My mother has an Eclectus whose feathers are ruffled and shedding.
He is 14 months old. He was checked for every disease that the special
bird vet could think of, including PBFD, and found negative. He has a
very good appetite, gets good food (strictly according to the
guidelines the vet gave), is in a very good mood, and has even started
to speak. Three months ago she took away from his cage and his
surroundings  everything made of metal, after a suggestion that this
could be the cause (zinc poisoning) but there is no improvement.
I must add that 2 years ago she had a COCKATOO in the same place and
he had similar symptoms.

What could be the cause of this ailment? What can we do to help him?
I should also mention that she has a few dogs (poodles) and a cat
(persian) - could this be a problem?

I will be happy to answer any clarification questions that you may
have. Let me know what other information may be relevant.

Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by arimathea-ga on 01 Apr 2003 06:21 PST

Was a blood panel done on the parrot?  What were the results?

My initial theory is psittacosis, but i'm still researching.

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Clarification of Question by vered-ga on 01 Apr 2003 06:44 PST

I am trying to reach my mom and get the info from her. Will get back to 
you as soon as I do (she is in a totally different time zone so it 
might take a bit).
Thanks for the quick response!

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Clarification of Question by vered-ga on 01 Apr 2003 12:35 PST

The parrot was checked for both PBFD and Chlamydia - both negative. He
was treated against intestenal and external parasites, although he had
none (just in case...).
Note (regarding the comment) that the feathers are shedding of
themselves, the parrot is not picking on them. We don't think it is
stress-related since he seems happy.

Howdy Vered!

There is always the possibility that stress is a factor.

According to the The Eclectus Society web page at:

http://www.eclectus.com/EE/ee4.html

Not only is feather plucking the most asked about subject, it can
be caused by "stress, boredom, or breeding frustration."

The author of the article, Dr. Lee Simmons also states:

"Although all of the books and articles tell you to get a complete
physical workup by a veterinarian, I have never heard of an actual
case where any medical reason for the plucking was found."

The above also has some suggestions on handling stress in Eclectus.

As to "I should also mention that she has a few dogs (poodles) and
a cat  (persian) - could this be a problem?"

FEATHER DESTRUCTION July/August WATCHBIRD By Carolyn Swicegood at:

http://www.landofvos.com/articles/feathers.html has:

"Add to this the stress of noisy children and other pets that could
represent potential predators to caged parrots ..."

Many more web sites that indicate stress, boredom, diet, etc.as the
potential source of the problem as well as various things that can be
tried to help with the problem, can be found with a Google search on
the keywords:

feathers stress parrots Eclectus

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=feathers+stress+parrots+Eclectus

Good luck with the parrot!

Looking Forward, denco