Food Up the Nose

[Melika]

We just got our lunch (Dad and I) and we're about twenty minutes from home. The cell phone rings and it's my sister, Kira. She brought out the two terrors for their afternoon hand-feeding session.

Telephone conversation as follows, Kira in green:

"Your bird has food... stuck in his nose"

"What?"

"Hane has one of the pieces of his food stuck in his nose."

"The pellets?"

"Yeah." *slight chuckle*

"A whole one? How...?"

"It looks like a whole round piece. I don't know how he did it."

"Stupid bird. How far is it stuck in? Can you get it out?"

"It's... all the way in. I can't get it out." *nervous laugh*

"Can he still breathe?"

"Yeah, through his other nostril. He doesn't seem to be having a problem."

"We're on our way home. Put a drop of water on it, maybe we can soften it to get it out. I'll be home in like ten minutes. Just hang on."

End call.

I turn to my father, "My bird has a pellet stuck in his nose."

I smiled in disbelief, thinking of all those parents sent to the emergency room by kids jamming food up their own nostrils.

"Stupid bird. It's like having a kid."

When we got home Kira had done as I asked and put a drop of water on the pellet jammed in Hane's nose. We put a few drops more, minutes apart and when it got soft enough I took the syringe and asked Kira to hold Hane still.

I didn't want to put too much water in his nostril, fearing pneumonia or whatnot. But it was loose enough.

Once Hane settled down I placed the syringe with the bottom part touching just barely but tilted so it had access to air and wouldn't deflate his lung when I pulled suddenly.

After a few tries a large chunk of it came out into the syringe but there was still a little bit left. I didn't want him to inhale it, creating a place for harmful bacteria to grow.

Kira ended up using the corner of her pinky's fingernail to gently scrape it out.

Mission Complete. ^_^



It turned out that Hane had figured out how to play the game "I'll shake my head in my food dish and make all my pellets fly onto the floor" and we think that's how he got the piece jammed into his nostril.
I cured the game by giving him just enough food for the day, if he swished it out he didn't get to eat pellets, which he loves because he loves all food. After two days he stopped that game and future nose-stopping problems avoided.

It figures that my bird would do something so foolish. And then act like nothing happened and everything is just jolly.

It still makes me laugh though- it IS like having a kid!

[Lisa's Tiki]

I can't believe he did that! I am sure glad you were able to get it out and everything is okay! Those must be some awfully small pellets for him to get one stuck up his nose though! I think I would have a heart attack if Tiki did something like that! Good fast thinking on your part though to moisten the pellet with water to get it out, I doubt that I would have thought of that before I rushed him to emergency!

[Melika]

Our family has always been a do-it-yourself type, lol. I've seen a doctor maybe twice in the past ten years, but mother has always done her own medical research so that helps. When our dog gashed her foot open we cleaned and bandaged it ourselves, the vet said he wanted to amputate but we just changed bandages twice a day and disinfected (mother worked for a dentist for years when I was young and learned all that sort of thing). After it swelled to three times it's size it began getting better and now Molly only limps when she wants you to feel sorry for her- though sometimes she limps on the wrong foot!

Anyway, back to birds, thanks. It turned out to be exactly half a pellet in his nose. They were parakeet size, since he was still young. Now we feed the 'tiel sized ones and he likes them. If we went parrot size there would be a lot of waste, so this works.

And he doesn't try to empty his dishes anymore. His attempts at bathing in his water dish are comical, though unsuccessful. So the kitchen sink is his friend. ^_^

[Lisa's Tiki]

I'm glad you are able to do those things, I know I never could.
I'm sure glad Hane is okay and doesn't do that anymore. I am also glad your dog is okay, that is funny that he limps when he wants attention, animals are too funny! Tiki used to try and take a bath in this water dish, but he kept making pellet soup alot too, so I bought him a water bottle, because I got tired of changing his water 100 times a day. He took to the water bottle really fast, so now I only clean his water once a day. As for baths, I take a plastic tablecloth and sit it on my living room floor and then I fill about 1 to 2 inches of water in a cake pan and I sit that on it. I have to play in the water too with my fingers in order to get Tiki to take a bath, but he loves his cake pan bathtub!

[Melika]

Hane dunks his sternum (keel bone) into his water dish, and his head. But that's about it. I've found he prefers showers, especially outdoors. And he's always so fluffy when I let him dry in the sun. ^_^

I still can't get over how much animals are like children.

My brother rolls his eyes, he knows there's always some way for me to relate humans and animals in behavior. (I told him that isn't true, no animal can be evil in actuality whereas humans do have that capacity.)

[Neokireina]

Ignore the above post It's just spam.