self mutilization

[moonlt@iwarp.net]

Hi, I have a Love Bird who has picked a larg area of his feathers off. It will heal and he will pick it open again. I have put an antibiotic on it, He is with another bird ,that is fine. I have sprayed him for mites, what can i use that will not harm him. I have given him several baths as he looks dirty. He started this at the time i bought a new cage and placed him in it, also he may have started to molt at that time.Any help would be appreciated. Connie :blush: :blush:

[bellarains]

Connie,

The first thing you want to do is make sure there is no underlying health issue causing him to pluck, so your vet will need to run some tests to be sure.

After you have ruled that out, then you can start trying options out for plucking. There are a number of things you can try, and your vet may also recommend an e-colar.

Let us know how it's going, and I'm sure some other's here who have dealt with plucking issues can give you some wonderful advice.

[Janie]

My oldest lovebird has one tiny area that he does pick. We adopted him a couple of years ago so I had no clue as to how long or why he was picking. The first thing I did was take him to an avian vet to rule out any health issues and everything is OK with him but he does continue to pick that one area and more often during a molt.