Unfortunately, he did not have a great start to her life, like so many other parrots. But his luck changed when he found his way to CARE!
The nature and pattern of his plucking was quite disturbing to us. We rarely see such a pattern in timnehs, and we therefore suspected his plucking was not due to behavioral causes. This was confirmed by our excellent avian vet, who diagnosed Shadow with a nasty yeast infection! Poor guy! Can you even imagine how uncomfortable and itchy he must have been in order to resort to picking out his feathers for relief?Shadow's story underlines the importance of bringing your bird to a vet at the first sign something was wrong. He suffered needlessly for months in his previous home.
He is currently undergoing treatment for his infection and will be up for adoption as soon as he's healthy again. We expect that within a year or so, he will be fully feathered again, and with any luck, part of a loving family for the rest of his life, which could last another 40 years or so.UPDATE: Shadow's DNA-sexing came back and he is a male! He is responding quite well to treatment and has been allowing new feathers to grow in. He is revealing more of his personality and is a terrific bird that will thrive in the right environment. Timnehs are very smart and require lots of mental and physical stimulation. He absolutely loves destroying toys, so his new owner will need to make sure to budget these in for him!
2 comments:
Dear Lori,
I read about Shadow and I have been hoping for an update on how she is doing. This poor little thing has suffered unneedlessly. I hope she has improved and is finally having some relief from this terrible itching that caused her to pluck herself to this extent. you are a godsend to these wonderful birds. Thank you for your love and caring. The world needs more people like you and your terrific crew up there.
Terry M. in IL
Terry,
Shadow is doing fantastic and we hope to have an update in the next week or so. He is allowing more of his feathers to grow in, although having so many feathers growing in at once is also an irritating experience!
His personality is wonderful! He delights us with comments and sounds and is a huge toy player. Whoever adopts this guy will have a lifetime of love and affection.
Stay tuned for a more involved update!
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