FINCHforum

hello...yesterday my female orange cheek was fine, this evening when I came home from work, I noticed that she was perching funny. Upon observing her for a bit, it appeared that she couldn't/wouldn't grip the perch she was on with her left foot. Her back toe and middle front toe (the longest one) seemed to be able only to go out straight.

I didn't notice if she was doing this in the am today or not as I was in a rush to get to work and did my routine pretty quickly.

I did catch her tonight and examined her leg. It does not appear to bother her at all, I could push the toes together, so they grip, she didn't appear to be in any pain at all when I touched it, before or after, and it doesn't appear to bother her at all. She is eating, drinking, flying as normal. When I released her back into the aviary after examining her this evening, she did seem to have a hard time perching again, after about 4 attempts, she perched, but with the toes straight out. I wasn't sure if she was just stressed out from my catching her or not or if something else is going on. I do have different textured and sized perches in the aviary....should I be making plans to bring her to a veterinarian or watch the foot for a couple of days to see if it gets worse or better?

As I said, she appears fine and happy in all other respects, and the foot does not appear to bother her.

any help would be appreciated...thanks!

Maybe she has nerve damage? I would call a vet and ask questions as to whether or not s/he thinks there is anything that can be done for it, and wait and watch it for a couple of days...if she gets worse, then take her to your vet unless your vet thinks it's something that should be seen immediately. If it is not progressive but also does not improve, your orange cheek will probably learn to manage with things the way they are.

Keep us updated on how she does, and good luck.

About a month ago I noticed one of my swees doing the same thing - not gripping the perch, and not using his toes (though no problems balancing). At that point I had several swees in the cage, so hard to tell which one it was. Looked at all of the birds the other night to see if I could identify the one with the problem and see how he's doing, and nobody seems to have a toe issue anymore! So it may also just be a temporary problem.

Hilary