WHEN PLUCKING escalates to mutilation, parrot owners find themselves faced with a new dilemma: should they collar--or even medicate--their bird to stop destructive behavior?

Birds fitted with plastic Elizabethan collars find it difficult to reach most parts of their bodies to pick, much like collared dogs and cats cannot interfere with stitches. The downside is that a collar can further stress an ill bird.

Other owners reluctantly accept some vets' offers to provide antidepressants such as prozac or haloperidol to curb self-destructive picking.

Doesn't address underlying problem
Such solutions may temporarily control plucking or mutilation, but they do not treat the underlying problem, says Brian Speer, DVM.

"Owners that maintain control with medication don’t have a playful, natural bird anymore. It’s a zombie."

Although they sound gentler than anti-psychotic drugs, Speer also warns against bird " calming" products, which may contain as much as 20 percent ethanol.

"Medically, I have a hard time justifying getting a patient drunk to control them. How long do we think we can maintain this type of treatment for a bird that lives to be 50 years old?"

Useful stop-gap measure
Still, some parrot owners have found it necessary to strike an uneasy truce with their qualms over collars and drugs simply because nothing else works.

Although she hated the idea at first, Jewels, a cockatoo owner who prefers not to give her last name, is resigned to keeping her bird in a collar for now.

Abused by her former owners, the 18-year-old bird mutilates her wing where it was broken otherwise.

"I take it off every morning, give her a shower, and watch her preen herself dry. Two hours later the collar goes back on."

The bird has worn the collar for almost four years with no outward problems, says Jewels. In fact, she's regaining some feathers a vet had warned would never grow back.

"After a year of trying all sorts of other things with no luck, including Rescue Remedy [a flower essence product], I accepted the collar as a part of her life. We are both much more relaxed now. I honestly believe the collar has saved her life."

ParrotChronicles.com

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