# Nostril Hole Closing?



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

One of Kiwi's nostril holes are closing, it's the one on the right side of her face. I'm worried that her injury is what has caused the nose hole to close because she can no longer pick her nose on that side. When Cockatiels pick their nose does it help open up their nostrils? I'm thinking it is because she can't pick her nose that the nostril hole is closing. It's not too bad of a problem yet, but it is noticeably smaller than the other nostril right now. 
There is no discoloration, it is a little flaky around the nares because of the dry weather right now. If she sneezes, it is a dry sneeze or a clear mist. She did have a little dust in it, but sneezed that out on my face when I looked! :lol:

Is there a tool I can get to help maybe gently scrape the outside of her nostril to help her keep it clean and open? I'm not worried about the inside because I've seen her sneeze or wash everything out just fine. 


Additional Information: After Kiwi's injury took away one of her toes she hasn't been able to pick her nare on the right side of her face. She used the claw on the toe that fell off to pick her nare and clean it out. She can't get her leg up high enough to use the other claw on her toe to clean her nare out... so she attempts to use the stump of the toe that is left. She will sneeze when she does this, but it doesn't work very well for cleaning out her nose.


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Try giving her a good bath. And by "good", I mean get her soaked. Maybe take her in the shower with you and let her under the water. It's what I do when Rocko's nostrils get gross.


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

I am sorry that I can't help you. You can look up on the internet to get information.


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## Arun (Nov 27, 2014)

"Is there a tool I can get to help maybe gently scrape the outside of her nostril to help her keep it clean and open?"

My vet had once suggested to use water-moistened ear-buds to gently clean the nostrils from the outside. According to him, this would soften any hard debris and also encourage them to sneeze it out.


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## Jaguar (Jul 11, 2014)

Phoenix's nose had some pretty gross impacted boogers a while back - I cleaned it out myself, using this video as a reference for technique 





 (all of this vet's videos are great)


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Thank you for the information everyone! I gave Kiwi a nice long bath today and got her really soaked. She took it very well when she was wrapped up in a blanket. After lots of scritches she finally let me touch her nostrils. I tried to use my fingernail to scrape a little of bit of the feather dust she had accumulated around the nostril. Her nose was actually pretty soft and flexible so I tried to gently open her nose up a little as well. I don't think I opened it up much, but her nose is kind of like a cross between a beak and a cuticle so I'll keep trying. The I took a Q-tip with water and tried to get the rest of the feather dust off.
Her little ear holes look kind of dry too. The one on her injured side looks like it's got some flaky skin coming off a little. I'll have to watch the ear too now I think. :/

Thank you for the video Jaguar! It kind of looks like the tool he used was the end of a sewing needle with a little metal square rounded on it. Maybe I can find out what it is on Google.


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