Hi. My baby african grey is 7 months old. Since last month she has been developing reddish claws on the right leg which has got the breeders metal ring. After applying homeopathic medicines(Hypericum, Calendula, Ecchanecea) and observing her over a week there hasn't been any significant change. The vet is now advising me to get the ring removed, assuming that's the cause of infection. To avoid trauma to the bird, he suggested to inject Ketamine and anesthetize the bird and use blades/cutters to remove that thick ring. Its a helpless situation as the bird is not showing any signs of improvement after applying those creams. Except for the colour change in the claw, the baby is quite active and playful. Eats and sleeps most of the time. What should i do? Should i go ahead and get the damn ring out?? Are there any contra-indications for Anaesthesia? Please advice.

Any anethstesia can be dangerouse...My avian vet wanted to remove my conure's leg band -she said it would cost us about $12. They weren't going to anesthesize him though... ask if theres any way that you could do it without the anethstesia - I don't think it would be that stressful for the bird to be toweled for a minute or two, and held by one person, while the other goes and snips the band -an unnescesary risk for a simple procedure.

To just remove a leg band you don't have to knock out the bird, regardless of the size of bird or band (unless it's too small and has actually grown into the leg and needs to be surgically removed). You need one person to gently hold the bird, probably in a towel to control them, and another to very easily, and quickly clip the band off. Giving birds anesthetic is tricky, and usually only used when absolutely necessary.Is it an allergic reaction or is the band too tight? Is it just the claw as you said or the entire foot? If it were just the claw, I have great doubts that the band has anything to do with the problem, if it were allergic to the band it would have showed up before the bird was already 7 months old, and would be the entire leg, not one claw. Also if the band were too tight you'd see a great deal of discomfort in the leg and it would be the entire foot below the band being affected.Were the creams your idea, or the vets? It doesn't sound like a normal avian vets course of treatment, especially since birds can be very fragile with medical conditions and you usually want to fix things right away, rather than wait a week and see what happens....Did the vet look at the claw to see if there was any damage or something stuck on it?I honestly would go to a different vet and see what they said. Something just doesn't sound right there, unless I'm not getting what you've typed right.

Bands can cause all kinds of foot problems in birds and removing it is a good idea. Is your vet and avian vet? Is he board certified? I question his use of Ketamine. The following is from Avian Medicine Principles and Application."General anesthesia is typically associated with atime-related and progressive decrease in heart rateand a corresponding decrease in blood pressure.Methoxyflurane and halothane are both cardiac depressantsthat sensitize the heart to catecholamines.Halothane, methoxyflurane and ketamine have beenreported to cause a decrease in heart rate in some birds and an increase in heart rate in others.1,37 Xylazine, acepromazine and hypothermiahave all been associated withbradycardia. Atropine can be used to increasethe heart rate.""It is generally recommended toanesthetize a bird with isoflurane to ensure that aband is safely removed. This prevents the bird fromsuddenly moving during the band removal process,which can result in lacerations or fractures of the legdepending on the type of removal device used. Inremoving any band, it is important that forces beapplied to the band itself; pressure must not be appliedfrom any direction to the leg."African Greys have been known to have problems with low blood calcium. I would suggest getting blood chemistry run before your bird is anesthetize. Anesthesia can cause heart complications in birds with low blood calcium. However, this is not frequent in birds that are under for a short period of time. Band removal should not take very long.If it were my bird I would feel better with a different vet.

I have mild eczema on my face, more obvious on my cheeks. The kind that is pinkish-red patchy flat rash.I'd like to know can using moisturizer alone clear off the pinkish-red patchy flat rash? Because I really, really don't want to use hydrocortisone cream or any other steroid creams anymore, people who have eczema will know why. :(Also, I came across this site that has reviews on this cream called,"California Baby Calendula Cream"international.drugstore.com/products/pro...amp;tab=1#1It's rated 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 44 users and their reviews on this product. 90% of them commented that the cream cleared off rash problems like cradle crap, eczema rash on face etc. Even some adults commented that they have facial eczema rash, perioral dermatitis, dry skin etc used this product and has worked wonders in healing their skin.The other 10% said it made it worse.I also don't want to use moisturizer cream that contains petroleum, mineral oil, or paraffin, I had bad experience from those stupid ingredients. That's why now I'm thinking if I should try leaning to the natural side like California Baby's product. Has anyone of you tried the product?To Jude's Mama,The one you were referring is it this?www.internatural.com/ingr/ingr830108.cfmJust to reconfirm, thank you!To Melissa G,I've tried using Cetaphil Moisturizer Cream for one week and it gave me little white bumps. Later, I found the reason was because it contains mineral oil!To dueinjuly,I'm very hesitate to use Eucerin cream, because it has petroleum. Petroleum and Mineral oil comes from the same family, so as White Paraffin or anything named Paraffin.