Impacted Crop

Okay, so I booked an appointment for my seven year old boy, Ju. He's been regurgitating on and off for a couple of days, but I decided to just keep an eye on him because I thought I might've just been overprotective, because boys sometimes regurgitate their food because they're sometimes in the mood for courting.

Anyways, he's not fine, so he's seeing the avian vet tomorrow at 2:50. He either has sour crop or an impacted crop. He's stressed and has been spreading his wings a bit. He's been regurgitating, but he keeps swallowing it again. His face is damp (cheeks, forehead, eyes), and he keeps rubbing his face.

I'm going to put him in a hospital cage, but I'll keep him in the aviary with the others. I think there's some respiratory involvement since I think he may have aspirated a bit on the regurgitation.

I need advice until his appointment. I'm going to withhold food, and maybe give him a bit of grass in the evening. I'm also going to keep him warm, and maybe cover him, and diffuse some eucalyptus oil (it's pure, unadulterated) to help his breathing. Any other advice? There aren't any fibres in their enclosure, as far as I know, that could've blocked his crop. I'm really worried. I'm going to catch him now to put him in the hospital cage, and I'll smell his breath.

I'm sorry to hear your little guy is sick. His symptoms sound serious. I think I'd call the vet and let them know how concerned you are, they may be able to see you sooner.

The hospital cage is a good idea but I don't think I'd offer grass or use the eucalyptus. I know eucalyptus is a good remedy for respiratory issues in humans but I don't know about avians. Maybe just offer water until the vet visit.

You and Ju will be in my thoughts, wishing you the best.

Thanks, Allee. It must be over 75° in there, if not more (I think I might've made it a bit too warm). I wasn't sure what I should feed someone in his situation, so I just thought maybe grass seed. Like, the grass that has seeds on top. I've used eucalyptus oil before when Charlie had respiratory infections from aspirating on his meds (I couldn't get him antibiotics until a day or two later). Putting eucalyptus oil in a hot pot of water so that a budgie with respiratory problems can breathe in the steam is a common practice within the budgie lovers community. Obviously, the budgie is in a cage at the time so they don't end up in the hot water.

With the brand of diffuser and eucalyptus oil, I can use over a dozen drops of the oil safely in the budgie enclosure. I know my budgies well and was careful when increasing the amount, so I'm definitely not suggesting for anyone to use that much eucalyptus oil, since it could put your bird(s) in respiratory distress. I also use a good brand of essential oils.

Anyways, Ju is a lot better at the moment, and is eating and exploring. As you can probably guess, I couldn't catch him earlier, so I'm waiting until it's nice and dark. My mom and I spent around ten minutes trying to catch the brat, but he kept getting away. The budgies found it a bit stressful, but I'm pretty sure the goofs enjoyed the whole thing. I think they were proud that they were too quick for us . Seriously, they just started goofing off when we left.

See, the fact that he's acting a lot better is the reason I didn't take him in before now. He'd only act off for a little while, then he'd get a second wind.

I'm taking him in tomorrow because my local avian vet was fully booked today (he works with virtually every species, from fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, rodents, ferrets, dogs, etc.), so I have to take him to an avian vet that's over an hour away, and I don't have my license yet.

I'm guessing it's likely an impaction since he's had digestive problems since he was little (constipation), and I'm sure the tumour on his testicle doesn't help. He's a fighter, so I'm hopeful.

Thank you for the update, I'm so glad he's feeling better. It's probably a very good sign that he's eating of his own free will and feeling well enough to explore. I have never heard the eucalyptus remedy for budgies, thanks for the explanation. Please keep the updates coming.

I am so sorry to hear about Ju! What a little fighter he is. I hope the vet is able to help.

I wish I had some advice for you about his crop. Beau's struggled with digestive issues and constipation, but it was further down his system and wasn't caused by an impaction. I think you are doing a great job considering the circumstances.

Keep us updated. You're one of my bird-heroes. You do so much diet research, awesome house and enrichment for your little guys. Ju's a lucky little budgie, and I bet he knows it.

I have nothing to add but...

Patagonian hugzszszszszzsszszss

Thanks guys . Ju is going stir crazy in that tiny flight cage. I feel bad, but he's not allowed out of it until he goes to the vet. There's no way I could catch him during the day. Oh, I sniffed is mouth last night, and it didn't smell bad. Well, my nose was about half an inch away, so I guess it might smell, but from what I understand, the smell of a sour crop punches you in the nose. So, I'm guessing his crop is impacted. I'll know more when I put him in the carrier since I'll check his crop then.

Man, if the vet mentions Harrison's pellets again, I'm going to have to educate her. Oh, and here's something great: Noah regurgitated for me this morning. He's been moody the past few weeks, so I guess I know why now. My mom's still upset with him because he went for her jugular a few days ago. The welts were there for a couple of days •~•

All I can say is that Ju's doctor was AMAZING. She was super energetic and friendly, and most importantly, she was very knowledgable! She though Ju was beautiful and was a good weight (38 grams), and his heart and lungs were good and she said his crop felt normal, although we agreed this could be because I'd been withholding his food a bit. She said it could either be impacted or have an infection, and we decided to do a crop culture. She also gave him an injection of antibiotics and an injection of anti-nausea medicine.

Honestly, it was nothing short of a wonderful experience, considering the circumstances. She commented on how excited she was when she heard from the technician the diet, enclosure, etc., that I provide the budgies with, and said I was obviously very knowledgeable and how great that was. In case you were wondering, I'd say she's have to be in her early twenties. Man, Dr. Yee was AWESOME! She even noticed that Ju's left pupil is bigger than his right. I totally forgot about his weird little eyes. Neither she nor I know what that's all about, but he's been that way for at least a couple of years now. We're not sure if he's partially/fully blind in that eye, or what's going on with it. Like, you can't see the iris.

Anyways, he was obviously the picture of health when he was at his appointment, only to start feeling nauseous and wanting to regurgitate 10 minutes after we left

Anyways, we're starting him on antibiotics in the morning. He'll be allowed to play with his friends during the day, but I've started putting him in the flight cage at night so I can actually catch him to give him his meds in the morning and at night.

Oh, and she didn't trying pushing Harrison's or a 80% pelleted diet! I'm requesting her from now on!

Is he getting car sick I wonder? Not all birds like it?

I don't think he was getting car sick (good suggestion, though), since he was fine on the ride there, and he only felt sick for a few minutes when we were driving home. Man, he was so restless on the ride home. He kept scurrying around, making what I assumed to be baby bird sounds and burrowing under the paper towels. Honestly, he was nonstop on the ride home. It was kind of weird, because he was acting like a little kid. He was definitely thrilled when I released him into the aviary with the rest of his flock. He had so much pent up energy that he started annoying the heck out of the others and flying laps.

Anyways, I'll see how he's doing this morning when I give him his medicine. It was really easy catching him last night and putting him in the flight cage. He didn't move at all and I actually was able to grab him and the swing he was on and put them in the cage. Definitely not looking forward to medicating him. Tiny birds are unbelievably hard to medicate >_<. Like, maybe a third (if you're lucky), actually makes it into their tummy. The rest goes out the sides of their mouth, in their lungs, or is spat on you. And yes, we're definitely doing it properly, or at least as well as you can with a little budgie who refuses to cooperate. Although the medicine is strawberry flavoured, so maybe it won't go so bad.

I use stawberry applesauce to get Sydney to take his medicine, off of a spoon, but he's much larger.

The bottle you got probably has more medicine than you're going to need, but finish it out for sure, especially if not everything is going in his mouth!

According to my vet, the most common thing he's seen for impacted crops was from cracked corn (though we had a caique who was in the other day who had previously ate silk flowers.)

And if you're even more curious, the antibiotic solution you're using is very likely the same as the injectable (2.7%) mixed with the strawberry flavor if it's baytril.

Sorry, meant to reply, but I forgot. I'm pretty sure he's on Baytril, and he's actually been taking it quite well. He definitely seems to be swallowing most of it, and he hasn't been breaking the skin when he bites me. Maybe he likes the flavour?

Anyways, I just got the results of his crop culture a few minutes ago, and apparently he didn't have any pathogenic bacteria in his crop. However, he did have unusually high numbers of "normal" gram-positive crop bacteria. Very weird. Anyways, the vet said to finish the course of antibiotics, which may or may not help. If he's still sick, we could do blood work. However, the antibiotics seem to be making him better as I haven't seen him regurgitating or feeling unwell.

I was wrong, he's still sick. He keeps vomiting. He's been doing it for at least two hours now, and I don't know what to do. If this keeps up he's going to starve to death . He was still hungry when he first started throwing up earlier today, but he'd just throw up after eating. Now he's tired and just feels nauseous. He's still flying, but not as much.

How do I help him? He's hungry, but the food just won't stay in his crop . Do we have to starve the bacteria in his crop?

Keep him eating even though he throws it up. Try easy to eat/digest foods - oatmeal, banana. Juice or puree for electrolytes.

Get to a good vet ASAP. They can give medicine to help stop the vomiting and let him digest a little while you work at finding the problem.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. When I checked on him at 3, he was completely fine. He's very perky and energetic. Honestly, he's full of energy and is goofing around with the others. He's singing and eating, and is flying around like nothing's wrong. Honestly, he's acting like he just drank a Red Bull. I really don't understand what's making his crop like this. From 10 am to 2 pm he can't keep anything in his crop, but from 3 pm onwards he's completely fine. The same goes for the other times the past couple of weeks he's been regurgitating. And he truly is feeling great. He isn't covering up his nausea, because he doesn't feel sick at all. I'm going to phone the vet to find out what the heck is wrong with Ju, because things shouldn't magically become better every time by 3pm.

Okay, he's going to the vet at 2:30 tomorrow. When I went downstairs to look after the budgies, he was vomiting and his eyes were wet and he's sick. I'm taking him to my local vet. I want to have him x-rayed and have blood taken, poop cultures done, and maybe an endoscope or something. He's still wanting to eat, so I'm not giving up on him. I just lost Charlie and I don't want to lose him too. If he died, that'll be the seventh friend that Samantha's outlived .

My parents think maybe I should just let him go because he's old and they won't be able to do anything for him because he's dying due to old age or whatever. But the reason Charlie died is because my dad and the vet (different vet) talked me out of having the fluids in his mass tested. Had I gone through with it, the tests would have revealed that Charlie's liver was leaking blood fluids into his abdominal cavity, which would have told the vet that he was suffering from heart issues and she would never have prescribed Metacam for him! I held him for over an hour as he lay in pain, gasping for air before dying from heart failure, terrified and wanting to live. He only died after I put him in his carrier so I could put him back in the aviary to be with his friends without having to worry about him falling or drowning in the water dish now that his legs became paralyzed. He was so scared and would try to get up and fly while I was holding him. When I put him in the carrier and set that carrier down in the room, he tried to fly one last time. He'd died all alone, right after I had abandoned him on the floor in the carrier. That's when he gave up . If I'd held him for just one more minute he could have died in my arms, instead of alone and scared

There is no worse feeling in the world than when you don't know how to help the ones you love. I am so sorry he is still struggling. I hope the vet can figure out the cause and help.

Just... thinking of you, Teddscau, and all your flock, but most especially Ju...

Thanks guys . Hopefully the tests will actually tell us exactly what's going on and hopefully it's easily treatable. Easily treated? Highly treatable?

Anyways, Dr. Morris is a very good vet that we take all of our "exotics" to when they get sick, although Dr. Yee seems to know more about birds, perhaps. Dr. Morris is the one who did that emergency operation on Lara when she was egg bound several months ago. Her vent was extremely tiny, so she struggled to poop, let alone pass an egg. I'd adopted her along with Rumi and Pollo less than a year ago at that point, and I was not going to lose her. Although, I had Morris x-ray her a few days after Charlie passed, and it turns out that the mass on her lower abdomen is likely cancer, as her left hip looked weird in the x-ray. He said she might only have months, if not weeks to live.

Oh, and my parents took our chihuahua to a cardiologist when Charlie was having heart issues, and it turns out she'll die of congestive heart failure within the next few years even though she hasn't even turned four yet. Her breed should easily live to be 18.

Rumi also had what appeared to be a neurological issue around then, too, but who knows what's going on with her. She's still happy, so it doesn't really matter. Oh, and around the time Lara had to have surgery, Samantha's preen gland ruptured or something, but she's fine now. Don't worry, I made an e-collar for her and had Morris check her out.

Honestly, things just seem to be getting worse with each passing month, as all these things just started happening in the spring. I swear, I try my best to keep them happy and healthy. Most budgies come from mills, so I can't blame myself too much. Heck, I'm already ahead of the game as I'm one of the disturbingly few humans who know that budgies are parrots.