Maggie's Story
Birds are delicate animals and they tend to hide injury and illness because, in the wild, other birds may shun them if they detect weakness. We aren't sure when or how it happened but, according to the veterinarian, she probably accidently flew into a sharp object because her wings were not clipped as often as they should have been. The wound on her breast festered until at one point, probably about a month later, the wound burst in the middle of the night.

Maggie is normally a quiet bird and doesn't make a fuss like some of her larger cousins. Maggie's mom woke up one morning while it was still dark, as she normally did, and quietly let Maggie out of her house. This was a morning tradition, to have a quiet cup of coffee with Maggie before waking the other two (louder) birds. When mom and Maggie went to the kitchen, mom turned on the lights and discovered Maggie was covered in blood.

Mom woke dad then called the animal emergency room at Mississippi State University. Dad checked the cage and discovered about 1/4 cup of blood at the bottom. He also noticed a sharp corner on the inside of the King cage had a lot of blood and feathers on it. Maggie was rushed to the hospital and her vet (Dr. Sheila Johnson) met mom and her there. She was admitted to the ICU where she would spend much of her time over the next couple of months.

Nobody expected she would live; she had lost a lot of blood, was very weak and the wound (where her keel bone was visible) was nearly as large as her chest. The first order of business was to sedate Maggie and clean the wound. The vets didn't take any photographs at this stage. That's fine with us; they would be too hard to look at now.

Once the wound was cleaned, it had to remain open and moist. Each day the vets would pull the skin closer together to make the wound smaller. The photograph to the right shows the wound after a couple of weeks. New feathers had to be pulled out as they got too close. As horrible as this photo looks, keep in mind this is after the wound was cleaned and Maggie was making good progress over a couple of weeks. The wound is much smaller in this photo than it was originally.

Photo by Dr. Sheila Johnson

Maggie made great progress; better than had anyone hoped. She had a great veterinarian team and was very healthy; we only fed her Harrison's Bird Diet (the bird food recommended by her vet). Her better-than-normal health had a lot to do with her ability to survive the whole ordeal, according to her doctors. Also, although mom was working full time, she travelled 30 minutes to the college, twice each day, to spend an hour with Maggie. The doctors later told us that visiting Maggie twice each day probably had a lot to do with her quick recovery; she knew she was loved and missed.

Photo by Dr. Sheila Johnson

Even though she had an open wound, she was able to come home after a few weeks. Mom would take her to the vet every day, then every other day, and finally every third day to have her bandage changed. The bandage was unusual; it was damp on the inside to keep the wound moist and had stretchable gauze on the outside to keep her from picking at it. She never once disturbed the bandage even though it certainly must have itched her.

Maggie had always been a remarkable bird. Cockatoos are notorious for being loud and needy; Maggie never was. But while she was sick, she was very affectionate. She knew she was in trouble and all she wanted was for her mom to hold her as much as possible. She even went to the lab techs readily although she normally shied away from strangers.

Eventually, Maggie's wound was small enough to be stitched closed. The doctors suspected her feathers would not grow back properly but they did and today it's impossible to tell she was ever wounded. Thanks to her good health, a great veterinarian team and a lot of love, Maggie is a very healthy and happy Cockatoo today.

Photo by Dr. Sheila Johnson

Pet Birds
Many people buy birds because they are beautiful animals; that's the wrong reason. Birds are flock animals and need constant attention for a very long time; they can easily live to be more than 70 years old. They need a lot of love and bird owners have to tolerate behaviors like chewed furniture, poop on the carpet, screaming, feather picking and so forth. Birds have the intelligence of (and are as mischievous as) a three-year-old child; they aren't for everyone!

But, if you want a bird for the right reasons (there are many), do as much research as possible before and after you buy your bird. Maggie's mom and dad recommend picking up the following books from Amazon.com; Amazon is a good company with great service and prices:

• My Parrot, My Friend - Arguably the best parrot book on the market!
• The Pleasures of Their Company: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Training - A wonderful text to help you have a well-behaved bird
• The Parrot in Health and Illness : An Owner's Guide - Birds are delicate animals and this is a great text explaining how to keep them healthy
• Handbook of Cockatoos - A very nice Cockatoo-oriented book

Alex's Home Page - Alex is Maggie's brother, a Congo African Grey. He likes to get into trouble but we love him just the same!