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Post by siobhan on Apr 9, 2015 10:39:12 GMT -5
Trixie's little feet just don't seem to be recovering properly from her months in a tiny cage with one skinny perch. She falls off her perches. I find her sleeping on the floor of the cage every morning. I bought her a flat platform perch which she does use, but she keeps trying to use the regular perches, too, and sits there wobbling because her little feet won't grip properly. So I have decided I need to rearrange and put everything down low, so if she does wobble off, she won't have far to fall. So far she always catches herself and lands (rather than "falling"), and my guess is, she won't be very happy with all her stuff down low at first, but as my mom would have said, "You're the mommy; you have to do what's best for them, not what they like." (Mom used that excuse often when I was growing up and griping about things she insisted on that were "best" for ME, LOL).
I had hoped that with time and practice on a variety of perches, her feet would recover and she'd be okay, but the damage is done and I don't think it's going to happen. I've given it plenty of time. This will mean that I have to clean her cage a lot more often, and she does not LIKE having her cage cleaned, but if she's going to be close to the floor, it must be clean.
I'm also worried because she doesn't make much noise. Of course, female canaries don't sing like males, but she was singing every morning for a while and now she isn't. She's eating and pooping fine.
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Post by easttex on Apr 9, 2015 12:37:49 GMT -5
Have you thought about putting something cushiony on the floor of her cage? Maybe some bubble wrap that you could cover with newspaper and/or paper towels?
I'll bet Biteybird can say something knowledgeable about the singing, but in the meantime  , when do canaries molt? If it's getting close to that time she may not feel like singing. |
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Post by siobhan on Apr 9, 2015 14:36:54 GMT -5
She molted within the first month of joining the family, so I doubt she's doing it again so soon. And yes, I've been researching handicapped bird cages today and most of what I've found suggests something soft on the floor of the cage. One person used foam rubber, another old towels. I think the towels would be simplest, as we have an abundance of those. I had to catch her and clean off her tail feathers again last night and she absolutely hates that, but when she sits on her food dish and poops, it sticks to the edge and then gets stuck to her tail feathers, and she can't clean those off herself because she can't balance well enough to reach. I suspect she's a lot older than I thought she was, too. They said she'd been at the store for close to a year, and possibly she'd been at another store before that and they moved her in the hope that someone would buy her. She doesn't have a leg band so it's impossible to know how old she really is. Whatever time she has, I'm determined to make her as comfortable and happy as I can, and Ringo spends a lot of time sitting on top of her cage just keeping her company. She doesn't tease or bother her; she just sits there.
When I get home from work tonight, I'm going to do the big rearrange, which will upset Trixie immensely, but perhaps afterward she'll realize it's more convenient for her purposes than it is now, and maybe she'll forgive me. I don't expect to be forgiven for cleaning her bottom, though, at least not for a while. The INDIGNITY. LOL
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 9, 2015 21:27:34 GMT -5
Just a word of caution - threads in towels can catch little clawed feet. I have mentioned before about the handicapped cockatiel I had. I covered ladders that reached from one side of the cage to the other (sort of a zig zag effect but not too steep) with batting, then calico, then soft cotton material (which velcroed under the ladder - for ease of exchanging and washing). He could waddle everywhere without having to try and perch - which was very difficult for him. Feed dishes were low. It all seemed to work well as he never pooped on his ladders and he was comfortable.
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Post by siobhan on Apr 9, 2015 22:09:45 GMT -5
I put a towel in the floor and covered it with newspaper so the threads won't catch her little toes. I lowered all the perches so they're only about an inch above the floor, except one that's a bit higher because that's where it fit on the bars. Her food and water are on the floor. I took out the swing because I thought it was in her way and it's easier for her to flit from one side of the cage to the other. She didn't even freak out while I was doing all this, and she seems to have accepted the changes with good grace. She is a little confused that I moved her favorite perch, where she normally sleeps, and put her platform where it was, with the mirror she likes. I was hoping she'd sleep on the platform so she wouldn't lose her grip and fall off. Instead, she elected to sleep on the perch with the other mirror. I may have to put her favorite mirror back with her favorite perch. I did leave the perch in, I just moved it a few inches. I hope this will make her more comfortable.
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Post by Jan and Shah on Apr 9, 2015 23:54:36 GMT -5
I know this is going to be a stupid question but are her perches smooth or a bit woody? I find the smooth perches arent good for bird's feet as they can slip. I go into the bush and get branches from gum trees as they are safe. Plus the cockatiels like to have a chew on them. You are probably already doing this. If so, just ignore the question.
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Post by biteybird on Apr 10, 2015 4:55:47 GMT -5
My canaries never sing/whistle during moulting, which lasts about 2 months...but you said she's already moulted. Be on the lookout for other things - e.g., if you're sure Trixie is a girl, is it possible she could be egg-bound (this means an egg has broken inside the bird, which can make them very ill or even kill them)? Being egg-bound has happened to some of my canaries, but fortunately I treated it early by rubbing olive oil over the birds' vents. Could you put a happy hut on the cage floor for Trixie to sleep in? Like Jan, I find the smooth, machined bird perches not at all good, and I have natural tree sticks/branches in the outdoor aviary (I realise you have probably done this already). As you've said, it's possible Trixie could be older than you were told. Most of our outdoor canaries live for 5-8 years (depending on many factors). I can always spot an older canary as they look different to the young ones - generally, the younger ones' feathers are smoother and not as fluffed up and the outline of their eyes is more clear-cut. The older ones' eyes don't look as well-defined around the edges. I didn't read this anywhere...just observed these things about my own canaries over the last 10 or so years. Hope this helps, but you probably know all of it already! |
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Post by siobhan on Apr 10, 2015 10:48:27 GMT -5
I tried a happy hut on the floor and she was unimpressed. I am not certain she's a girl; the store told me she'd been through a vet workup (due to the baldness, to make sure that wasn't because of an illness) and the vet had said she's a girl. I got an up close and personal look at her vent when I last wiped her bottom for her a couple of days ago. Can you direct me to a site where I could see photos of a normal vent and an inflamed or egg-bound vent? I googled it but didn't get what I was looking for.
She has a wide variety of perches. Her favorite is a two-part machine-made perch in a capital T shape. She has a flat platform wood perch. She has two of the "comfy perches" -- the flexible, multicolored twisted rope perches that are favorites of all the other birds in the house. And she has a natural branch perch. They're different diameters and surfaces. She's also fond of sitting on her food dish, which is white plastic with an attached perch made of the same material.
Because of the baldness and the general disarray of her head feathers, it's hard to know whether her eyes are well-defined. Her other feathers look good, smooth and plentiful and she keeps herself fairly neat and tidy except for her bottom, and that's only because of sitting on the food dish and pooping on the perch behind her and then the poop gets stuck to her tail. She's too wobbly due to her bad feet (mostly one foot; the other is pretty much all right) to be able to reach under there.
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Post by biteybird on Apr 10, 2015 19:46:42 GMT -5
I'll try to find some photos for you - I have a couple of canary books I could consult. Poor little Trixie, being so wobbly. It does sound like she's happy enough and getting along OK, though. And you certainly have given her lots of perches to choose from. Maybe the machine-made perch is her favourite because her feet are already different to a normal canary's feet. As an aside, my father-in-law's canaries all sit in their food dishes and even lay eggs in them (silly things!). They won't even look at proper nests. Go figure! |
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Post by siobhan on Apr 10, 2015 22:11:35 GMT -5
She has a nest, too, and is quite possessive of it though she almost never sits in or on it. It's all poopy and I took it out to try to clean it and she got very agitated, so I put it back. Her little bottom is also bald, though you wouldn't notice if you weren't wiping off poop. LOL The feathers around it disguise that it's bald.
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Post by siobhan on Apr 10, 2015 22:16:10 GMT -5
The reason her nest is poopy in spite of her not using it is, it's in her cage under the spot where Ringo likes to sit. Ringo settles down on top of Trixie's cage on her tummy and just hangs out a lot. I think Ringo likes having her for company. Ringo did not like having Benjy for a roommate one bit, so I was afraid she wouldn't like Trixie, but she does. And Trixie doesn't mind if Ringo sits there or even when Ringo bounces around on top of her cage. But the poop in the nest is Ringo's, not Trixie's. I've tried putting the nest elsewhere and Trixie gets agitated when I do that, too, so there it stays.
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Post by biteybird on Apr 11, 2015 1:11:05 GMT -5
Often the female canaries have bald stomachs and rear ends when they are in breeding/egg-laying mode. Also, I found something interesting about baldness in canaries - the condition is called 'alopecia' and has been noted in several studies. There can also be associated conditions. I'll keep looking for photos for you (no luck yet).
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Post by siobhan on Apr 11, 2015 9:02:36 GMT -5
I know a couple of people with that, too.
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, when do canaries molt? If it's getting close to that time she may not feel like singing.
