Poorly feathered friend!

[ClockworkOrange]

I think we need another Forum, just for Pets?

I remember somebody made a comment who has a very poorly dog "Why is it so hard when our four legged friends are sick???"

That said, even two legged birds are a worry.........and no comments about four legged birds!

A few years ago, I adopted a budgie that somebody found in their garden, I had this little chap for quite a few years, while I was on holiday he unfortunately left to go to the big aviary in the sky!

My son thought it would be a good idea to replace him, so, I have yet another little feathered friend! My Bluey is now over 9 years old, not in very good health as he has ONLY ever eaten bird seed and occasionally millet as a treat. My previous two budgies would eat most things, would even roll about on lettuce that was soaking wet on the bottom of their cage, oh yes and loved grapes and crisps.

Consequently, he is seriously lacking in vitamins and nutrients, his body weight is is extremely low, he has a fatty lump in his chest, which makes him lean to the side causing his left foot not grip his perch properly.

A few weeks ago, his eye was extremely sore and inflamed, my lovely vet who happens to be a bird specialist, gave him some antibiotics and special liquid medicine to go into his water, that would make up for the lack of nutrients and vitamins. That cost $45 including the consultation.

He started making a really good recovery, even the feathers on top of his little head started sprouting, until one or two near his eye grew much too long and started him rubbing his eye. Christmas Day his eye had totally closed up, so today it was off to the vets.

Phew, thought the vet was going to tell me the worst but no, after just bathing it, he is much better. So, fingers crossed, he is on the mend.

Makes me feel so sad, when he is not well. :(

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/3141821313_509396c153_m.jpg Yes, one tatty little budgie. :rolleyes:

Excuse bad quality of pic, only taken a snip off a video clip.

Clock

[bmccasland]

It's always hard when our pets get to ailing. I just want to know how they manage to do it on a friday afternoon or a holiday?

How come Bluey won't eat other things? Silly boy, he's supposed to!

Hope he gets to feeling better.

[andtckrtoo]

Hope he's on the mend now!! He's a cutie!!

[Zen]

Poor little Bluey.

I've had a few birds through the years, even one who laid eggs! Of course nothing came of it.
It doesn't matter whether they're furred, feathered, or scaled, they all bring us comfort and calm just to be with them.

[bambu101]

Keep trying to offer him greens and veggies. Sometimes they can take a few months to try something new. Most budgies don't care for fruit, but like greens such as spinach, chunks of corn on the cob, celery, carrots, etc. Mine like cooked cous-cous and quinoa, and crumbled up corn muffin or bread.

Bless you for taking Bluey into your home, and hopefully he will be feeling better soon.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

This may seem like a silly question, but- is your bird getting any GRIT (bird gravel) and calcium in his diet?
If your bird does not have access to bird grit (sized correctly for parakeets and canaries) then he will not be able to properly digest his food in order to extract all the nutrients from it. Eventually, with no grit at all to help seed eating birds grind up the seeds in their gizzard, they will die of malnutrition despite having plenty of birdseed. Putting a cuttlefish bone in the cage will also give him calcium and other minerals he might need. But I trust you have been providing grit on the floor of his cage?
http://freespace.virgin.net/dr.joinery/Basic%20Requirements.htm#Grit
http://www.allsands.com/pets/parakeetcarepe_raz_gn.htm

[Blueberry]

((((Clockwork and Bluey)))))))

All pets share in our lives, bring us joy, and, yes, finally sadness. But they're ALL worth it!

Here's hoping Bluey is feeling much better soon!!

[OakLeaf]

(((((Clock & Bluey)))))

Hoping he feels much better soon.

[Pax]

What a sweet little budgie! Looks like the little girl I had when I was a child, her name was Flower.

[jesvetmed]

CWO: Well, I don't know a lot about birds as a whole. However, I do know that nutrition is KEY for them! So whatever you and your vet can come up with to get the best nutrition into Bluey is going to be the best thing you can do.

He is such a cute little guy! Hope he is feeling better soon. :)

[TsPoet]

This may seem like a silly question, but- is your bird getting any GRIT (bird gravel) and calcium in his diet?

http://freespace.virgin.net/dr.joinery/Basic%20Requirements.htm#Grit
http://www.allsands.com/pets/parakeetcarepe_raz_gn.htm

I've had budgies for more than 30 years. Got my first one when I was about 9. This was true back then, but not now :confused:
Actually, I think they now say that no bird should have grit. Budgies especially don't need it and shouldn't be given it.
http://www.upatsix.com/fyi/doesyour.htm
a cuttlefish bone, on the other hand, is still recommended.

http://www.upatsix.com/faq/budgie.htm#12

up at six is a terrific site for bird info.
If Bluey is 9, than you've been doing great with him. 30 years ago, budgies lived to be in their teens, now they live to, on average, 8 years! :mad: Budgies are the most tumor-prone creatures on the planet. Their small size and perception of them as easy to maintain along with their proclivity to breed have made them inexpensive and the aviculture on them has not been kept up like it should have been.
I now only have rescue budgies that aren't really pets, I have a big flight cage for them and people seem to find me when they no longer are interested in their caged companion. I wish more folks would take the time to tame them, they are wonderful little clowns with huge hearts and make great friends.
Good luck with Bluey. Another thing you might try offering him is parsley (not cilantro), parsley doesn't have a whole lot in it, but budgies seem to really love it and it might get him used to other greens. There's nothing wrong with cilantro as far as I know, but I've never known a budgie who liked it :rolleyes:

[ClockworkOrange]

Thanks everybody, who has offered all the good advice and the well wishers.

Bluey has all the usual items in his cage, iodine block, cuttle fish, grit in a separate container plus toys. His only treat is an occasional sprig of millet and even that, he will only eat the type bought lose from the pet shop, if it is pre-packed in a box, he won't touch it, neither will he go near any of the seed bells etc. I can only imagine somebody previously must have beaten him with a sprig of millet, hence he is nervous of it............no, only joking.

I have never heard of cilantro, just checked it out on the internet and discovered it is coriander leaves. I will persevere with parsley, if nothing else it will give him fresh smelling breath.....:D

Digressing. Many years ago, I had a beautiful Beagle b1tch, Snoopy and she was the runt of the litter. Consequently, when we had her mated, we had to have her mated with an American Beagle, called Washington Post aka Smartie. The poor little love needed a caesarian and only produced two puppies. We kept the b1tch and the pair of them became inseparable. When Snoopy died, Bimbo pined, in fact I thought she was going to die. It was awful, she would not eat, if I went to pick her up, she would cry. Suffice to say, she got over it. I broke my heart when she died, it was also at the time I was going through my divorce and I use to tell her everything.

I then had to work full time and also move house, so it was not fair to have another dog. That was when I adopted the first orphaned budgie and back to the beginning of my little story.

So far so good, his eye looks much better than yesterday. Tomorrow is Monday and I will take him back to the vet just for a check over.

Clock http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3145716824_a8962e52f8_o.gif

............giggles, the site won't allow me to use the word b1tch :D

[malkin]

Awwwwww

Nine is not at all bad for a budgie; you've been good to your Bluey!

We've had some short timer birds and some long timers; one 'tiel was over 25 when she finally left us.

At our peak population we had 13 birds in a single cage in our living room. Two of our budgies got amorous and we gave them a nest box and they managed to produce a couple chicks who were the subjects of a 5th grade genetics report.

We also had a pair of male cockatiels who were quite amorous, but no one wrote a report on them; in our conservative town that would have been a failing grade at best and an abomination at worst.

Avian vet care has been (in my experience) caring, sincere and well meaning, but stressful for birds (and their people) and not particularly effective, especially for the smalls.

Best to you and your feathered ones!

[bmccasland]

Clock,
How did the Vet visit go? How's Bluey doing? Inquiring bleeding heart pet lovers worldwide need to know.

[tulip]

I had a parrot (Senegal) for eight years until the divorce, then the bird stayed with the ex. In my experience, birdseed does not provide the proper nutrient mix and/or it is not easily made available to the bird. Have you tried pellets, or for small birds, crumble? Roudybush is a very good brand and is much more nutritious than seed. We fed Roudybush to my bird with seeds and nuts as an occassional treat (and grapes--he loves grapes).

You can get it at most pet stores and certainly your vet will have suggestions if that is not available. Best to you and your budgie!

[Aggie_Ama]

Awww how is Bluey doing? I had a budgie named BB as a kid, still have a soft spot for the little guys.

[sundial]

Poor little guy, he's too cute to be sick. Is he doing better today?

[katluvr]

Obviously lots of TE members care about birds, too!
As do I! I have 2 parrots (small) and lost my first one a few years back. Again, furry or feather (or scaley) they are all part of our family!

Hope Bluey is doing well....birds are tough...they hide their illnesses so well!

[7rider]

Hope Bluey is doing better.

At least he doesn't look like this poor fellow....a molt gone horribly wrong???

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z85/7rider/Critters/IMG_0781.jpg

My sister and her DGF have a bird - a cockatiel named Molly. Molly eats chicken (:eek:), looooves mashed potatoes, biscuits, and who knows what else -- in addition to all the "proper" bird foods out there. The varied diet seems to suit him (they thought Molly was a girl for a while) well, as he just turned 17 years old. He's a fiesty little old man.

[ClockworkOrange]

Hope Bluey is doing better.

At least he doesn't look like this poor fellow....a molt gone horribly wrong???

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z85/7rider/Critters/IMG_0781.jpg

My sister and her DGF have a bird - a cockatiel named Molly. Molly eats chicken (:eek:), looooves mashed potatoes, biscuits, and who knows what else -- in addition to all the "proper" bird foods out there. The varied diet seems to suit him (they thought Molly was a girl for a while) well, as he just turned 17 years old. He's a fiesty little old man.

Ooooops, poor old Molly, although Molty seems a better nic. ;)

He does look a tad different to most cockatiels I have seen.

What an amazing diet, even sounds good to me.

Good news, today Bluey is looking much better, so hopefully his good health will continue.

Bluey's diet is definitely not the best but he has all the other pleasures in life, when I go off to work at lunch time he has his own room with a window view, to watch all the wild birds plus he has the radio on for him as he likes music.

At night time because he frequently falls off his perch, we always leave a small light on for him.

OK, let you into a little secret, have a guess what my surname is? Four letters and begins with B. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/3148618702_55847675fa_o.gif

Clock

[7rider]

He does look a tad different to most cockatiels I have seen.



Oops...sorry for the confusion....that's not a picture of Molly! Molly looks like a regular old cockatiel. That picture is a wild cardinal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_(bird))that was out at our feeder this past summer.

Glad to hear Bluey is doing better!!!

[ClockworkOrange]

Oops...sorry for the confusion....that's not a picture of Molly! Molly looks like a regular old cockatiel. That picture is a wild cardinal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_(bird))that was out at our feeder this past summer.

Glad to hear Bluey is doing better!!!

I usually get things wrong!

WOW, what a fabulous bird, just found one in slightly better condition on ebay..........;)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/3148089453_8baaaf3d3c.jpg

Clock http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3145716824_a8962e52f8_o.gif

[ClockworkOrange]

TsPoet, thank you for giving me the link http://www.upatsix.com/chats/budgie/

Unfortunately, he has not been too well again. Things all seemed to happen so quickly, again his eye was not too good, so took him back to my vet last night. Excellent, it only required bathing, after that he was great.

Sixteen hours later he is far from being well. This morning he was sputtering and spitting out undigested seed in small bubbles!

Cannot understand why he has suddenly deteriorated so quickly. I am just searching through the above website that you gave me.

If only he was a bit bigger and I could just give him a cuddle but that unfortunately would totally freak him out.

I just hope he will hang on until Monday, when I can get him to the vet again.

Clock

[badger]

a friend of mine's parents had a cockatiel for 24 years, and they found him so who knows how old he was when he flew into thier lives.

Muriel was also thought to be a girl for a long time til they discovered she was a boy, and lived a happy, long life.

[gnGracie]

Oh no, CWO! I'm sorry to hear that he's gotten worse again. Keeping my fingers crossed that he'll get better.

[badger]

geez, how insensitive of me. I'm sorry, I didn't see your very last post saying bluey's not well. I'm sorry, I hope can pull through.

[TsPoet]

TsPoet, thank you for giving me the link http://www.upatsix.com/chats/budgie/

Unfortunately, he has not been too well again. Things all seemed to happen so quickly, again his eye was not too good, so took him back to my vet last night. Excellent, it only required bathing, after that he was great.

Sixteen hours later he is far from being well. This morning he was sputtering and spitting out undigested seed in small bubbles!

I just hope he will hang on until Monday, when I can get him to the vet again.

Clock


I'm so sorry.
There is a little hope, though - my best pet/pal of all time was Little Bit, a tiny blue budge that was unable to fly. He followed me around the house, running what must have been miles on those little legs, and lived 9 years even though he was scrawny and handicapped.
Anyway, he loved me. And, budgies sometime show love by spitting up undigested food in little bubbles. I'm not sure that's the case with Bluey, due to his age. Little bit especially liked to "feed" my fingernails, he also liked to feed his favorite bell. So, is Bluey targeting anything, or just spitting up?
I am very hopeful for him, but he is a senior citizen. I know that doesn't help any.
{{{hugs}}}

[snapdragen]

ts - I had a non-flying budgie too! Ben would drift from his cage to the floor, then run around the house. He'd hide under furniture until you called him, then he'd come running out with wings spread making that budgie chirping sound. :D

[ClockworkOrange]

geez, how insensitive of me. I'm sorry, I didn't see your very last post saying bluey's not well. I'm sorry, I hope can pull through.

Hey badger, no need to apologise, I didn't even realise.

Poor little chap, things seem to be going from bad to worse. Yesterday afternoon his poo was runny, now this morning he is all puffed up and has constipation problems. It's something he occasionally suffers from, can't remember the word but it really is not helping him.

To the vets first thing tomorrow.

Clock

[Aggie_Ama]

Oh Clock I am so sorry! I still hope he can just turn around and all this stress will be for nothing.

[Drtgirl]

My cockatiel and cockatoo love warm soft foods- I think any bird would actually. Try warm oatmeal, cornbread, rice or even some boiled potatoes. Good luck- its hard to care for a sick bird. Hope he gets better soon!

[TsPoet]

My cockatiel and cockatoo love warm soft foods- I think any bird would actually. Try warm oatmeal, cornbread, rice or even some boiled potatoes. Good luck- its hard to care for a sick bird. Hope he gets better soon!

Actually, I should have posted earlier. For a budgie, corn/beans/rice is supposed to be a complete meal. I never figure out if beans means red beans or green beans, though :(
I used to feed mine a mash of corn/green beans/rice. I used to put the green beans in a food processor and then put the mash of the three (steamed, not boiled) in an ice tray that had little wax paper cups in it. Then, pull out a single cup and warm it a little.
But, budgies are very different than all the other parrots - they are picky and will actually just not eat rather than eat something they aren't used to and/or just don't want. I've had great luck with parsley and with this corn/beans/rice mash, but in my 30 years with budgies I have never managed to get any of them to eat pellets.
You can also put apple in a food processor and the like. But, the a bird Bluey's age, I'm not sure you'll be able to get him to eat anything unusual.
Budgies are just like that!

[badger]

did you take him to the vet? how is he??

[ClockworkOrange]

did you take him to the vet? how is he??

Bluey says 'thanks for asking'.

I am beginning to think he is a hypochondriac! Or just a very attention seeking budgie. ;)

When I got up this morning, I looked at the bottom of the cage first, as I really thought that might be where I would find him, fortunately not.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3171397111_e412036083.jpg
just realised he matches the kitchen!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/3171397123_3e1ded810e.jpg even his poorly eye is so much better

Not all fluffed up like last night but eating his seed, even chirping, now very runny pooh but that will probably change.

I think he is enjoying all the extra TLC..........but I am more than happy.

Clock http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3145716824_a8962e52f8_o.gif

[7rider]

Hey, Bluey.....It's not nice to freak out mommy just to get some attention!!!

Glad he's feeling better. I hope he continues to chirp and fluff, and do all sorts of happy budgie things.

[bmccasland]

Glad to hear Bluey is feeling better. Tell him that you'll spend money on toys instead of Vet bills - he still gets attention, but it's a lot more fun!

[gnGracie]

Yea, I'm so happy to hear that he's feeling better! Cosmo (my cockatiel) sends birdie kisses to Bluey!

[jesvetmed]

yay Bluey! I'm so glad he's feeling better. And before you spent the vet bill! Even better yet. ;) I hope he continues to improve.

[ClockworkOrange]

IC is almost better than TLC. :rolleyes:

Yes, that's International Comfort.

What heart warming comments to wake up to.


Clock http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3145716824_a8962e52f8_o.gif

[Aggie_Ama]

Yay Clock! I seriously thought maybe you painted the room to coordinate with Bluey. I assumed it was just "Bluey's Room". :p

[smilingcat]

He is so cute. I'm glad he is back on his perch. Maybe just some mild bug that made him sick. I do understand how you feel though when our babies gets sick. They can't really tell us where or how they are hurting or feeling. It's in their body language and in their eyes. You are not alone about feeling helpless when they are sick. I get that way too and all I can do is worry to no end.

He is looking comfortable now.

[TsPoet]

and he has a pretty bright blue cere. Not having a bright cere doesn't necessarily mean anything, but having one usually means healthy.
(When you have multiple males, the ceres are different based on dominance, at least in my household - not pathological, just the way it is).

[badger]

good news, indeed!!