Cockatiel drops from her perch

Hi all,

I'm a little bit concerned about my Cockatiel 'Nico', a 22 year old
gray female.
For a few weeks now she occasionally drops from her perch as if she
had
fainted. This can happen twice a day and then a week nothing happens.
She just falls like a stone, not beating her wings, not even trying.
After the
crash landing she's dazed and confused for a few seconds, hissing
loudly and
trying to arrange her legs and wings properly.
When I try to help her I notice that sometime her body's completely
limb in
the first few seconds after the fall. When I see her fall it also
looks as if she's
completely limb.
Otherwise she eats and drinks normally, she's preening her feathers as
ever
and of course she still very much likes to be caressed by me.
She won't fly anymore, she had to give it up after an inflammation in
her right
wing a few years ago, and she can't see very well for even more years,
but
until now that has not caused any problems.

Do you think a vet could help her with the falling problem? It really
starts to
worry me, dropping those two feet from her perch or even higher can't
be very
healthy for her...

Frank

"frank.kintrup@gmx.de" <frank.kintrup RemoveThis @googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:1179080257.435966.217590@e51g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm a little bit concerned about my Cockatiel 'Nico', a 22 year old
> gray female.
> For a few weeks now she occasionally drops from her perch as if she
> had
> fainted. This can happen twice a day and then a week nothing happens.
> She just falls like a stone, not beating her wings, not even trying.
> After the
> crash landing she's dazed and confused for a few seconds, hissing
> loudly and
> trying to arrange her legs and wings properly.
> When I try to help her I notice that sometime her body's completely
> limb in
> the first few seconds after the fall. When I see her fall it also
> looks as if she's
> completely limb.
> Otherwise she eats and drinks normally, she's preening her feathers as
> ever
> and of course she still very much likes to be caressed by me.
> She won't fly anymore, she had to give it up after an inflammation in
> her right
> wing a few years ago, and she can't see very well for even more years,
> but
> until now that has not caused any problems.
>
> Do you think a vet could help her with the falling problem? It really
> starts to
> worry me, dropping those two feet from her perch or even higher can't
> be very
> healthy for her...
>
> Frank

It certainly can't hurt to take her to the vet to see if they can discover
anything.

Isn't 22 a rather aged cockatiel? I think so.

I would definitely lower the perch so her tail just clears the bottom of the
cage. That way she only has inches to fall rather than feet. We do this
with very young birds.

She sounds like a honey.

--
Sincerely,
Joanne

If it's right for you, then it's right, . . . . . for you!!!

http://www.jobird.com
Wonders of Western Washington Video collection:
http://www.jobird.com/private/wondersindex.htm