Perspectives Winter/Spring-2017

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 17 would commonly fall to the bottom of her cage, the ground, or whatever else was waiting below. This cycle just repeated itself as I sympathetically watched it occur over and over. I brainstormed with a few volunteers to find a remedy. I promptly padded the bottom of Elvis’s cage and play stand with towels to lessen the chance of injury and then wrapped the perches with various types of medical tape in an attempt to improve grip. The results seemed positive, albeit minimal. It soon became apparent there might be an issue with her feet and ability to lock them as she slept. We all felt it imperative that Elvis be immediately vetted, so I made an appointment the next day. The exam results showed her bodily systems were within normal ranges, but her legs and feet were extremely weak. As a result, all the perches needed to be removed immediately. Elvis, like most parrots, had absolutely no interest in crawling around the lower level on her cage’s poop-grate, so when the perches were removed, she perched on the thin metal wire of her food-cup holder. Naturally, within a short period of time, she again began the endless process of dozing off and falling to the bottom of her cage. It became immediately obvious that I just couldn’t leave the bird in an empty cage without perches and padding, so they were reinstalled in this confused cockatoo’s home. I reviewed Elvis’s pre-FPR history and suspected her issues were most likely due to a domino effect of a poor diet composed solely of sugary fruit cups for more than 20 years. She had already been switched over to a healthy diet and was being given as much protein as she wanted. Some ingenious volunteers came up with the idea to suspend the grating at the food-cup level in order to create a raised floor for Elvis to comfort- ably stand on and walk across. This replaced the perches with a wide surface mounted at a normal perch level so Elvis could easily stand or hold for stability, yet also allowed her to find a location in which she could lean on the sides of her cage to allow sleep. After the modification was made, Elvis immediately found her way to the rear of the cage and fell asleep. In addition to the sleep issues, I also tended to her constant picking of the large scab in the middle of her chest. I understood this scab to be the result of her self-plucking at about age six, but there was fresh blood visible daily. Luckily, I was familiar with parrots wearing sweaters to create a barrier between that destructive beak and their plucked bodies. I carefully created and fitted a shirt to Elvis to combat picking and plucking. Because Elvis quickly learned how to chew through the shirt, I began using patches to defeat her efforts. A second benefit of the shirt was insulation that kept her warm and decreased the energy required to warm herself. Within a few short weeks, this sweet cockatoo had gone through a seemingly miraculous transformation. In addition to sleeping, perching, and growing feathers, the strength greatly increased in her beak and feet. Elvis continues to grow stronger with each passing day, and her improvement in health is certainly demonstrated in her personality. Elvis stole my heart, so I adopted her a few months later. If you want to learn more or are interested in adopting a bird, please go to the Florida Parrot Rescue website at floridaparrotrescue.com . n Left to right: Elvis in her monster sweater, Christmas outfit, and button shirt