Cookie will confidently walk over to Mama's food dish, squawk and scare him away so she can have his food after she finishes eating
her own. Mama tried his best to be
friendly to her by singing, displaying wings, bowing his head but Cookie always
responds with aggression. Cookie is showing some signs of warming up to Mama. Almost 3 years after adopting her,
she flew across the room from the
top of her cage to be with both of us. I was at the computer and
Mama was playing next to the computer with some
toys. She's also edging a little closer to Mama when
they play on the table. I will never give up the hope that someday Cookie will enjoy being with Mama as much as I do.
Cookie's
story would be incomplete without mentioning how much she loves to eat. She will
eat anything
and everything and the more the better. Once her head goes into a food dish, she
does not comes up for air. There was no problem
getting Cookie to eat fresh vegetables and other table foods like kale,
broccoli, corn, peas, grated carrots, and scrambled eggs as soon as
she was adopted.
Her favorite food is baked sweet potatoes and she eats them with as much gusto as a kid eating an ice-cream
cone. She even started chirping
after her first serving of warm, cooked brown rice. Cookie also converted to pellets in 1 day, after
offering them to her in the palm of my hand as a treat. She did not seem to notice the
difference between pellets and seeds. Food was food and any kind of food was
just fine with her. However, she has a definite preference for the
more expensive Zupreem gourmet pellets, Avian Entrées Garden Goodness, so that's what she gets because she's
worth it.
Cookie has responded positively to having her nutritional, physical, psychological and environmental
needs met. She will always have some bare patches
because of the damage caused to feather follicles from years of repeated feather
pulling. The bare spots are only noticeable after she has been flying or bathing and when she
molts. Even though her avian vet prescribed
nutritional supplements, allergy medications, herbs and special baths for her, Cookie will occasionally pull out a feather
screaming from self-inflicted pain. Her feather plucking corresponds with having visitors in our home, stress and with being
over tired at night. So before she's covered for the night, she spends 10 minutes out of her cage
preening my hair while I pet the back of her crest. While I'm sharing these special moments with Cookie I think
about all of the neglected and unwanted birds that are living unhappy lives the
way she did for so many years. When we adopt birds and bring
them into our lives, we have to make a life time commitment to provide
for all of their needs. We also have to love them for
who they are, not for what we would like them to be. Cookie was not at all what I
expected but I'm very grateful that she is a part of my life. Even though she may look
tattered when her bare patches are showing, I think she's beautiful and I tell her how beautiful she is
every single day.
Please consult an avian veterinarian if your bird is chewing on feathers,
plucking feathers, self-mutilating or has bare patches on wings, chest, abdomen
or tail. Feather plucking is a complex behavior that can have a medical,
psychological, environmental or nutritional basis. Although difficult to treat, an avian vet can rule out medical problems.
