Hurt leg!

Ofelia · Post by **Ofelia** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:13 am

I have a zebra finch who has a long hair wrapped around one of his legs. I noticed he was holding the leg up, so I took him out intending to get it off. However, it turned out it was wrapped and knotted so tightly around his leg there is no way for me to get it off. All I could do was trim the long ends of the hair off so it wouldn't catch or get tangled in the cage. During the time I had him out and was trimming the hair, I accidently tugged the part of the hair that was around his leg, and he started bleeding quite a bit.

I've never had something like this happen before. Will the leg heal okay with hair wrapped around it? Is it okay for me to leave the hair and hope the bird can remove it, or is there a chance this could cause an infection or cause the bird to loose the leg?

Post by **Hilary** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:18 am

If it's tight enough to cause bleeding I'd say it's tight enough that he could lose his leg. If you can get somebody to hold him I'd recommend using cuticle scissors (or something else small and sharp that you can control) and a magnifying glass if necessary to cut it off. If you can't, do you have a vet nearby that you can use? I'm so sorry!

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:20 am

I haven't had this happen before, but I agree with Hilary. If it's tight enough to cause bleeding, it could cut off circulation and/or cause an infection that could make him lose his leg. A friend of mine adopted a cockatiel who had a similar situation with a small piece of string and she lost one leg and nearly lost the other. He things the previous owner actually tied the string to her legs for some stupid reason.

She got along okay after that, balancing with the stump but I'm sure you don't want that to happen to your bird.

Ofelia · Post by **Ofelia** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:35 am

Thank you very much Hilary and Beccafigs for your responses. This morning I asked around and found a vet who can treat small birds. I took my finch in as soon as I could, and after some initial difficulty the vet was able to remove the hair. The bad news is my poor bird may have lost one of his toes because the blood supply to that toe was cut off, but the good news is that he is on the road to recovery, and seems to be doing well even without that toe being as functional as it once was. I am so relieved that everything worked out okay.

Thank you guys again for the help. I really appreciate it.

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:19 am

That's great news that you got him to a vet. It's far better that he lost a toe than a whole leg! It's a good thing you realized what was going on and took care of it.

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:32 pm

Oh excellent!!! I'm so glad you were able to get the hair off of his leg! He'll be fine - a LOT of my birds are missing toes (though as I gradually get rid of those darn wicker nests less will lose them!).

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:53 pm

Ack your birds lose toes in their nests? That's scary.

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:01 pm

I clip nails like crazy, and still end up with some getting stuck. I've only actually lost one hen from it (shock after I got her free), but several have lost toes. That even includes one of my zeb hens, who never gets long nails.