# Kinda Urgent



## mericity (Apr 7, 2010)

I didnt want to prise myself as a person who gets to a problem when its urgent but..

This is a bit of a long shot, but I own 2 cockatiels, and have had them for about 7 years now. This morning I noticed that one of them (male) is constantly lifting his foot up and then down, like hes stamping. Its like a twitch or something, either one or the other, or both, but its become more regular sometimes in fact its every 10 seconds or so. I am very worried about this but we live far from any emergancy vets here in england!

Im worried because hes very sleepy and he puffs out his eyes get tired but then hes woken by his feet moving, meaning he cant get to sleep. when I put him on my hand he does stop, when hes scared or angry it doesnt affect him, but when he calms down it starts again


I was wondering what it could be, i've scowered the net for anything and couldnt find a thing. 

My parents have taken the stance that he is kinda getting old now anyways, and make excuses but Im very worried about him.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I've encountered something similar to this in the past. Find a vet that can do some fecal floats. What you want to ask them to check for is intestinal parasites or protozoa. Sometimes if a tiel has tapeworms or giardia this can happen in rare instances. the tiel can not sit still and is constantly lifting and tapping the foot to the perch. some tiels will even start to chew on the foot. If you have some aloe gel you can run some warm water from the faucet on his feet, blot dry, and put a thin coat of aloe gel on the foot. This is just a temporary releif.

Another cause could be an allergic reaction to a vitamin fortified diet. But there might also be some pluckin of the feathers also if this were the case.


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## mericity (Apr 7, 2010)

Thanks for the response, We havent changed their diet for a long time so I dont think its the allergic reaction 


Someone replied saying it may be a toxin. This would really make sense because my sister was stupidly oil painting in the next room so turpentine fumes were everywhere wouldnt have been any good for them.

Could this be the cause?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

No...you would be seeing respiratory distress and tail bobbing.


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