# Bruised leg... :/



## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Hi all !

This morning, when we let our male cockatiel fly around the room, we noticed him avoiding to stand oh both feet. He was constantly trying to keep his left foot elevated, and then I saw why... there's a bruise on it. He's also limping when he walks.

Here are a few pics : https://postimg.org/gallery/gamw3lcq/3b8a8c31/

Not sure what to make of it... or what to do. That thing wasn't there yesterday, as far as I know. It doesn't prevent him from carrying on with his usual activities, though - for example, he likes to get down to the keyboard tray and pick at the keyboard and the wood on the desk and such...

Any help regarding what I should do would be appreciated. Keep in mind that we would like to leave the visit to the vet as a last resort - as it's somewhat difficult to get to one (plus, there are time constraints  ).


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

A bruise will heal on its own in a few days, and there's not really anything we can do to speed it up. As long as he can still eat, drink and sleep he'll be OK. If you think it's possible that the foot might actually be broken instead of just bruised, it would be best to see a vet.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Thank you for chiming in, Tielfan!

Well... we did leave him out for quite a while today. As I previously said, his wound didn't appear to interfere with his usual activities - picking at stuff, landing on my girlfriend's head (he loves her curly hair, guess he thinks of it as a nest, lol), avoiding me during flight (and landing on my girlfriend's head instead), flying from one furniture to another... hanging out on the ceiling fan...

Although he seemed to be in pain (limping leg - he was kinda skipping, if that's the word, during walks), he carried on doing whatever. I would assume that if the leg was broken, he would rather sit on his belly instead of fooling around as usual.

We tried to help him by putting him on me, as I was laying in bed, or the bed sheets, but he didn't seem to want to stand on his belly / on something soft at all.

I guess we'll have to wait & see how things go...


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

He's been getting better! Day by day, the bruise was smaller. Today, he could sit on both feet again - but it is obvious that he doesn't have a 100% grip on the sticks inside the cage yet. He'll be fully recovered by Tuesday, I guess.

Still, the root cause is... unknown. Hope it doesn't happen again, though.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Glad he's doing better! Bruises are such a pain, both literally and figuratively


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