Sick Budgie

Nickibaby*

My budgie is sleeping all the time he is old now about 8 or 9 if I can figure cause all his previous owners kept getting rid of him so I took pity on him and have him the last 3 years.

I'm not sure if he is sick or it's just old age? Any opinions?

I might bring him to the vet tomorrow, I suppose the vet will be able to tell me....

Nala

Bring him to the vet, a bird has to be very sick to show any symptoms.

FranknFurter

Nala is right, birds in general *never* show weakness until its almost too late, its because if a predator in the wild sees a sick bird its easy prey.

Couple of quick questions to ask yourself tho' so you will be able to make list for vet. (Birds often behave *totally* differently in vets due to stress, rather than at home which feels safe place to be "natural")

Is he all puffed-out feather-wise?

How is his breathing, laboured or normal?

Eyes, clear or watery / gunky?

Are his nail short enough?

Any growths on chest or legs? (or anywhere else u can see, bumps?)

Is he "male" or female? (A good indicator is the colour of the cere, thats the bump bit above beak, where nostrils are, blue "usually" indicates its male, pale or pink or mauve usually indicates females, I ask coz females often get eggbound which can kill).

For some reason I will *never* understand, any vet i have *ever* brought a bird to, (with exception of specifically avian vet in UK), have never had much interest in budgies, maybe a case of familiarity breeds contempt, coz I often got same vibe with hamsters and other "common" small furries. *shrug
(Yes, I am prolly being unfair, but im only talking about the 8-10 vets iv been to in dublin over about 12 years of rescue animals of *all* sorts).

LegacyUser

Some good advice there. It would be something simple .. but best to bring to the vet .. chances are the vet can prescribe something for him!! There are tonics available.

Good luck with it

Nickibaby*

Thank for the replies. I took him to the vet and i was actually suprised at how much interest the vet showed. She was really nice. But yous were right a bird has to be very sick to show weakness.

She gave him an injection into his chest and gave me anti-biotics to put into his water. He wont drink it though so i'll have to get back onto her and see what she suggests.

Any suggestions for me???? She thinks that it might be bowel cancer though, I hope he either dies (that sounds awful) or gets better. I hate to see him so unwell it's cruel.

He does look a bit brighter today maybe it was the injection so fingers crossed she is wrong.

Nala

Budgies drink very little. Make sure you only give him a very small bit of water so the medicine is concentrated. If the medicine is very diluted in the water and he only drinks a little bit he won't be getting enough medicine. Oh and make sure you give him the full course of antibiotics, even if he looks better.

Try ringing your vet if he really doesn't seem to be drinking.

Sigma Force

Antibiotics don't work very well in water because you can't really gauge how much the bird is drinking, it's better to get the smallest syringe possible from the vets and give the bird the antibiotics directly into her beak. Also she will need a pro biotic to balance things out, there's one I think it's called Avipro the vet might have it, if not you can add PRIME vit/min plus pro biotic suppliment to the water or mix a tiny bit in water and give directly. A lot of pet shops sell Prime now. Budgies would be classed as 'heavy drinkers' but possibly not enough to get all the meds she needs.
Fingers crossed she gets better, she's an older bird so it could be something more serious, they are terrible for hiding their illnesses. I have 4 one with liver problems and she is a terrible grump medicating her was more painful for me then her lol.

Oh btw what couler is her droppings at the moment?

Nickibaby*

Well the vet said to dilute the medicine in 20mls of water i don't want to put any more in cause I dont want it to be too diluted and I dont wanna give it straight to him cause it could be too strong.

The stuff smells bloody awful I dont know how the vet expects him to drink it. Does anyone know if budgies can smell? I've tried putting his head in but I dont wanna disturb him too much either. I'm going to the vets to get a syringe which hopefully will work. Thanx for the suggestion.

LegacyUser

Nickibaby* wrote:

I've tried putting his head in but I dont wanna disturb him too much either. I'm going to the vets to get a syringe which hopefully will work. Thanx for the suggestion.

Not sure about the syringe idea - a budgies stomach is probably teeny. You wouldn't want to hurt him by putting too much in!

We have had budgies on medication in our house many times. Remove his drink trough. Put a small amount of water in it and add the antibiotics.
You may think he is not drinking, he will only take a few pecks out of it at a go. I doubt that you are sitting their all day watching him (webcam by night - with sensor if the water moves in the water dish )

Seriously Nickibaby, you are doing a great job for this little fella. Maybe ring the vet and run the syringe idea by him/her, but from my experience - adding it to the water is fine.

Nickibaby*

Thanx Bubby i have removed other water apart from the medicated stuff from his cage.

I'll leave him be and hope for the best.

Thanx again for your replies.

Sigma Force

What antibiotic has the vet prescribed? Baytril would be a more commen general antibiotic used and the dosage is one drop a day usually for budgies, directly into their beaks. Best to go back to the vet and ask if it's possible to change the antibiotic to one where you can dose the bird directly. What you could do as said measure out the water and medicine and draw a line on the outside of the water trough so you will know wether any has been drunk, or use a syring to measure it. You could also leave it in the water and then about 3 times a day take the bird and give her one or two drops from it from a syringe. Fingers crossed for her

Nala

Nickibaby* wrote:

Does anyone know if budgies can smell?

Don't worry, budgies' sense of smell and taste are both quite poor. Their main strength is their excellent eyesight.

Nickibaby* wrote:

I've tried putting his head in but I dont wanna disturb him too much either.

I wouldn't suggest putting his head in, my father did that to a budgie once and drowned it. Having said that my dad would probably be quite rough and it was when he was a child.

Trust me, budgies only drink for a matter of seconds. My little fella just dips his beak in and back out again within a flash.

My cockatiel was put on antibiotics once and I had the medicine concentrated in the water same as you, I never saw him drink it but he got better and had slight staining around his beak cos the medicine was green.

You're doing a great job by the way. It's not easy looking after sick animals, especially something as tiny as a budgie.