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I have been breeding cockatiels for about four years and have had a lot of pleasure with my birds and some sadness. I have sixteen cockatiels now and know and love every one of them. They all have names. I am breeding for beautifull colored babies, not for a profit.
Two of the babies hatched over the last four years have had spraddled legs. The first one now gets along with just a slight limp. I worked with her, exercising her legs, for over two months.
The second one is Toby. I wrote to you about him several months ago. He is crippled in both legs. He has grip but his feet are turned backwards. I took him to doctors and even wrote to several bird magazines for help. Finally I received a letter from the editor of the Watchbird which in summary said to just accept Toby the way he was - and I have.
Toby cannot walk but boy, can he fly.
He takes off and lands the way a plane does. When he lands he just drops his landing gear and comes in low. In his cage he has a towel that he sits on. He moves around on his belly and manuevers himself with his wings and beak. Of course I will never clip his
wings. We take long walks together, I walk and he flies. Toby can talk and can whistle anything I want him to learn. God gave him the gift of loving life as it is.
Toby had faith and trust in me and I have faith and trust in God. I thank God for Toby and I'm sure there are lots of Tobys out there. When I get home and see Toby crippled but whistling away, happy to see me, it gives me faith in life even on my most terrible days.
The above letter is the second one received from Karen and Toby. The first one arrived a few months ago and I intended to publish it along with my response. Well, folks, even the editor gets edited sometimes. My wife and our art director, Jean Hessler, vetoed my response. They thought I treated a sensitive subject a little to lightly. In view of the second letter (above) and Toby's excellent state of mind as well as some of my prophecies being fulfilled I have over-ridden the veto. The following is the first letter and my angina/ response.
Dear Editor,
HELP. Toby my cockatiel friend and I are asking for help, either information as to what more I can do for him or an excellent vet in the area.
I breed cockatiels and this particular cockatiel is 5 to 6 weeks old. I have hand fed him since 4 days old plus plenty of other babies with excellent results. The parents stopped feeding him because his legs were out to the sides, either because of lack of vitamin D or sat on too tight. He does not have rickets, beak is fine, perfect health, skin and feathers, sings happily, eyes are good and the legs are not overgrown.
To this day he cannot stand. He has an excellent grip with his feet. I have and am working with his legs, bending and turning little by little. I prop him up with a towel to keep legs bent. I have made progress, legs bend, feet out to side and the legs still fall out of socket. When in my hand with support his one leg is under him. He gets around very well, sad but true, on his belly and knee joints.
Normally, I would have a bird like this put to sleep but this is sure a rare case. You would think a bird like this would be sad, mopey, sickly.
He eats like a hound and also manuvers his way to the food dish and does eat on his own. I'm still hand feeding a little.
Help. What else can I do. There has to be something. I do pray. Toby is the strongest and cutest of all. I have been told _his face is the cutest they have seen. He has good coloring and is very alert, has picked up a whistle of mine, very intelligent.
I don't want to destroy my friend Toby and of course will keep him. I am not going to give up and Toby, by his eyes, is not giving up either.
Please respond. Thanks.