Magoo, a hyacinth macaw, gashed his foot on a toy block. Fortunately, his sitter knew how to stop the bleeding.

MAGOO IS a wonderful hyacinth macaw that I had the pleasure of meeting under less-than-wonderful circumstances.

Magoo's "mom" had recently moved to Atlanta and had not yet found a veterinarian. She was away on a business trip, and Magoo was staying with one of my clients.

Magoo had been adjusting to all the changes - new home and new people - very well. But while exuberantly destroying some toy blocks, he gashed open his foot. Luckily, his sitter knew the first rule of first-aid for bleeding: apply pressure. She grabbed the foot with a nearby washcloth and by the time she arrived in my office, there was no more bleeding. All we had to do was clean up and suture the area. Magoo healed quickly and beautifully without incident because his caretaker knew how to handle an emergency.

Whether you are thinking about acquiring a bird or already have one, preparing for an emergency is one aspect of bird care you might have overlooked. It's an important one, though. And the best time to think about what you might do in a crisis is now, not after it happens.

Let's take your first-aid game plan step by step. Here is what you'll need to know: whom to call, how to restrain your bird, and how to perform some fairly simple procedures.

First things first: Finding a good veterinarian
There is no substitute for good medical care that is tailored to your pet. First and foremost, retain a veterinarian who routinely sees avian patients and with whom you are comfortable. Birds have many special needs that require specific avian knowledge. Keep the numbers of your veterinarian and the nearest after-hours emergency clinic by the phone.

When an emergency occurs, knowing how to properly restrain your bird is crucial. Not only will it help prevent him from harming himself further, it will put you in a better position to take stock of the situation and save you from painful bites (even birds who never nip will if they’re hurting).

Try to accustom your bird to restraint before an emergency arises. You’ll be glad you did. It will familiarize him with the process and give you practice, too, so there will be one less thing to be anxious about. If you can, practice while he’s still young. Otherwise, work with your older bird on a regular basis.

It may look uncomfortable, but the neck hold is the safest way to restrain a parrot.

I find that wrapping a towel around a bird helps “extend” my hands and allows for better and more comfortable control for both the patient and me.

So that you can pick the bird up with the towel already in place, start by gently draping it over him. Next, grasp him around the neck with the opposite hand you are accustomed to using. (In other words, if you are right handed, use your left hand to pick him up.) This leaves your other hand free to examine him.

The advantage to holding the neck is that your bird can't bite you; he can bend his head down only as far as you allow. If you want less range of motion, just slide your grasp up, to just below the jaw.

If holding by the neck sounds dangerous, it does require care. However, unlike mammals, whose tracheas are composed of incomplete C-shaped cartilaginous rings, birds’ windpipes have completely closed rings of cartilage. This makes them more difficult to accidentally crush than C-shaped rings, whose sides can break.

Never try to restrain your bird by holding onto either side of the cheek over the temperomandibular joint. This will bruise his face - and he can still pivot his head to bite.

To keep your bird's feet from flailing you can hold onto them with your free hand or ball the towel up around them. (This is an especially good skin-saving trick if the nails are long and needlelike!) A lot of birds will grasp the towel by themselves.

To help keep the wings folded and close to the body, you can tuck in the edges of the towel. If you've done this correctly, your bird should look like the proverbial pea in the pod (with the towel as the shell).

The towel should be snug but not excessively tight. Make sure your bird's head stays uncovered so he can see what's going on and the towel isn't poking him in the eyes. After all of this, let your bird chew on any free towel. It will give him something other than somebody's fingers on which to take out his frustration.

Perhaps the most important point to remember about restraint is to monitor your bird's breathing. Do not try to stop him from struggling by holding on "in the middle," over the chest area. Birds do not have diaphragms. They need to be able to move the chest upward to pull air into the respiratory system. So make sure that the chest is free to move - and that it's moving.

I've found that the thought of having to restrain their parrot in any situation is one of the most agonizing for owners to overcome. The trick is to practice occasionally so that when the real test comes, you don't make a bad situation worse by using improper techniques. And remember to be confident, calm, and vigilant. Though it may not seem like it at the time, your confidence and skill will help your bird remain calmer, too.

Bleeding and fractures
Two of the most basic areas of first-aid you should be familiar with are how to stop bleeding and what to do if your bird breaks a bone.

One caveat before we begin: these are general suggestions and may not be what your own veterinarian would prescribe. Always call your veterinarian first, and if you can't make the call, have someone else do it while you start first aid.

Your bird is bleeding; what should you do? Direct pressure is the old standby and very reliable whether as a first means of defense or the last, when other ideas are not working. Depending on how much pressure you apply, the patient’s blood pressure and the size and location of the wound (beaks, for instance, can be awkward), most types of bleeding should clot within about a minute. Prolonged bleeding could mean your bird has a clotting problem, which can be caused by liver disease, some medications or a deficiency in vitamin K.

Let’s start with nails. It is easy for a nail to get broken, especially if it’s a little too long. It is also easy to "quick" a nail with traditional nail clippers. For larger birds, I recommend using a dremel. Although some people question the extra restraint time required to grind the nail, I think it's less stressful in the long run. Dremeling takes only a few minutes; clipping to the quick can cause pain for a day or two. A dremel also lets you round the nail edges so there are no sharp or splintered edges.

However, I don't recommend you just pick up any dremel and bit and grind your bird's nails. Have someone well versed in this type of nail trim help you select appropriate equipment and teach you how to perform it safely.

A broken nail can bleed profusely without a clotting agent.

If you find yourself faced with a bleeding nail, you can help along the clot in several ways. Direct pressure does not work very well in this case; most bird owners use some type of styptic powder, sold in most pet supplies store. (To make application easier I fill a 1 ml/cc syringe.)

Silver nitrate sticks are another option. Or, you can make do with a household cure: flour, corn starch or bar soap (Ivory has the fewest chemicals).

When "blood feathers" break
While new feathers are growing in, they have both an artery and vein running through them. Clumsy birds such as babies and birds prone to thrashing such as cockatiels often will break one of these new "blood" feathers and when they do, the bleeding can be profuse - enough in some birds to be life-threatening. As the bird thrashes around and splatters the blood it can look like they are bleeding even more.

The rule of thumb when drawing blood for laboratory testing is that a bird can safely lose 1 ml (cc) of blood per 100 grams of weight. For instance, a 50-gram bird can lose 0.5 mls (cc) of blood. An easy way to try to learn to estimate blood loss on the floor or other surface is to get a syringe and fill it with colored water and do some test splatters outside.

In most cases, the best way to deal with a broken blood feather is to pull it. You'll need some type of instrument that provides a good grip. One option is a pair of hemostats, used in medicine to hold tissue. You can buy fairly inexpensive ones at the corner drug store or, if you would like better quality ones, have your veterinary office order them for you. Another option is a pair of fine needle-nosed pliers.

Peroxide works great for determining which of several blood-stained feathers is bleeding. It will "bubble" on all blood present but it will turn old blood stains brown. The freshly spurting blood will be red.

Grasp the shaft of the feather above the tear, making sure you haven't accidentally closed around any skin. Hold firmly and pull straight out in the direction the feather is growing. Do not jerk or pull at an angle because this could cause further tearing.

If you still need help, apply pressure if possible and get to a veterinarian.

Pulling feathers does hurt, but if you leave a broken blood feather in place, the scab could dislodge later and cause further bleeding. That said, not all veterinarians prefer to pull bleeding feathers. They would rather apply pressure if necessary and leave the feather in place. Pulling feathers can damage the follicle. It can also result in tearing or shredding the feather shaft further, making it even more difficult to stop the bleeding. This is definitely one of those questions to discuss with your veterinarian before an emergency.

Next page | When wounds threaten | 1, 2