# Injured wing....



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Hello I am new to this forum. I have a parakeet Chickodee who is almost 9 years old. I took her to an avian vet last week to get her toe nails trimmed. The vet assistant HURT her and when we got her back she was closing her eyes a lot on the ride home. Once we got home she was not able to fly. I believe they hurt her alula (what allows the birds to fly up and down like a plane) My question is does anyone know if she will heal if on cage rest? The same vet wanted to sedate her (and said oh she can die under sedation) and charge me $ 250. for an x-ray after they hurt her. But the vet assistant also said they did an exam of her and did not see anything. I sat and watched her for hours and saw a mark on the top of her wing that looked like a small oval circle shaped mark (almost like a fingerprint) that was pink and red about the size of a dime. Any help anyone can suggest would be appreciated. There are no other vets anywhere close to me. She is eating and chirping and fine otherwise. Thank you in advance.


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Can you post a picture of what you are seeing on the wing? Seems strange that the vet would not notice what you are describing on the wing, is it a raised bump?


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Can you post a picture of what you are seeing on the wing? Seems strange that the vet would not notice what you are describing on the wing, is it a raised bump?


Thank you for responding Cody. I keep trying to get a picture without any luck. It was the Vet's ASSISTANT who said that they did not notice anything wrong with her. The vet assistant said her and the vet examined her. But the vet later left me a message saying sorry he wasn't able to examine her....so one of them is lying....and the vet will not return any of my calls. The vet wants to charge me $ 250. for an x-ray and $ 250 to see her ($ 500 total) when it was them who hurt her! Due to Covid-19 they take the bird in without me as I have to wait outside the place. As they hurt her I no longer trust them so I do not want her to be seen by them without me present. I am not sure if there is a raised bump I will check and advise.


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

I did notice this - her flight feather has a tear in it. Would that cause her not to be able to fly? It's on the bottom by her millet.


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

No, a tear in one feather should not interfere with her ability to fly, how is she doing now?


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Being vets are so far away from my home I spoke to our local bird shop who is only a few miles away. She acknowledges finding a bird vet in NJ is hard to find as they are far far and few between!! Anyway she said to bring her in so she could see what she thought as she has worked with birds for over 30 years. So I did bring her in. She looked at her wings and the area that I thought had a pinkish red mark was her skin showing through her feathers. She said it didn't look like she broke her wing but she thought she bruised it. I am attaching the picture of her wing for you to view as well.


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Again she is eating, drinking, chirping, and otherwise fine just can't fly.


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*What is your budgie's name?
I'm very sorry she was injured at the veterinary clinic.
See if you can find an email address and email the veterinarian directly if you are unable to get him to respond to you by phone.

Keep your budgie in her cage and keep her quite.
You can brew chamomile tea, bring it to room temperature and give that to her in place of her drinking water.
Chamomile contains anti-inflammatory properties which should help with the soreness of her wing.
If the wing is bruised and not broken, then it will heal within a week or two.

The purpose of this forum is to promote the BEST PRACTICES in the care of budgies for their optimal Health and Well-Being*
*Locating an Avian Veterinarian*

*If there are no other Avian Vets near you, please look for an Exotic Pet Veterinarian with experience in dealing with small birds.

Avian Veterinarians in New Jersey*

*A Healthy Diet for your Budgie*
*Quality Seed Mix*
*CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses*
*Safe Foods for Budgies*
*The Truth about GRIT*

*Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and all of the Stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.
(Stickies are threads “stuck” at the top of each forum sub-section)
These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.*

*SITE GUIDELINES*
*Posting on the Forums*
*Let's Talk Budgies!*
*FAQ*
*Articles*
*Be Prepared for Veterinary Care Expense*
*Avian First Aid*
*Quarantine IS Necessary!*
*A Heartfelt Plea to All Members*
*Tips For Discouraging Breeding*
*Before You Ever Consider Breeding Your Budgies*
*Guidance for Breeding Advice Threads*
*Cage sizes.*
*Essentials to a Great Cage*
*Dangers to Pet Birds*
*Resource Directory*


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

🐤
A month ago I took my parakeet to the vet for a nail trim. When we got our bird back her eyes were very hazey and she kept closing her eyes and making like a whimper kind of tweet all the way home. When we got home as she was not able to fly. I called the vet immediately and asked if they clipped her wings or if she got hurt there. I was told no. They said it was probably from the stress of the ride there and back. Although she has taken that trip many times. She will be 9 years old in October. The following day she still was not able to fly so we called the vet back and brought her back there. He said she was fine and could not find anything wrong with her. However I noticed a spot on her wing that is pink and red. It looks like a bruise. I called the vet back and told him and he said he did not see that. He said to cage rest her for 3 weeks. However she did "escape" from her cage once right before the 3 week mark and again she could not fly. Today I took the bird to him again and he wants to now do all these other tests on her saying that the wing should have healed by now - he said he believes she has a disease that is causing her to not fly. Even though her wing has a pink red mark on it. He said that by 6 weeks if it does not heal it never will - he is a specialist for avian birds - he did NOT wrap her wing - only wanted to give my bird meloxicam which she HATED and would spit it out. He said that at the exact moment that we brought our bird in for a toe nail trim it triggered a disease to start in her which caused her to not be able to fly. I do not trust him as my bird got hurt in his care by a vet technician at HIS facility he owns and my gut is telling me he wants to protect his worker. He has multiple negative reviews on google and many say he is now only about getting as much money out of people as he can get. I also took my bird to a breeder of birds and she said my bird she believes has a very bad bruise and it will take a quote "long time to heal" she did not put a timeframe on what a long time to heal would be. So my question is how long does a severe bruise take to heal? Can it take longer than 6 weeks? My bird is otherwise fine - eating, chirping, being affectionate etc, I would appreciate any advice.  Colleen & Chickodee 🐤


----------



## Budgie.Lover (7 mo ago)

I’m not sure if I’m reading it right but it cou be a bruise from falling out of the cage. It could also be a feather cyst. Your bird is also very old so that might explain why she kept closing her eyes. Also you might want to consider buying bird nail clippers so you don’t have to go to the vet.


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

An injury can take longer than 6 weeks to heal, depending on what the injury actually is and you really do not know what the injury is, other than the fact that you see a bruise, the Meloxicam is an anti inflammatory and also has some pain relieving properties to it so even though she does not like it, it may be helpful to her. It is possible that the injury your bird has is more than a bruise, there may be an injury to a tendon or a fracture. If the vet is saying the stress brought on a disease I would want to know exactly what disease he is referring to.


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Budgie.Lover said:


> I’m not sure if I’m reading it right but it cou be a bruise from falling out of the cage. It could also be a feather cyst. Your bird is also very old so that might explain why she kept closing her eyes. Also you might want to consider buying bird nail clippers so you don’t have to go to the vet.


Thank you for responding Budgie Lover. No you're not reading it correctly, She did not fall out of the cage. When we got her home we did not know she was injured as the vet did not tell us. When we let her out as she has never been a caged bird - she flew a few inches away and landed on a chair. She could only fly low and only very short distances. But it appeared as if perhaps her wings were maybe clipped. I called the vet's office and they said they did not clip her wings. We believe that our bird when at the vet was either sweezed too hard or hit into something and that they are covering up for what they did. The owner who is a vet has been a vet for years and years. But he hired another vet in the last 6 months who is very young and I feel not experienced. He wanted to do more hours and expand his business. The new vet previously worked at Petsmart's vet handling cats and dogs. Banfield is Petsmart's vet who has horrendous reviews....Unfortunately I did not know this until after our bird was hurt there. Our bird was hurt at the vet. Her closing her eyes was from being in pain. Even though she is almost 9 years old she is extremely active. She was also making this noise we had never heard before which was like this kind of whimpering tweet. I have brought the bird there multiple times and for previous nail trimmings as well. Every time she would come back to the car as we are not allowed inside due to Covid, I always got a happy bird chirping to see me. But at that time there was no happy chirp no chirp what so ever for the whole hour and fifteen minutes home. She did not chirp once on the way home which is extremely not like her. Usually she does not shut up esp. when music is on which it was.


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Cody said:


> An injury can take longer than 6 weeks to heal, depending on what the injury actually is and you really do not know what the injury is, other than the fact that you see a bruise, the Meloxicam is an anti inflammatory and also has some pain relieving properties to it so even though she does not like it, it may be helpful to her. It is possible that the injury your bird has is more than a bruise, there may be an injury to a tendon or a fracture. If the vet is saying the stress brought on a disease I would want to know exactly what disease he is referring to.


Thank you Cody for your response. I asked him what disease could be triggered at the exact moment and time I brought her to him for a nail trim. His response was I can't answer that question as I would have to diagnose her first. If anyone knows of anything I would love to hear what disease it could be. I searched and could only find perhaps a deficiency. But again she has an area I see that the breeder said she felt was a bruise and it looks like a bruise. I've tried getting a picture of it but I am afraid to handle her when her wing is injured. The bruise is pink and red and is near where her wing meets her body but also there is a little of the bruise a little outward from her wing too.

During the visit the first part was him denying that his new vet hurt our bird. He changed his story to say that he believes it is being caused by a disease that was triggered during the nail trim. As I said I do not trust him anymore as I believe he is trying to cover up what happened at his office that day. He was NOT on site the day it happened. I believe the vet he hired is not experienced esp. with birds. The new vet he hired goes by 4 different names, and has worked at 5 different vets in other states i.e. Colorado and North Carolina and now New Jersey over the last several years. She now uses her middle name on her license when previoulsy she used her first name. I just have a gut feeling something is up with that.


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Saying that nail trimming immediately brought on a disease seems ridiculous to me, I would not be going back there unless I could go inside and see an avian vet. Can you find another vet?


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Saying that nail trimming immediately brought on a disease seems ridiculous to me, I would not be going back there unless I could go inside and see an avian vet. Can you find another vet?


Thank you Cody. Actually my thoughts as well. Totally agree. I think he is saying that to devert attention away from the vet he has working for him who hurt my bird in the first place. I have been looking for another vet but can't find one yet. I live in New Jersey and that vet was 42 miles from my house. Many vets have closed / went out of business due to Covid in New Jersey. Other vets who I found say they are not taking any new birds to see. Finding an avian vet is like finding a needle in a haystack here. If anyone has a recommendation of a vet in NJ I am in Central New Jersey. I was considering doing a televisit visit but I doubt that would help as they would need to see the injury and that's only visible when she stretches. Thanks again Cody!


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Have you tried doing a search on the AAV site, here is a link, https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803 open the radius to more than 5 miles and enter your city and state or your zip code and see what comes up.


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Thank you so much Cody. I saw one on there that I'll call tomorrow. Appreciate your help. Thank you! Colleen


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Colleen --
I have merged your two threads regarding this topic into one. 
I hope you are able to find a good Avian Veterinarian that will give your budgie the proper attention and care.
Best wishes.*


----------



## boveebay (9 mo ago)

Thank you so much FaeryBee. I also appreciate your recommendation of the Chamomile tea as well as all the reading materials Thank you. Colleen


----------

