10+ year old male Parakeet not doing well. Is there any hope?

My parakeet Jay Jay is not doing well as of late last night. He is 11+ years old and I can't make an appointment with a Vet until Monday. I have a bad feeling he won't make it through the weekend. I feel so bad for my boy and I don't want him to suffer. I am home all day and my 3 parakeets get to enjoy flight around the room all day. Jay Jay was fine all day yesterday until about 11 pm. I noticed he wasn't putting any weight on his left leg. He let me pick him up and I toweled him and his leg seemed paralyzed. No reaction to touching his foot. I put him a smaller cage with a towel. He perched all night on his good foot. Today he's declined a little. His bum is puffed up and he's been picking at it a lot. He's also laying on side bit. He has been eating a little but I fear the worst.

Is he drinking? Give him soft mash to get it in him easier.

You could be dealing with pain.... no emergency vet or will your avian vet take a phone call?

Keep him quiet and extra warm. Good luck and hope you're able to find a vet to help asap!

Ksmith... I can tell what a loving and caring bird-owner you are. Your darling is so lucky to have you. Darlings, plural. No matter what, you'll do your best, and you'll make the best of the situation. Good advice above.
We all face mortality. But whenever it comes to members of your flock, you have the pride and joy of knowing you made those birds a great home. I just recently went through a fear-crisis like yours... and I found peace, thanks to people here.
You hang in there. We're with you.

jenphilly said:

Is he drinking? Give him soft mash to get it in him easier.

You could be dealing with pain.... no emergency vet or will your avian vet take a phone call?

Keep him quiet and extra warm. Good luck and hope you're able to find a vet to help asap!

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I agree with everything Jen said, and just wanted to also send healing wishes your way. It is obvious how much you love Jay Jay, and I pray he recovers. Please keep us updated.

I'm so sorry to hear about Jay Jay. I hope he pulls through and recovers, please let us know how he's doing.

Oh, Jay Jay, hang in there, we are all rooting for y~l

How did Jay Jay fair through the night?

Having rushed to our Vet with a very sick Amazon has been an adventure we have had several times. Personally, I would be at my Vet's office first thing Monday Morning. Commonly the Vet Techs are there prior to 7:00 am. I would be at that door, when they arrive! At times like this having a working relationship with your Vet and their Techs really helps!

Its a long time between now and 7:00 am Monday morning. Prays for you and yours. Most all Vet office's have an emergency (after hours hotline) number, please call it!

We are regular visitors to our Avian Vet's office. I make it a point that our Amazon meets everyone in the Vet's office. When we are rushing in, it is not uncommon for a waiting line of staff at the door!

UPDATE: Thank you everyone! Jay Jay is a fighter and seems to be doing okay this morning. Still very lame but he's eating and drinking and chirping to the other parakeets. He can fly well too. I let him out a little bit this morning. His poo is normal looking so no signs of being sick from just seeing that. For the night I put him in a small cage with the perch close to the bottom and a towel too. Then I put the cage high up next to his normal cage so he feels comfortable. He is perching also but still not putting any weight on his left leg. The photos were taken this morning. At this time, I'm so thankful he trusts me and that he's very tame. He's letting me pick him up and letting me offer him water in a bottle cap. He's such a sweet boy.

Here is one more photo of Jay Jay (taken at noon). Resting and seems doing okay.

ksmith5151 said:

UPDATE: Thank you everyone! Jay Jay is a fighter and seems to be doing okay this morning. Still very lame but he's eating and drinking and chirping to the other parakeets. He can fly well too. I let him out a little bit this morning. His poo is normal looking so no signs of being sick from just seeing that. For the night I put him in a small cage with the perch close to the bottom and a towel too. Then I put the cage high up next to his normal cage so he feels comfortable. He is perching also but still not putting any weight on his left leg. The photos were taken this morning. At this time, I'm so thankful he trusts me and that he's very tame. He's letting me pick him up and letting me offer him water in a bottle cap. He's such a sweet boy.

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Wonderful he is doing better!! Keep in mind at his age, you could be seeing age related issues too. I'd still call your vet tomorrow morning.

When he flies and lands, is he landing solid with both feet or is doing a plop belly landing?

Over 10 is a very respectable age for a budgie, hopefully the vet only confirms that he's just like any of our elders, we just need to arrange things so he is more comfortable, not so far to walk more comfy chair (perch).

But so happy to hear he is eating and active this morning!!

I love parakeets, they are just great little birds and I feel so badly for your Jay Jay. Hope all works out well.

So relieved...
Warmth is also helpful. I've heard of many instances of somebody putting a heating pad on low at one corner of a cage. In the old days, people put a lit incandescent bulb near a corner. I would make sure he's warm and free of chills or drafts.

Are you able to take Jay Jay to the vet today? While he may appear and hopefully is better, birds typically conceal distress as long as possible. Unless it is some transient illness, you may have a window of opportunity to make a huge improvement of his health!

Just a question: have you examined his lower abdomen? If you could towel him and gently feel his tummy and above his groin that would be great. My just lost my oldest boy, Charlie, to water belly, so I just want you to rule that out. His condition wasn't diagnosed properly so he ended up dying from medication that could be deadly for someone with his condition. If his abdomen feels swollen, or if he's been kicking at his vent with his foot, then it's likely water belly and he would have to have magnesium supplements and have his abdomen drained regularly.

Either way, I'd take him to the vet.

I have an appointment for Jay Jay tomorrow. There aren't very many avian vets near me. I don't have much money so I hope they can help with what I have. If they tell me he could do okay with the injury and is not hurting, I'll keep helping him and making him comfortable. He is doing okay today. He's still eating and drinking well and flying to his favorite places in the room. He eagerly steps up on my hand for a visit or knowing I'll help him. Today he kept flying into my Senegal parrots food bowl, which is a bigger bowl attached to the outside of the tall play cage. He happily helped himself to her food. I toweled him this morning to take a look at his belly/bum area and all seems to feel normal. I noticed he can move his left leg forward and back but no movement in the ankle or foot. I've noticed he's learned to balance on it a little today.

ksmith5151 said:

I have an appointment for Jay Jay tomorrow. There aren't very many avian vets near me. I don't have much money so I hope they can help with what I have. If they tell me he could do okay with the injury and is not hurting, I'll keep helping him and making him comfortable. He is doing okay today. He's still eating and drinking well and flying to his favorite places in the room. He eagerly steps up on my hand for a visit or knowing I'll help him. Today he kept flying into my Senegal parrots food bowl, which is a bigger bowl attached to the outside of the tall play cage. He happily helped himself to her food. I toweled him this morning to take a look at his belly/bum area and all seems to feel normal. I noticed he can move his left leg forward and back but no movement in the ankle or foot. I've noticed he's learned to balance on it a little today.

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Glad Jay Jay is doing better. I would think a good avian vet can draw some reasonable conclusions from your observations. Perhaps it is a problem localized to the ankle or foot of his left leg, and not an overall health issue. Hope the visit goes well, please let us know when able!

You know...
It sounds similar to another bird of mine.

I had a budgie when I was younger that was improperly bred, she had seizures and near the end had a stroke that completely paralized her left leg.

Could be this old guy had a stroke. Either way a vet visit is a good idea.

Obviously hoping that this is just a minor blip and Jay Jay is better soon. I was wondering if it is fatty liver disease, the liver enlarges and presses on nerves which makes the foot not work properly.

My baby lived to 14 even with mobility problems - wish I knew more back then.

Let us know what your vet thinks is Jay Jay's problem. We are all rooting for the little fella.

I don't know how your budgie is doing now, but it sounds to me like he hurt his leg or foot, and the pain is what is causing him to not eat/drink or simply act normally. I'm hoping you got to the vet and he gave you some Metacam for his pain. He looks very healthy in the pics you posted, and since he was fine one minute and the next he was limping and had no use of one leg, it very much sounds like an injury rather than an illness, which is a good thing. Let us know how he's doing and what the vet said. I hope it was an avian vet as in my experience of 30 years of owning and breeding both American and English budgies, non avian vet's don't like to do much at all for parakeets, love birds, or even cockatiels because they consider them small, "throw away" birds, which really angers me. My avian vet would do an x-ray immediately on Jay Jay and a full exam.

I know I'm new to this forum, in fact this is my first post, lol, but I was raised by my mom who bred cockatiels and owned budgies, and I got my first budgie at the age of 6. I'm now 36 and got my bachelor's degree in health science/pre-med and did half my master's degree for health science/physician assistant studies, and I used to breed American and English budgies as well as cockatiels. So I have a lot of experience in dealing with medical issues of pet birds. I actually took in a flight of 12 American/English hybrid parakeets about 6 months ago that were bought as a breeding project that went badly. They are all a little over a year old and not at all tame, but beautiful birds. I had no intention of breeding them, I have 3 bonded pairs so far, and I just wanted to give them a good home and work with them to tame them. They had different ideas, and one bonded paired hatched a clutch of 7 babies that I pulled at 2 and a half weeks to hand raise. So the oldest is now almost 4 weeks old and I just love all 7 of them. So I'm becoming again acquainted with taking care of budgies.

Anyway, I hope Jay Jay is doing alright, please let us know how he is doing.