The importance of seeing an avian vet

[InTheAir]

Our little pride and joy, Nila, pulled out some pin feathers from his chest and damaged the skin around it! Our vet was closed so we went to a recommended non avian vet. They gave him an antibiotic for the infection, metacam and put some duoderm paste on the area and told us to distract him from picking at it. Nila could not stand the duoderm plaster and picked it off, as well as picking more feathers around it. By the evening due to us trying to distract him from the area, was doing some really weird displacement activities when he felt he wanted to pick at his sore! Dave took him to the pet er and they gave him a sedative to calm him down until we could see the avian vet.
Nila was still going a bit mental and worrying the area in the morning.
Our vet was still closed, so we took him to the specialist at the university (a veeeerrrrryyyy long drive away) where he was hospitalised for further testing. Poor little thing has had full body xray, bloods drawn and a skin biopsy.
Bloods and xray showed his internal stuff is fine, but he was a bit dehydrated so was on fluids last night. Haven't got the results of biopsy yet.
The specialist assured us that it is a medical problem, probably a scratch that got infected and not at all behavioural. He is very confident that once it is cured Nila will not worry the area at all.
A friend of ours who used to own a petshop has also told us of a few birds he has met who have been through the same thing and recovered perfectly too.

So, it is really important to visit an avian vet and get thorough testing done if your bird suddenly starts plucking or worrying it's feathers or skin!

[AJPeter]

Claire very sorry to hear about Nila, hope he gats better soon.

[ringneck]

Yes, this is good news!

So sorry to hear that! Hope Nila is doing better! I just love his videos on YouTube!

Best Wishes,

IMRAN-C

[Donovan]

Was all that stress worth putting him through for something that he probably would have recovered from naturally?
(not being a critic, just asking from legitimate curiosity)

how big was the spot? And could that antibiotic have been enough you think?