Just a warning to parrot owners

[Parrotlover83]

Hi all I have just returned from my holiday in Florida & my brother was looking after the 7 birds but when I arrived home today after a long flight etc I noticed my military macaws leg band was bent & squashed & cutting into his leg..... I panicked bigtime! Unsure of what to do... I then rushed him to my local fire station who cut the leg band off..... It took 20 minutes. He now has a swollen foot & leg but the outcome could have been worse. I'm grateful to the fire services for possible saving my beloved parrots foot or life even. Don't let this happen to you! I never saw this coming at all.


Parrot Power...........:-)

[Honesty]

Sorry to hear about your scare :( I am glad all is okay though! Good thinking on taking him to the fire station :)

I had Codie's leg band taken off when i first had him as i had a friend who went through the same as you!

Did you have a lovely holiday?

[coltfire]

I hate leg rings for that reason and any bird I buy that has one .,has it removed straight away. One of my budgies lost a leg due to a band many years ago

[Maddy]

I'm glad to hear your baby is okay!

Something similar happened to my friend's conure awhile back...since then I've always kept a close eye on my fids leg bands.

[Parrotlover83]

I'm still shook up over it :-( didn't like having him towel for 20 minutes he's a feisty military macaw. His poor foot is so swollen too, any tips how I can make him more comfortable & reduce his swelling?


Parrot Power...........:-)

[PlaxMacaws]

I'm very sorry to hear what happened to your Military. I'm glad, though, that you were able to think of a way to get the band off and that things didn't turn out far worse for him.

I presume it's his ankle joint that's swollen - the joint connecting the tibia bone (tibiotarsus) and the tarsus bone (tarsometatarsus). The swelling should diminish on its own, but it may take a while depending upon the severity of the injury. If there's torn cartilage it should have some veterinary attention. Is there any way that you can get him to a trusted avian vet to have a look at it? A vet would be able to prescribe some anti-inflammatory medication that will both relieve the swelling and curtail the pain he's probably feeling. I would at least consider scheduling a vet appointment for him.

[Parrotlover83]

I'm going to take him tomorrow, he is eating & drinking well & checked out the new toys I got, he's just not talking as much at mo


Parrot Power...........:-)

[PlaxMacaws]

I'm going to take him tomorrow, he is eating & drinking well & checked out the new toys I got, he's just not talking as much at mo Very good. The vet may or may not choose to wrap his ankle in order to give it some support. Since he has been behaving fairly normally (other than the fact that he's understandably less inclined to talk much right now), I'd say he'll likely recover just fine :)

[Debra]

I've heard of this happening before. This person's macaw ended up ok thankfully. Her macaw had actually bit the leg band to crimp it. I hope the swelling goes down soon.

[kendrafitz]

Oh no, poor baby! How scary! I hope he feels better soon.

My vet removed Rosie's band when I brought her for her first visit. He said they were dangerous and he hated them. For our state you need to keep the band and have a letter from a vet as to why it was removed. Which I have and she is chipped as well.

[mrgoogls]

sorry to hear that. the only reason cooper has his band is that in NY while Quakers are legal, you MUST have a band. but, i have never seen cooper even really look at his band, since he has had it since he was pretty much hatched.

[Turquoise]

Oh I am so glad your macaw is safe and healing. Glad you were able to get it off before any more serious damage to his foot had occurred. And good thinking on taking him to the Fire Station for a quick removal of the band.

I have read of several leg band mishaps where the bird gets it crimped by biting it or in the case of an open band it gets caught in the cage wires. They have their good points on what they were designed for. And they have their bad points in what they can do to the bird's foot. I have a good friend on FB who recently had her macaw walk down off her cage where she was playing to her in an obvious attempt to show her that she had bite her leg band to the point of it squeezing her leg. My friend's hubby was home and he was able to remove it with diagonal cutters. It really shook my friend up, but she was so glad her bird let her know what had happened in a hurry and no damage was done to her leg.

All of mine have leg bands except Angel my handicapped macaw and my pionus. I have not had any troubles with them as yet, but should they begin to bother their bands or show any slight distress due to them, I would not hesitate to have it removed.