Should I be concerned?

[Achilles&Percy]

Percy don't look right. His feathers look kind of disheveled. He don't look smooth like Achilles does. He is acting fine and eating well, playing ect. I have checked his vent and nostrils, and both look fine. He just don't look right. Kind of frumpy so to speak. They seem to be molting a bit, but Achilles looks just fine. Am I being a bit of a worrier, or is a trip to the vet in order?

[Wessel Gordon]

Hi

You are not worrying in vain as most bird-owners will tell you birds hide symptoms of illness incredibly well. It's better to visit the vet and have the vet tell you it's just a minor ailment than ignoring your instinct and knowledge of your bird and possibly end up losing him. I myself have lost a bird a few years ago after he had an upset stomach for a day or two and then seemed to get over it; we found him dead in his cage a few days later...needless to say I'm now sensitive to anything wrong with my birds...even if a feather is 0.0001 millimeters out of place it bothers me.

With birds (as with humans) it's ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry.

Please let us know what the vet said.

Kind regards,

Wessel

[Achilles&Percy]

Yea that's what I'm thinking. I'll call first thing tomorrow morning and get him an appointment. I was going to take him to the vet anyway, but I think I wanted another opinion to make sure I wasn't just being paranoid. Thanks and I'll keep ya posted.

[sanjays mummi]

Any vet worth his salt will tell you, Better Safe than Sorry!, hope its good news.

[Achilles&Percy]

Called the vet today and explained my concerns. He said not to worry as Percy is acting fine, playing and eating well. He said that as long as he is not plucking his feathers and continues to act normal, it is probably just moulting. It was almost a mute point because I almost lost him yesterday. Stupid me, walked out to get the newspaper with Percy on my shoulder, and he took off! He went about 60 yards down the street and landed in the neighbor's cedar tree. I pulled the branches down to get him, and he took off again back toward our house and landed in my red maple tree. Luckily he was within reach, and I did the two hand grab and brought him in the house. I was so scared! There is no more helpless feeling as watching my bird fly away! He will NOT be back outside without a good wing trimming. I usually keep both birds trimmed so they can't fly more than a few feet, but I guess I have been a bit lax. I'll tell you the truth, I have learned my lesson!!

[Wessel Gordon]

Ouch...it seems like you had a very stressful time with Percy. It seems like you had a whole flock of guardian angels steering him back to your yard and making sure you could get hold of him.

I lost my favorite IRN male a few years ago when he also took fright. I took him out of his cage as usual and when I tried to put him back he tried to jump back into the cage but missed the door by about an inch and crashed into the cage. He freaked and flew off. Even though he stayed close to the yard for a few hours and after enlisting everyone I can think of to help to retrieve him he once again got spooked and simply took off. Needless to say that's the last time I saw him. I suspect some lucky stranger might have ended up with a very tame and trusting IRN since he had no fear of humans

I'm just very glad that everything with Percy is fine health-wise and that he is where he should be.

Wessel

[SunniDai]

I almost lost my Sunni Dai when she took flight into a neighbor's incredibly tall tree. (I still have scars from that wonderful panicked climb up the tree in shorts and barefoot! Note to self: you are not that young anymore!!) Luckily I got her back. Rather than clip her wings, though, I decided to harness train her. She is still not a huge fan of the putting on and taking off part of it, but once it is on and she is riding on my shoulder, she sits quietly. And there is nothing like watching her fly about the house freely, fine-tuning her flight as she banks and hovers before she lands. It's really quite beautiful as she is a great flyer

[InTheAir]

I almost lost my Sunni Dai when she took flight into a neighbor's incredibly tall tree. (I still have scars from that wonderful panicked climb up the tree in shorts and barefoot! Note to self: you are not that young anymore!!) Luckily I got her back. Rather than clip her wings, though, I decided to harness train her. She is still not a huge fan of the putting on and taking off part of it, but once it is on and she is riding on my shoulder, she sits quietly. And there is nothing like watching her fly about the house freely, fine-tuning her flight as she banks and hovers before she lands. It's really quite beautiful as she is a great flyer

That's great!

[Achilles&Percy]

Isn't it amazing how quickly we forget our age and do something crazy when someone or something we love needs our help!