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.

Yes, one tatty little budgie.

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.joine...ments.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.joine...ments.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
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! 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

[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.....

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

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

[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!