Ask Lafeber

Parrotlet feathers – Dr. Lamb Webinar Feb 10

Our parrolet has had terrible looking feathers since we got her. She begins to grow normal feathers but then they become jagged and just fall off. She also has a lot of down feathers at times . She is on conditioning food as an additive to her normal food and daily vitamins but nothing seems to help her. She also has daily fruits and vegetables. We just don’t know what else to try. She is 4 years old.

Has she had blood work or infectious disease testing? You can also test her for heavy metal toxins like lead and zinc as these can sometimes cause feather changes. Radiographs could be helpful and you even could consider a biopsy of a feather follicle to see if there is anything abnormal found. There are various tests that can be run to see if you can identify a cause.

Dr. Stephanie Lamb