Emergency First Aid

If your bird is showing labored, open mouthed breathing:

• Check to make sure there isn’t anything obstructing the larynx at the base of the tongue. If there is an obstruction try to use a qtip to wipe the material away.
• If this is a sudden onset and no obstruction of the larynx, take your bird outdoors if possible in case this is an inhaled toxin. If the weather won’t permit going outdoors, take your bird into a new room, open a window, close the door and roll a towel up to put at the bottom of the door.
• If you have access to home oxygen, medical or welding, place your bird in a carrier or aquarium or large plastic tub and run oxygen into the container, covering most of the open areas to trap oxygen in the container.

If your bird is bleeding:

• From the mouth: most bleeding from the mouth is from a broken upper beak tip. Wrap your bird in a towel, hold the beak closed and press cautery powder, corn starch, or flour into the tip of the beak.
• From a toenail: Wrap your bird in a towel, hold the sides of the toe with gentle pressure to stop the bleeding. Wipe the blood off the nail.  Press cautery powder, corn starch, or flour into the broken tip or all over the nail bed if the toenail was ripped off.
• From a broken blood feather: Press cautery powder, corn starch or flour into the end of the broken blood feather. If you can’t get it to stop or if it starts again when you put your bird down, press on the wing or tail at the base of the bleeding feather with one hand and pull the broken feather out with a straight, firm tug with the other hand.  Apply pressure on the feather follicle if it starts to bleed.
• From a flesh wound: Do not apply cautery powder unless you absolutely have to. Apply hydrogen peroxide and gentle pressure on the wound.  If you can’t get the bleeding to stop, try corn starch or flour.  Only use cautery powder as a last resort to save your bird’s life.  Cautery powder will damage the surface tissue and make it harder for the wound to heal.

If your bird is severely lethargic and unable to perch:

• Warm your bird up by snuggling in a warm towel. Prepare a room or cage that is in the low 80’s.
• Give sugared water or Gatorade. Dissolve ¼ teaspoon sugar into 2 teaspoons of warm water and give one drop at a time orally as long as your bird can and will swallow the preceeding drop.