# Peculiar full body spasms - any ideas?



## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

Hi,

Two weekends ago I acquired a lovely hand tame cockatiel that my girlfriend has named Pitri. Things are generally great and she appears to lead a happy existence, but we are getting very concerned, almost daily (13 of the past 16 days) she has a few episodes where her whole body spasms in some way.

It's hard to convey what I mean exactly: to me it looks like something is biting into her spine and whatever it is, it does scare her. Follow the youtube link for a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YyIWROQ3M&feature=youtu.be

In the video she does it twice (once at the beginning, once at the end). It's a real problem: providing she is on your shoulder she can be comforted, but if she is on her cage, she launches into the air in fear of what is happening. If it then happens mid-flight her trajectory changes dramatically and sometimes dangerously.

Here's all I've been able to discern about it:

I hardly see it happen in her cage. If it does it's far less exagerated or I miss it altogether.
She tends to do it a lot in her first flight of the day. Later in the day it's quite rare.
I can't find any source of poisoning. We thought it may be an air freshener but we've completely removed them, and she is a long way from the kitchen.
There's no source of metal poisoning we are aware of.
The breeder was a very good and caring one. She hasn't seen this behaviour while rearing her. Although obviously we took her at the the earliest opportunity where it would be responsible to.
It happens in silence, and with the curtains closed, so it isn't anything visual or audible that trigers it.
She seems to sleep well, from 11pm to 10am on average.
Her diet is good.

Has anybody else ever seen anything like this? Or have any idea what it may be? A trip to the avian vet will be in order this week I think but I'm already sceptical about the level of help this may provide.

Best regards,
Matt


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I can't be certain, but to me it looks like she's getting spooked by something. Even though you said it's silent and the curtains are closed, she may be seeing or hearing things that you can't. They are very sensitive that way, and it would make sense for her to be on edge since she is still adjusting to her new environment. 

Since she is a new bird and youre concerned, I agree that a vet visit is a good idea. I suppose it is possible that there could be a congenital neurological problem, or she could have stress-induced seizures, but the video doesn't immediately strike me as anything abnormal. To me she looks like a typical young tiel who can't balance very well yet and is getting startled by something.


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## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks Enigma, that's really interesting, and of course plausible. I shall pay extra care to the sound in future. Maybe the silence that I perceive as silence isn't quite silent from her perspective, it is true that a main road passes by the house and some motors do seem to alarm her. I'll do what I can to make sure that her next morning flight is very quiet.

My girlfriend would stress that Pitri appears to get scared of what is happening: not that she is doing this because she is scared. Of course, it's hard to tell, as both actions may be simultaneous. We will be moving house away from a busy road in a few weeks anyway, maybe the quietness will help.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Actually, my birds often seem calmer if there is some level of background noise, like the TV on. I think when it's totally silent in the room, it triggers their prey animal instincts to listen for every little subtle noise, and road noise certainly could do that. It may even be that you're so adapted to it at this point that you don't notice it. 

As far as her getting scared of what's happening, in the video it looks to me like she gets spooked and then loses her balance a bit. That may be what you're seeing. I have one bird who has some motor skill problems who will get in a vicious cycle where she gets startled, flaps her wings as a result, and then gets more and more off balance as a result of flapping her wings. 

What strikes me about the video is that although she does seem put off by whatever is happening, she doesn't really seem to lose control of her body for any significant period of time. I find it hard to believe that a bird having a real seizure would be able to remain perched and go back to preening just a few seconds later. Usually with neurological problems, there's a loss of ability to perch or grip with their feet. 

Of course, I'm not a vet and you know her much better than I do. I do think you still need to get her checked out at the vet, just to be sure. Another thing you can do is get a gram scale and monitor her weight. Because birds are prey animals, they hide symptoms of illness extremely well. Weight loss is often one of the earliest and best indicators of health problems in birds, so if you think there's something going on with her, then monitoring her weight is a very good idea.


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## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

That's reassuring thank you.

We like to leave classical music on just to relax her but I tend to turn it off when she comes out for fear that it may worry her and upset her.

Obviously our greatest fear was a neurological problem. The thoughts had cross our mind of a trapped nerve or something similar but it's been going on for long enough without really easing off or getting worse, that this seemed unlikely.

I'll keep an eye on her. And we'll see what the vet says when we go. I'll also follow up your advice and monitor her weight. Thank you.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Okay..first she looks a little spooked, then she begins "bat-birding" on your shoulder, and then the rest just looks like she is still a little fearful of the new environment.

Bat-birding is when she flings her wings completely up and throws her head down..it is just a form of claiming whatever they're sitting on. She is saying "this shoulder is awesome and it is mine." But since she seems spooked aside from that, it may be the only part of the environment that she is comfortable with at this point.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

my tiels do this too---when theyre _suddenly_ spooked. if something flies by the window they do this and sometimes they fly off. its just theyre kinda not sure if they should fly away or stay put, so they kinda do both. its what they do if something spooks them quick. also bat bird 

shes fine  just something is spooking her (most likely from outside that you cant see that she can if you dont know what)


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Adding a little static noise to her environment may help her. Birds are prey animals and usually when, in the wild, there is no noise and everyone stops their chattering it means look out and be on your watch, somebody sees or hears danger. Adding some noise or soft music would help calm her a bit.


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## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks so much for all these reassurances that she is just being spooked. I've read them out to my girlfriend (she's ill in bed) and we're both feelng a lot happier about things.

We were beginning to worry that something really wrong was going on with her, and we'd been going out of our way to make the house as odourless as possible for fear that something she could smell was upsettng her.

We'll try making the environment more peaceful for her and seeing what improvement we get.

Thanks again, from all 3 of us,

Matt


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It's still a good idea to avoid using things like air fresheners or scented cleaners around her, because even though it's not related to what's going on now, it can put a strain on her respiratory system and make her more vulnerable to illness later. It sounds like you and your girlfriend are doing a great job learning about her needs, and I hope you'll stick around the forum.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It mostly looks like nervousness to me. The part where she suddenly "attacks" herself under the wing is the part that gives me the most concern. If she does this frequently she might have some kind of irritation or infection under there, so you might want to check the condition of her "wingpit" and consult a vet if it seems necessary. But it's very possible that she simply had an ordinary itch, and took care of it in an unusually aggressive way because she was nervous.


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## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks Enigma, we are going to continue keeping any odours to a minimum so air freshners included. We'll keep looking after her well.

Tielfan, I'll keep an eye on this. I don't think it's terribly common that she attacks herself like that, so it was probably a coinciding itch, particular as she is preening herself a lot around the 'episodes'. Will let you now.

So far she's been out, we have the windows shut and some classical music on. So far fine, asside from when I passed with my laptop and she must have felt threatened by it and reacted to it. But otherwise she's doing well so far.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

I believe eyeryone has answered your questions but I just wanted to say she is beautiful and I also hope you stick around the forum so we can see and hear more about your pretty girl


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## Sweetcheek (May 21, 2012)

If she seems to spook at something from one direction check if there isn't a reflection being thrown by something. I had something similar happen with my pet Corella all of a sudden flipping out for no apparent reason and it turned out that one of my children had left a CD sitting out upside down and the light was casting a slight (barely noticeable) reflection and it was freaking her out. 

Best of luck with her, she is beautiful!


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

You'll also probably notice that from your view when she's with you sometimes she will appear to be sleeping, but she'll have the eye not facing you open since she isn't comfortable yet with the environment. I always thought it was interesting when they did that.


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## mrdodo (Jul 2, 2012)

Thanks all for your help. You've put us at a bit more ease 

I have noticed that reflections off the cars coming in through the window upset her a little actually. Reflections will be another thing I will keep an eye out for, thanks!

And yes, we had noticed that she can appear to sleep with one side of her face but be intently watching for danger with the other! I thought it was also interesting to see! 

Thanks for all your kind words and help, I'm sure me and my girlfriend will be back in touch!


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## Philiko (May 16, 2012)

I have seen Philiko have the sort of spasms shown in the video before... he only ever has them when I take him out into another room. It is a large room, and there are lots of windows and sunlight, so I assumed he did it because he didn't feel safe.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Philiko said:


> I have seen Philiko have the sort of spasms shown in the video before... he only ever has them when I take him out into another room. It is a large room, and there are lots of windows and sunlight, so I assumed he did it because he didn't feel safe.


Yeah, it's pretty typical spooked behavior. Roo does it a lot in response to noises from the apartments below and beside mine, and she even falls off her perches as part of the reaction, because of her motor problems.


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## flyboy (Nov 22, 2011)

It could be her reaction to the silence. In the wild silince and darkness means that there is a predator aproaching and that = danger. Try leaving on some soft music when you are with her and shes out of her cage. I always leave soft music playing for my tiel and it seems to comfort him. when we are trying to have some quiet tim he seems to kind of cry when it's off too long.


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