Nasty accident

[Pippy]

What a horrific day.

Henry had a nasty accident today which necessitated an emergency trip to the vet, a general anaesthetic and his already depleted beak being trimmed.

Henry doesn't step-up onto a hand but does like to step onto the door of his cage. This is Henry's cage, it has the type of door which can be removed.



I open the cage, take the door off, offer the top of it to him and he steps straight onto it and I carry him through to the dining room. I lean the door against the sofa and Henry goes to the top of the door and flies up to the playstand or ropes.

I did the usual thing and carried Henry through, lent the door against the sofa and went into the lounge to get the bowls from his cage to wash them up.

Hadn't made it to the lounge when I heard a blood-curdling parrot scream from the dining room. Ran back through to find the door had slipped and was flat on the floor and Henry had blood dripping from his beak in a steady flow.

He kept shaking his head and bringing his foot up to touch his beak and each time he did this he screamed again.

I had to go to work an hour later and there was no way of getting out of it. I rang Mark to see if he could take Henry to the vet for me (my vet is a 45 minute drive from me) and thankfully he could. I waited til Mark arrived before trying to get Henry in the travel cage.

He's always very good about going in, he takes hold of the bars in his beak and climbs in....and this is exactly what he did. He then let out a continuous loud, heart-breaking scream for about five seconds until he let go of the bars.

It was the most dreadful sound of a parrot in absolute agony and I was in pieces by this point.

Mark took Henry to Seers Croft where he was seen by Alonso, the lovely vet who treated him for his infection a few weeks ago.

Once he'd had a look at Henry's beak and could see it was cracked and bent to one side he took him pretty much straight through to anaesthetise him and trim the damaged part of the beak off.

Mark said all was quiet once Henry was under the anaesthetic but that he knew when the op was over because he heard Henry screaming again. This went on for a couple of minutes then Alonso gave Henry a pain-killing injection.

Mark brought Henry home to his house so he wouldn't be alone while I was at work. Alonso said to leave Henry in his travel cage overnight on plenty of newspaper and on a very low perch because once the pain killer wears off Henry may be in pain again.

He did say he hoped this wouldn't be the case because he had removed all of the damaged area so didn't give any meds to give at home as he said I could actually trigger a bleed again while trying to get the syringe into Henry's mouth.

Mark has kept Henry at his house for the night as he isn't working tomorrow morning and I am, we don't want Henry left alone just yet. I will pick him up tomorrow lunch time.

I did go and spend an hour with Henry this evening at Mark's and he seems ok, if a little dopey.

It's the damaged upper part of the beak which cracked, the bit which was already substantially damaged ten years ago by the infection. You can see from this pic how thin it was so it's no wonder it broke so readily.





That entire pointy part of his beak has now gone, all trimmed off by the vet. The upper and lower parts are now the same length and the upper part is straight now as opposed to pointed.

I will take a photo of it tomorrow when Henry is home but am I right in thinking this will never grow back? Will he be able to eat normally still? I know he can still use his beak to grip as he did so in the travel cage earlier tonight so he should be ok to climb around the cage once all the pain has gone.

I am going to keep him in the travel cage for a couple of days on the vet's advice as we don't want him to knock it on anything and start it bleeding again.

I can't begin to describe how horrific it was to hear his screams of pain, it's a sound which will live with me forever more. Poor, poor boy.
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[Net]

Poor Henry!

I'm fairly sure his beak should regrow despite its previous damage. I hope he's not too sore in the morning. I suppose it 'might' be like when we break a nail really low down, its sore but feels better with the snaggy bit out of the way.

Are there any meds he could have that could be administered via his food perhaps?
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~ Loyal slave to her Ladyship Harry and Princess Tinker the Yellow Thighed Caiques ~

[suebarrass]

OMG poor Henry i bet you were in bits, i would have been. Accidents happen though Pip and i am sure that Henry will be fine.
I was always under the impression that their beak grow constantly through their life so it should grow again.
Someone with much more knowledge than me may be able to tell you for sure.
Hope that Henry feel better tomorrow and you and Mark do too.
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We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words - Anna Sewell

[yvonne22]

oh how awful pip, you must really be shaken by this, I am so sorry, and I hope Henry is better soon.
I cant help with the question on the beak growing, but June will know the answer to that I am sure.
lots of hugs to you and Henry
XXXXXXX

[caron-j]

Aww Pippy so sorry to hear about your poor little man. I'm sure he's in the best possible hands to make a full and comfortable recovery with you.

As for his beak growing... The beak does grow continuously much like our fingernails but will probably depend on the extent of the damage and vet's trimming?
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[Pippy]

Thanks. Yes, it was just indescribably horrible

Net, the vet was initially going to give something for me to give henry at home but then after the operation and the further pain-killing injection he decided against it.

I'm not sure why exactly having not been there but hopefully he is right that the two injections he gave Henry will give him sufficient relief from pain.


I do remember the same with Shinda when he hurt his leg earlier this year. He was in so much pain he couldn't stand on it and when the vet said he would give him an injection and that I wouldn't need to give Shinda further meds at home I was sceptical to say the least.

Sure enough though Shinda showed no sings of being in pain after that.

I'll know immediately if Henry is in pain because the second he tries to climb the cage bars he will scream if it hurts him and if that happens i will ring the vet immediately and ask if I can go and collect some pain relieving medication.

Poor Henry, that's twice in just a few weeks he's had to see the vet
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[Pippy]

[Kerry78]

It makes me cringe when a bird yells out when they are in shock or scared anyway they let out that horrible scream,
my birds have done it cos there scared of the aloe vera bottle!!!

you need eyes in the back in the head but imsure Henry will settle down after the trauma caused,
I think the beak will re-grow abit do African greys file there beaks down? with use of Cuttlefish or a Perch?

Blessed Be little henry I hope you get some sleep tonight and see Mommy later x
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[hotfoot jackson]

Oh my poor mate Henry, life is giving you a tough ride, poor Pippy, you work so hard to give them great care, my heart goes out to you both. I'll light incense and send a prayer for his recovery.
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[Pippy]

Thanks both xx

Kerry, I'm not sure if they file their beaks as such but they certainly love to chew wood, well, chew anything really!
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[Dura]

Poor Henry poor you.

I really hope Henry is feeling better soon.
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[Harry's Mummy]

Oh poor Henry, what a terrible shock that must have been hun, hope you & Henry have recovered xx
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[Freddie]

oh poor both of you, bet it shook mojo and shinda up too, hopefully all is well this morning
heres a big hug for all of you
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[Sombra]

Oh Pip I'm so sorry. Thank God you got it treated so quickly. I hope you and Henry (and Mark) are feeling a bit better today. Birds are very resilient and hopefully he'll soon be back to normal.
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[catscharmed]

awww poor Henry. And what a shock for u and Mark!
hope he better soon. Sending u a big hug and a head rub for Henry
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