Hopalong Cagney

20120405_133322 — Cagney holding his right foot up slightly

Yesterday morning, when I woke Atilla & the toyboys up, I was alarmed to see Cagney stumbling about.

When I stopped to observe him, I could see he was struggling to put weight on his right leg. It did not look red or swollen. However, he was not able to stretch his left wing out as that would mean having to balance on his right leg to allow his left leg to stretch out behind him. When walking along the perch he limped.

He seemed in good spirits though. Atilla was still “in bed” (on the bedtime swing) & in fact, got up much later than usual but Cagney still managed to supply her with breakfast in bed…. several times. When she finally got up, Cagney managed to persuade her to partake in some hanky-panky, so his dodgy leg was clearly not holding him back in that department.

By chance, I was not able to let them out for a fly during the day which I think was a good thing as it gave Cagney a chance to rest his leg. Whenever sat still on the perch (not that often, to be honest….) he would hold his right foot up.

20120405_105526 — Hanky-panky still possible

Early evening, they were let out & Cagney had a good fly around as usual. He seemed to be landing without any problems, but was still holding his foot up & limping when walking along. When he sat on my finger, I could feel him resting his right foot lightly on my finger. It certainly was not gripping tightly like his left foot. More rest needed, I thought.

An early night was in order, so I locked them up fairly early. At one point, when I came out the kitchen, Cagney was on the platform perch, looking at me with a pleading & slightly panicky look in his eyes. I opened up the Manor door & he came out & did about 8 or 9 mad laps of the room & went back in again. Clearly, he was not quite ready to be locked up for bed.

To me, it looks like Cagney has fallen or landed awkwardly on his foot & has sprained it. Something similar happened to Raspy & after a few days she was fine. Hopefully Cagney will be back to normal soon.