More Feathers and More Healing!

Ollie's dislocated knee has been steadily healing and he can now perch higher off the cage bottom, grasp with his left foot and also climb up the metal gate.  When he reaches the top, however, he is still a bit unsteady so it is crucial he is supervised at all times whenever he is having "floor time" with his toys.  Because he wants to climb onto his toy drawer and then jump back off to the floor, we always have a rubber mat beneath the open drawer whenever he is out playing.  And whenever we bring him from one location to another via human hand transport, we always place a thumb over his good foot to keep him from accidentally getting startled and instinctively leaping off. Re-injury is easy at this stage so the key is to anticipate anything and everything and prevent it.

Ollie's feathers have also been growing well this spring and coming in relatively undamaged.  We aren't sure why there has been so little feather damage but it might be from the fact he is more confined and cannot damage feathers while climbing about OR the feathers are just healthier because of all the dense nutrition we have been giving him to heal his injury.  Regardless, having all these great feathers on his wings and tail will give him better balance and reduce his chances of simply crashing to the ground (which is basically what caused the accident).

Patience is also crucial.  Since he is now used to the small dog crate for eating his meals and "hanging" with me when I'm in the computer office working on art files in Photoshop (which totally mesmerizes and entertains him for hours), I'm hoping he can be content watching me work on craft projects over the next few weeks from the confines of that cage instead of from his usual spot on a small (but wobbly) portable perch which I normally move from tight spot to tight spot as I move around the craft room doing my "mad scientist" creative frenzy.  There is usually nowhere to place a larger perch since creative frenzy also means all available space quickly turns into total chaos.

Time will tell.

As always, feel free to leave a comment!