Solo: Macaw beak repair

Say ‘Hello’ to Solo, a beautiful military macaw.

This little guy first came into us after he was attacked by one of his cage mates and had his beak badly damaged.

He was promptly whisked into surgery where Dr Catherine sterilised the injured beak before elevating the indented parts, placing some initial sutures and some wires to help stabilise and restructure the remaining defects. He was started on pain relief and antibiotics, which his attentive owner continued at home once we were happy he was able to eat by himself.

Although he now has a slight deviation to his beak because of the injury, Solo has recovered very well from his ordeal and we are very happy with his progress.

He is growing nicely and is a happy, handsome, confident bird – who loves to come for a visit to see Dr Catherine to show off how well he is doing!

Most parrots will attack each other by biting at the beak or feet of their opponent, so unfortunately trauma to the beak and feet can be quite a common reason for parrots to come in to see us.

A lot of fights are mock battles with lots of sparring and no resulting injuries, but serious territorial fights (especially between sexually active birds) can result in more severe injuries.