Anything I can do for my white budgie with liver disease?

About 16 days ago my 8 year old white budgie started to lay on the bottom of her cage huffing and puffing, I took her to the vet and she gave us Baytril and some water supplements then told me to give it to her twice a day for 14 days. She also said too get a heater pad and put 3 hot jugs of water and cover her up to increase the temp in her cage. About 4 days after beginning the treatment she was much better and was sitting on her perch and eating/drinking normally but she wasn't chirping and sleeps a lot. The vet called after I stopped and said there was nothing more she could and told me all I could do was be proactive with her. I still have the same set up as before and I was wondering if there was any food or special medication that I could give my budgie that helps/treats liver disease? I have 3 other budgies and I feed them pellets, carrots, apples, kale, and occasionally parsley. I also give them a small amount of seeds every couple days or so. Thanks too whoever's reading this!

My advice is to get as much aloe detox in her as you can. I mix it 50-50 with her favorite fruit juice...

Aloe detox can dramatically improve liver function and in some cases, appears to reverse liver disease.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/36179-aloe-detox-parrots-elevated-liver-values.html

I've said this before because I'm the ultimate skeptic of things, and even though I have no personal experience with using aloe, Birdman knows what he's talking about! He could probably convince me that the sky is green and grass is blue if he wanted to!

But, is your vet an avian certified vet or just a regular one? If it's just a regular vet, I'd suggest taking your budgie to an AC vet for a second opinion. It's possible that your budgie only had an elevated liver enzyme and not necessarily fatty liver disease quite yet.

The biggest thing is monitoring your budgie's weight. The two main causes generally speaking, for liver disease are obesity and iron overload, same as in humans. My other suggestion is that depending on the area where you live, your tap water may be high in iron, so I'd suggest testing it and possibly filtering it. Bottled water is also a more expensive option, though many bottled waters have minerals added. Old houses' pipes tend to leech minerals into the water as well.

Get your budgie more activity, keep on with the healthy diet, and I wouldn't worry. Here's a little more information on liver disease in birds.
Liver Disease / Fatty Liver in Birds

I live in waterloo and I don't have any AC vets near me, the closest being ankeny which is almost a 2 hour drive from where I am . And it's winter here so I don't know even if my parents would let me take the trip and if she would be ok taking it in the current state as she is. She's starting to huff and puff again so i'll look into Milk thistle and aloe detox. Hopefully I can get them ordered after I get out of school. Thanks for your replies!

My friend ordered some avian salad from twinbeaksavairy but they said it could be 5-10 business days. Should I order the detox as well or do you think that would be enough? His wings are starting too droop I noticed after school . Is there anything I could get from local stores that could help keep him up until the salad gets here?

You can usually find Aloe juice at the supermarket, as well as I believe CVS used to have a big jug of it.

Ok i'll look for it at CVS after school

Snarby said:

Ok i'll look for it at CVS after school

Click to expand...

I got aloe juice from one of those supplement stores that sell protein powders etc. and have not seen in it the supermarkets here anywhere.

Ok i'll see if we have any supplement stores around where I live. If I do get the aloe juice what brands/type of juice should I mix it with? I could put it in his water but I haven't seen him drink/eat, and i've heard some birds wont drink the water if it has aloe in it. The water level in his bottle goes down slightly and I'm pretty sure its not evaporating and all the food I give him he eats while I'm not in the room/while I'm sleeping. He does move around a lot when I turn off the lights when I go to bed and I can hear him eat from his dish and the occasional grinding noise. I think he may be grinding his beak or gnawing at his cuttlebone, when ever I get up he stops and I haven't really seen any wear on the cuttlebone.

Aloe detox is different than aloe juice.

As I recall, Aloe detox has a combination of aloe, milk thistle and dandelion root.

I don't actually think we know which is the active ingredient, or if it's some combination of these ingredients that does the trick. Probably the combination.

I don't know. I just know that I saw amazing results using it, and I wasn't the lone ranger on this one. Normally I don't buy "snake oil" cures. Carolyn convinced me that this was the answer.

This one worked for my bird.

That's really all I can tell you.

milk thistle

I've been told that detoxing his body may not be a good idea because of his old age, size, and condition, so i'm confused as to what I should do. How big was the bird that you used detox on? In the link you sent I'm assuming BFA is a abbreviation for a species name?

Blue fronted amazon.

Who told you detoxifying could be bad for him? Where are you getting your info?

I don't know how improving his liver function would possibly hurt him, especially if he's already acting like he's on the verge of death now... all I'm saying is give him some juice with 50-50 aloe detox in it.

It's up to you what advice you follow.

"In my view, I would be concerned of giving him an aloe detox because of his age. And if you are going to feed the herb salad, just feed it very sparingly. I'm not too sure, he will even want it, but it is worth a try. Being so small, and having medical issues, is going to make him more vulnerable So anything that you introduce new to him, do it very sparingly, and watch for any reactions he might have to it, including the new seeds. Since it is apparent he is suffering from a disease, and is as old as he is, I'm not sure that detoxing him is a good idea. I don't know if his little body would be able to handle a detox"

It's from another bird forum, I asked the same question as I did on this one. But he has started to deteriorate as well so I think I don't have anything left too lose trying the aloe. Is there any place I could buy it from? Because I'm not sure he can hold out for another 5-10 business days if I order it.

And if I do get the aloe how should I serve it? My budgies haven't had juices before and he doesn't like to eat/drink in front of me. What juice should I use?

UPDATE : I'm going to a local health food store to see if the have Aloe detox and to see what kind of juices are there. I plan on getting apple juice since they already enjoy eating apples.

I've only been able to find aloe juice from the health stores open. Theres one that was closed for the day that mentioned detox products for the liver, but I couldn't confirm it because the lack a search bar on their website. This is what I was able to find at the health store that was open Natural Brand™ Aloe Vera Juice - GNC NATURAL BRAND - GNC. I know you said that it isn't the same but could this have some effect too in-case the other stores don't have aloe detox???

Find aloe detox. What could it hurt? I used this on my Venus that had severe upper respiratory issues and she improved greatly! I got the aloe detox off of Amazon.

I got a 40/60 aloe detox mix and i'm giving him 2 hours to drink it before I give it to him myself via syringe. I also got green leaf lettuce for him to try and mixed it with his seeds/carrots. I have him in front of my desk so I can watch what he eats/drinks. Although I know he doesn't often eat while i'm in the room/when the lights on but I have to know if he drinks it or not. I have the mix as motts applejuice (no extra sugars) and lily of the valley detox.Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera 80 Detoxifying Formula 32 fl oz Liquid - Swanson Health Products
Should I give him 2 ml or 4 ml if I do give it to him via syringe?

He seems to be improving after giving him 4ml of 40/60 apple/detox mix each day. He's more alert, flies around in his cage, and has a better appetite. He still sleeps a lot and doesn't chirp.

Improvement is improvement!! I hope he recovers continually over the next few weeks.

You can also purchase milk thistle seed which might also help as an addition to your budgie's regular diet.