« Stop the Idaho Wolf Massacre | Main | A new member of the family.. »
August 28, 2006
African Grey in Thailand needed help!
On August 16th we received a note form a woman in Thailand. She was caring for a friends African Grey. Here is her note to us.
Subject: my african grey broked his leg
I live in Thailand and have two grey. The younger Farley just broke
his leg. I toke off his name brace. Put some kind of retainer but she
is two month and loves to fly. Could you tell me if I shall do
something house as we do not have a bird vet in Phuket? what can I do
to try to have the leg heal as soon as possible
Thank you in advance
Now none of us are vets, and we have to be so careful about giving out advice, but we had to do SOMETHING to help this poor Grey!
I found a page from Long Beach Animal Hospital on Fractured Leg Repair it is loaded with information, and lots of pictures. So we sent it along, wings and talons crossed, hoping for the best.
Today, we received a follow up!
I am the proud owner of Farley, the baby Gray that Dorine Samuelson contacted you about for her broken leg. Farley spends her days in “daycare” with my friend and her Gray, Nelson and her evenings and weekends at home with me.
Thank you for your quick response to my friends request for information on Farley’s injury. It was very kind of you.
Farley Resting Comfortably!
We did not have the luxury of an X-ray here but it was pretty obvious where her break was. It was a break just above her knuckles (for lack of a better name), between her ankle and her talons. I’ve attached a photo of the first splint we put on the break. It did a great job of immobilizing the area for a few days but after that, it became a sore spot and was swelling a bit. We cut this off and replaced it with a boot style cast that was made from a strip of tin shaped to fit her foot. We taped her 2 center talons together and then secured the metal strip to the foot using tissue for padding and white bandage tape. This allowed her to put weight on it and made her immediately more comfortable. She actually stopped eating or playing for a day before we changed the cast, then went right back to her old self when the job was done.
We removed the cast yesterday, after 14 days. Man, what a happy bird I had then! She spent a couple of hours testing the foot out and another couple enjoying being able to play with and chew on it. She has full range of motion on all fingers and is slowly building the strength back...
I am so glad I got her as a baby. Very early on I began playing and wrestling with her and as a result she was already used to being laid on her back without freaking out. In fact, she sleeps on her back (in my lap, on my chest or in her basket) when I’m reading or watching a movie. This paid off in spades when the injury occurred. She would lie perfectly still while we installed and removed casts. All I had to do was comfort her and pet her head
Ok, the name. When I got the bird, its sex was unknown. It would have probably remained unknown but the breeder I got her from sent out a DNA sample and I got the news of her actual sex several weeks later. I named it Farley after one of my favorite contemporary writers, Farley Mowat. It’s proving to be a fitting name as my bird is as big a clown as the writer and may one day share in his verbal prowess.
Thanks again for your assistance and guidance and I trust that your birds are doing great!
Kind Regards,
Posted by sue at August 28, 2006 12:48 PM