Swollen legs

Hi,

I have a pair of peachfaced lovebirds more than two years. They were fine until recently when we noticed that one of them has swollen legs, and the legs of the other one might be affected as well, not so badly though. I have no idea what might be the reason. We feed them the same food all the time - it's various seeds including sunflower, mix for lovebirds. If you please help me I would be grateful.

Do they have sand perches in their cage? They aren't bad, but they have been known to cause Bumble Foot.

I don't know what could cause swollen legs, and I would be very distressed by it as well. I can say that an all seed diet is not very good for lovebirds and eventually would be detrimental to them, and sunflower seeds, which every bird loves, are particiularly fatty. You might want to consider moving them to a pellet, seed and fresh fruit and vegetable diet, which would be more healthy. I will follow your thread because I want to see what some others will say about the swollen legs - makes me wonder if they are getting too much salt.

They actually had a bit of sandpaper( bought in a pet shop) wrapped around their branches and used it quite quickly, but the pictures I had seen of bumblefoot on the internet look like something extra is growing on the foot, while my bird's feet look gnarly in the midddle, the toes remain slim and one of his legs is really swollen and red. They do not look as if they were in a lot of pain yet. The bird who got it first had accidentally lost the whole claw first and then he had a scale missing from one of his feet ( twice the same scale).
We give them mineral water to drink.
Do you think it could be gout?
I do not know if a trip to the vet won't harm them as it is very cold outside and they could catch a cold on top of that.
I have read that spirulina is great for bird's immune system.
Any other suggestions? I think that it is contagious as the other bird's feet are becoming round in the middle too. The first one, Brave, has a small bald patch above his wing. Could it be a fungal infection?
There is no bird vet where I live.

Id check in between his toes. He may have a splinter or something loddged in there preventing blood flow.
But if in doubt....Off to the vet.

thank you for your replies Blueridge and GaryBV.

Hi again - I just wanted to respond to your last post where you suggest the illness is contagious. If it was gout, I don't believe that is contagiouis as it is not, to my knowledge, caused by a germ. Also since you say it is red and swollen, but the bird is not showing signs of pain, well birds hide pain, and they do it well. If you have followed the forum for a while you will notice that birds most often die very quickly, and that is because they do a good job of hiding illness and their symptons.

At this point, I do think a vet trip is in the cards for you. Yes it is cold outside (I live in a very cold area) but you can have the car heated up before you go out, and then when you get to the vet, you just need to run them inside. If you are transporting them in a crate then just a blanket over it, or if in a travel cage, a cover over it to protect them from a chill. It is particiuarly disturbing that you say the other bird is showing symptoms too. and if you dont do something soon, I think you will lose both of them and I'd hate for that to happen to you and to them.