Thoughts on Stress & Feather Snipping
I just got back from a 6 day trip, and when Carly was younger she was so unfazed by me leaving that I seriously wondered if it mattered at all that I was gone. But since she started seasonal feather snipping at 3 years old she has also been snipping when under stress. Her seasonal snipping was reduced to almost nothing with the help of lots and lots of foraging (for most all her food) as well as lupron shots every 4-6 weeks during the spring. Since then her feathers have been growing back in nicely, with just a few exceptions, all of which are stress-related: me leaving town for a week (twice), and the death of another pet in the household.
This is her at her worst, after I was away for a week at the IAATE meeting in February; she stayed at Tex’s house with a pet sitter and did a lot of feather damage, both snipping and plucking.
Carly, 7 March 2009
The next snipping event occurred in mid-April, after she had stopped for about 6 weeks. It lasted 36 hours, starting the evening my vet came to the house to put my cat to sleep (after battle with lymphoma). This was such a short duration and intense bout of snipping it’s hard to see it as coincidental.
When Grace and Roelant visited at the beginning of June, many feathers had molted out and were starting to grow back in. That continued through July and into August.
Carly, 10 June 2009
She was a velcro bird when I was packing for my last trip, and for the first time gave me an enthusiastic greeting when I arrived home (instead of the cold shoulder). The snipping is not as bad as before on the belly, but she did crunch her upper wing feathers quite a lot.
Carly, 21 August 2009
During both trips she was with Piper, with lots and lots of foraging material. The latest trip she stayed at home, with familiar people taking care of her, and her snipping started the third day, immediately upon hearing me talk to her over speaker phone. (Note to self…. ) She had already been behaving oddly, including hanging upside down rubbing her back on the cage, even with the door open; something she’s never done in front of me.
Since I’ve been home she hasn’t touched a single feather except for normal preening, and is carefully de-sheathing some newly grown feathers.
It was nice back when she didn’t notice I was gone! I’m not sure what can be done to make these trips less stressful. Perhaps a few short overnighters to break the routine that every time I leave it’s for a week. But then when it gets to be day 3, day 4 on a longer trip…? I wonder if it’s possible to train an alternate behavior for stress relief.
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August 22nd, 2009 at 7:06 am
So how can you reduce stressors when you have to be gone? Leave her in your home perhaps instead of boarding? Have a good friend the bird knows come stay there? Have the friend do a familiar routine? Play a video of you? These are questions and not answers, what do you think?
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Hi Jim — I’ve just about run out of ideas for reducing stressors. This last trip they all stayed at home, they were taken care of by my two best friends, they were both staying for a couple hours each evening, she got the same food and foraging as when I’m here. And the snipping this time seemed to start right when Carly heard my voice over the phone. I think the best day was when Mel stayed overnight, played their recall games with them, and they were able to sleep in their usual place (outside cage). The familiar routine could perhaps be worked on; I’m not sure if Tex was doing the before-dinner recall routine. It would be asking a lot to have someone stay here all week (conflicts with little things like husbands, their own birds…)
Carly also has problems with Tex sometimes, for reasons unknown. At least that’s what we gather by her behavior of flying onto Tex’s head and trying to bite her scalp. :-p Usually she stops and makes friends after a couple days, but not this time. It might help that relationship if Tex does some training with her. She’s made friends with some of the more recalcitrant birds at NEI!
It’s funny because my other friend Melissa is not a bird person at all. But she rough-houses with Carly — ironically the thing good trainers try not to do. Her other favorite person is a guy from work who has zero bird experience and literally roughs her up like a dog. Piper hides behind my shoulder and growls at him!
Thanks for the brainstorming food.