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Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg
Posted by GreenLady on 1/09/10

On 1/09/10, Sandpiper wrote:
> I just caught him and put some of the petroleum jelly on his leg. I
> was shaking the entire time. He kept squirmming, and I could feel
> his little heart beating as fast as you please. At first, I tried
> to cut his toenails, but I was unable to do it. I was shaking too
> much, and I was so afraid of hurting him. I was told not to get the
> vaseline on his feathers. HA! That is much easier said than done,
> but I think I mostly avoided his feathers.
>
> I put him back in his cage just now, and he seems very upset. He is
> not singing, and he sort of hunkered down on his perch. I knew he
> would be traumatized by this. I put on some classical music for
> him, but he just will not sing. I hope this vaseline works to cure
> his leg.
>
> Is there something I can do to exterminate his cage? If it is
> indeed mites than have gotten to him, I imagine they will keep
> coming back.


Congratulations. With all due respect, you need to try to separate
your emotions from treating your bird. He may be traumatized in the
sense that he isn't touched, ever, and he just was handled by you.
Even though you won't be doing this forever, you'll see he will get
less and less stressed by this. Maybe by the last day you'll be able
to trim his nails? If you feel that it would be easier, grab him with
a wash cloth and that might make you less nervous and he'll feel safer.

Rub a small amount of the jelly between the thumb and forefinger and
then rub his leg. Don't try to glob it on his leg and then rub it in.

You can thoroughly wash his cage and disinfect everything with a mild
bleach solution and let his perches dry very well before putting him
back in the cage. I don't know what accommodations you have for him
while you're doing this.

For what it's worth, if you do not treat the legs, the mites will not
go away and they will burrow deeper into his leg and cause more redness
and trauma.

Just remain as calm as you can and tell yourself this is necessary for
him to get better.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/08/10, by Sandpiper.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/08/10, by GreenLady.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/08/10, by Sandpiper.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/08/10, by GreenLady.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/09/10, by Sandpiper.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/09/10, by Sandpiper.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/09/10, by GreenLady.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 1/11/10, by Sandpiper.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 2/19/10, by Suzanne.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 2/20/10, by Warning.
• Re: Help--My Canary keeps chewing/biting one leg, 2/20/10, by Sandpiper.