Lovebird, broken skin... itch?

Question
Hi Chris, You helped me once before when my Flori became strangely terrified of me. You diagnosed a hormonal problem and I'm very happy to say no further issues.
This is a new thing,... I notice under her right wing seems red and broken skin, although it does not seem to be bothering her,,, ie, appetite, mood, ect i noticed it 2 weeks ago when she stretches her wings, anyway i took her to a vet (not avian but a vet who claims has has bird / owl parrot knowledge) when he looked, by spreading her wing when i was holding her(i was not confident to look deeply myself at home, i was scared to hurt her) we saw a what i can only describe a a thin cut which looked rather angry.small blood on outside feathers.he said it was an injury???? Her other wing is absolutely fine. He told me she did not have mites and that to treat such a thing would only bring more attention to the wound and make it worse as she would take more attention to it thus making it worse. He said if the sore gets no better than the only thing would be for a collar to be attached to her neck, which stresses a bird out and only last drastic action. I was not happy with the visit, the nearest avian vet is 50 miles from me and that was why i took her to this guy (my dogs are registered with him) in the hope it would save me a journey if only a minor problem. as i say, she is still her cheeky self, into everything as usual but i do not want this to get infected thus endangering her life. Shall i drive the 50 miles or take his advice that it will probably clear up with no intervention? I don't wish to doubt his experience but i walked out of the surgery feeling sad that he had not managed to do anything for her there and then> Kind Regards and Happy New Year to you. Donna

Answer
Hi, Donna.  I'm glad your bird is doing better with her behavior.

I'm at a disadvantage here because I can't see the wound and/or know what might have caused it.  Is this truly a small cut under the wing...did you actually see the cut itself?  If so, it could have been caused by the bird itself picking at an itch or a new feather coming in.  However, with blood on the outside feathers, could this possibly be a broken blood feather?  A broken blood feather would bleed now and then if not pulled out...wondering if this might be the blood you have seen (that might also be under the wing possibly making one believe there was an injury underneath).  Your bird could have also injured itself in it's cage on one of it's toys or if you allow your bird outside it's cage, it could have gotten injured on just about anything.

An Elizabethian collar would be a last resort...the vet is right there!  These collars are primarily used when a bird self-mutilates so badly there's a need to keep the bird from reaching any part of it's body.  I agree that you don't want infection to set in, so you need to keep the wound clean and dry until it heals.  However, if the injury is under the wing, it's already fairly well protected from germs/dirt just by it's location.  If the bird is picking at it all the time and making it bleed/it's getting worse, then you'll most likely need to wrap vet wrap around the bird's body (vet wrap is a bandage that sticks to itself and is good to use with animals with feathers/fur).  Also, I use New Skin, which is a type of liquid bandage that works well with parrots.  How you handle this depends on the bird's behavior with the injury and how extensive the injury is.  If she doesn't seem to know it's there and isn't showing any signs of stress, pain, etc., this is great!  It might take some time, however, for the injury to go away based on it's location under the wing.

My avian vet is 90 miles one way, but I still take my birds there when they need to go.  A cat/dog vet doesn't have the education/knowledge to deal with aves.  Avian vets have several years specialized education/training just in aves, whereas cat/dog vets don't.  

It will most likely heal up on it's own.  However, you need to check the site regularly to see how it's healing.  Don't be afraid to spread your bird's wing in order to look at the area...just be careful and gentle (you might just need to lift the wing to see it).  Your bird may not want you to look, but you need to anyhow.

Let me know how things are going.

Happy New Year to you, too.  Thanks.

Chrys