Children's Motrin and Feather Plucking?

Greetings all,

A local pet store owner mentioned he had heard that people had "great
success" pouring 1/2 a cap (not the dose cup but 1/2 the bottle cap) of
Children's Motrin into a grey's water dish to help with feather
pickers. He said to put in the 1/2 cap daily for about two weeks and
remarkable differences have been seen. He said that because ibuprofen
is an anti-inflammatory, it might help resolve some of the sensations
in their skin leading to the picking.

Of course, he had never tried this himself.

Has anyone heard of this? I Google'd it and didn't come up with any
relevant responses, so I was hoping someone here may have some insight.
I'm a bit reluctant to try...but my TAG has pulled out all her primary
feathers and is just a downy mess. She's 8-9 years old and this is the
first time she's done it and we haven't made any changes in her life. .
..

Toob wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> A local pet store owner mentioned he had heard that people had "great
> success" pouring 1/2 a cap (not the dose cup but 1/2 the bottle cap)
> of Children's Motrin into a grey's water dish to help with feather
> pickers. He said to put in the 1/2 cap daily for about two weeks and
> remarkable differences have been seen. He said that because ibuprofen
> is an anti-inflammatory, it might help resolve some of the sensations
> in their skin leading to the picking.
>
> Of course, he had never tried this himself.
>
> Has anyone heard of this? I Google'd it and didn't come up with any
> relevant responses, so I was hoping someone here may have some
> insight. I'm a bit reluctant to try...but my TAG has pulled out all
> her primary feathers and is just a downy mess. She's 8-9 years old
> and this is the first time she's done it and we haven't made any
> changes in her life. . .

I hope you take this as it's meant. If you haven't changed anything, maybe
that's the problem. I find my CAG gets bored with the same things
(including toys, food & people) day in, day out.

I suggest you first have your TAG examined by an _avian_ vet for the obvious
reasons. If all looks good physically, then start on the mental part. New
toys, perches, and even location of cage can help prevent boredom.

Also, maybe you haven't changed anything but the air quality in your house
could have changed. I'm currently living where there is a lot of
construction and noise.

Bathing - does your bird like daily baths? If not, there are good ways to
teach them to overcome water fears.
It took me five years to convince Zoe bathing was safe..now she begs for
baths.

During plucking phases I've learned not to bring any attention to the act.
Like screaming, ignore it or find a way to distract. I know, I know. It's
alarming. But don't scold.

I'm not saying anything I've said here has a single thing to do with your
birds plucking. Could be a combination of things or just one particular
problem.

As for the motrin, I once had a vet prescribe an antihistimine but he wasn't
very experienced with birds. I would do a lot of research before giving a
medicine to a bird and have it fully approved by an avian vet.

One last thing I think is often overlooked. Enough sleep and privacy.