FINCHforum

So a few hours ago I went to check on my Zebra finches ( who both live in their own cages ) and found that one of them had apparently been bleeding all over her perches. I wouldn't say profusely, but there's specks and splatters in many places on all of her perches. Obviously she cut herself on something but I don't know what or how. She seems perfectly fine right now, acting as she normally does. Bouncing, peeping, and just otherwise being a cheerful little bird.

I couldn't really identify where she cut herself or how bad it was, but judging by her attitude and the fact that she's not in any apparent pain or still bleeding, I think she'll be okay. My best guess is that it happened on her foot, because when I went to check on her I noticed that out of the few places she had blood on her, it looked freshest on her left foot. It was also on her chest/underside and the tip of her beak, but this looked only like dried stains, probably from scratching and preening herself.

After inspecting their cages and finding nothing that could have possibly hurt them I was just left clueless as to what on earth happened and was hoping that somebody could help enlighten me. I hope this was only just an accident and not signs of something worse, but that's why I'm asking you guys, because better safe than sorry, and I would like to prevent this from happening in the future. I did a quick check on Google and saw a post on this forum about another person who had a Zebra Finch with a bleeding foot and they suspected it may have been from standing/walking on dried crusty poop. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Her cage is due for a cleaning and there's a small mound of old crusty poop that I removed just now. So other than this, I've got nothing to go on. All of their perches are very smooth as well as everything else placed in the cage and the cage itself. I don't suppose she could have caused the bleeding on her own, but I doubt it.

So if anyone has any ideas, please let me know what you think. Bottom line is that she's fine now, but I'm still worried something may happen again, and just painfully curious about what caused it in the first place.

Did you check her nails carefully. My dad had a canary which must've caught her nail on something and ripped it out. She had blood drops everywhere and on her chest (from holding her foot up) and on her beak from grooming the nail. It was a little difficult to notice because the nail pulled out but the center nerve remained so it looked like the nail was still there.

I didn't look very closely at her nail. It's hard to know what to look for since I'm still pretty new to owning birds - in fact it's hard to inspect it in general because it's so small.

Unfortunately I woke up this morning to find her having a hard time standing on her foot now, so it's obviously irritated or in pain. She can still move around, eat, perch, etc - it's just that half the time she doesn't stand on both feet. I have no idea if this could be signs of something worse or if she's just a little beat up from whatever happened yesterday. I'm going to be out all day today and I have to leave her alone, so unfortunately I can't look after her and I have nobody else that can. I'll just have to hope she can tough it out for today, and tomorrow I'll probably take her to the vet unless someone here is confident they know what the problem is.

For now I'll leave a bunch of paper towels on the floor for her to have a soft place to lay down if she needs it.

Does she have a band on her leg? If so, move the band a bit to see if there is damage underneath
Ive had birds get the bands stuck between the bars where the sides meet the bottom of the cage. She could have also done the same without a band and just got her leg stuck in an odd spot.

Do you have a metal cuttle bone holder?

That metal can be very sharp.

Sorry to hear she's unwell. I hope she heals up without problem.
I always get worried when I hear about foot injuries as those feet can get into trouble in terms of bacteria and infections.

If she's clearly favoring the foot, there's a good chance it's on the bottom of her foot if it's not a toenail.

I just got her back from the vet a little while ago. It sounds like the reason she was bleeding was from some twine she had wrapped around her foot a few days back. I had given both of them some material to nest with and she ended up getting it wrapped around her foot for about a day until I was able to get a hold of her and carefully remove it with the help of my dad. The vet thinks that it cut off her circulation and cut into her foot.

It sounds like she'll be okay though, pretty healthy otherwise and nothing alarming to report. The only concern is if her toe worsens and gets darker or the darkened area spreads, so I'll have to keep a close on eye on that. If it does spread, he may have to amputate her toe. So hopefully it heals. It doesn't sound like I can do much for her right now other than let her be and try not to stress her out with too much attention.

I'm relieved to hear it's not anything worse.

Also to answer your questions, yes Finchaholic they both have bands on their legs, but hers was removed today at the vet.
And no MiaCarter I don't keep the cuttlebone holders on the cuttlebones, I just simply wedge them in between the bars of the cage in a corner and they stay put just fine. It didn't even occur to me that those could be a problem though so thanks for the heads up. And thanks everyone for the support and suggestions.