HiWe bought a young cockatiel...

Question
Hi

We bought a young cockatiel the other day, we already have one existing cockatiel and a budgie. We bought the second one because the pet store advertised him as not being able to fly from birth. My wife immediately fell in love with Jasper.

My question is, a couple of days ago we returned home to find a long trail of droppings hanging from his bottom. It was about 1 inch long. We removed the droppings from Jasper and the problem has not happened again.

Do we need to take him to see a vet, what could be the problem.

Thanks

Answer
Hi,

I would definitely recommend a vet check for Jasper. The droppings are concerning me as much as the fact that he can't fly. Did the Pet store have him checked out by a vet prior to selling him?  Did they say why he couldn't fly? (wing fracture... injury? etc...)

Also, it is highly recommended to get any new bird an exam with a qualified avian vet (*especially* if the bird was purchased from a pet store!)  

You can locate an avian vet near you at either of these websites:

www.aav.org

or

http://www.parrotpro.com/avianlst.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie