Yet More Problems with Rumi the Cripple

Poor Rumi. You all know Rumi. Sweet, curious, incredibly intelligent yellow budgie with neurological problems. Well, she had yet another bad stroke a month or so ago (stroke #4 or #5). Then her mate, Pollo, unfortunately suffered from a series of strokes a few weeks ago, leading to his death. Fortunately, Rumi made another (somewhat) full recovery.

However, today I discovered she's busted her right leg. Is it broken? Maybe. Disclocated? Perhaps. Sprained? Heck if I know. I thought I caused her injury at first, as she fell while I was trying to grab her to put her in a cage while I let the Green Devils (Noah and Rosie) out. Anyways, she can't extend her leg all the way, and she's dragging her leg when she walks. I did the best I could to examine her leg, and I think there's something wrong with her thigh. It doesn't feel the same as her left thigh.

She seems alert, energetic, and spunky, so it isn't a stroke. She's eating well, which is good, but unfortunately she can't see an avian vet until Monday, seeing as emergency clinics only exist for dogs, cats, and humans. Freaking discrimination is what it is.

Anyways, she seems to be doing quite well, but I think I'm gonna keep her in her tiny cage and bring her up to my room at night until she can see a doctor. Her toes are a normal colour, so her blood flow seems good. However, I don't like the way she drags her leg when she moves around, so I might put Tiki's leg braces on her. Man, I miss little Tiki .

She doesn't seem to be in unbearable pain or anything, so I'm not going to give her any painkillers. She has so many neurological and bleeding problems as it is, so I don't won't to potentially cause her even more harm. Plus, she's still able to function pretty well even with pain from her injury, and she isn't in distress. Plus, if I eliminate most of her pain she might end up thinking she can start climbing all over, hanging upside down and dangling from one foot. When animals are in pain, you only want to make the pain more bearable so that they can at least eat, move around, and sleep. Unlike with humans, if you completely or mostly eliminate an animal's pain, they'll end up even worse off because they'll start bouncing all over the place instead of being gentle with their injury. Animals have evolved to keep going even when they're in extreme pain. A badly injured lion still has to take down prey in order to live, and a sick prey animal still has to look as healthy as possible so they won't be killed.

Anyways, I hope it turns out she's only sprained it or pulled a muscle or something like that. It definitely isn't good, but she's still stretching and preening, so hopefully that means she didn't shatter her leg or anything.

I feel bad because I feel like I am missing backstory. Did you get her tested for diseases? Do you know the cause? Sorry you are going through this!

I'm sorry too..but the likelihood of two budgies having strokes is astronomically unlikely. Something else is going on. A disease, or a toxin... If you've taken them to a certified avain vet for the diagnosis of a stroke, I would seek a second opinion on that. I'm very sorry you and your birdies ate going through this, and I hope you find answers and they recover!

I adopted her...three years ago? Four? Not sure. Anyways, I have had her checked for illnesses, although I find here in Canada you have to specifically list every potential pathogen or disorder you want your bird tested for, otherwise they overlook 90% of illnesses. That's how my poor Charlie died. None of the vets I took him to knew that waterbelly/ascites was a common symptom of heart disease in birds, and the vet guilted me out of having the fluids tested and prescribed him Metacam. I didn't find out until it was too late that he was suffering from manageable heart problems which could have been improved with heart medication and regularly draining the fluid in his abdomen. Instead, I had to watch as he died from congestive heart failure most likely caused by the Metacam. Metacam is deadly for those with heart problems.

Fudge, sorry, got off track. She had AGY in the past, along with her mate Pollo and fellow flockmate Ziggy. I think she most likely had it when I adopted her, but despite having her feces examined more than once, they never tested for AGY. My poor kākāriki ended up contracting the disease, which through a series of unfortunate mishaps indirectly resulted in their deaths. If my kākāriki hadn't been so malnourished and weak when I adopted them, they never would've contracted the disease. Heck, if the numerous vets had bothered to even check Rumi for AGY, they never would've died.

Man, I'm sorry. I'm just upset right now. It's just stressful having to stay up to date on all the different illnesses my various companion animals could potentially develop in order to have make sure their vet checks them for every potential reason for their problems. It's like with illnesses in humans. The doctors keep assuming the children they're treating have bacterial meningitis when the symptoms could just as easily be explained by brain-eating amoebas. That's how you end up with dead patients. They keep pumping them full of antibiotics, even when they fail to improve, rather than perform the simple diagnostic tests at their disposal.

Okay, focusing. I've consulted...at least three different vets on Rumi. The one vet said nothing can be done unless she's having an episode right during an examination and that even then they won't do anything for her, the second I think said you can't really test for it, and the other...I don't even know. It's just so frustrating. My go to vet can't perform all the tests I'd like to have performed (doesn't have the equipment, etc.), and the expensive vet clinic discriminates against budgies. If you can check in-vitro embryos for genetic problems or perform surgeries on fetuses in the womb, you should be able to run all the tests on budgies that you can run on big ol macaws. Something about budgies being too small and dying from the slightest amount of stress. I haven't had a single budgie die from stress, so they're obviously full of it. Like, heck, do wildlife rescues not rehabilitate extremely ill WILD animals? Most of those animals have had absolutely no exposure to humans prior to arriving at the rescues, yet they somehow manage to not die from stress every time a human goes to feed them, medicate them, or change their bandages.

Okay I had to look that up, AGY is a mega bacterial but maybe actually yeast. I read it is treated with amphotericin B? Was that how you treated?? Sounds like you have been through the wringer!! I feel you, I believe all life is equal just because you are a budgie doesn't mean you shouldn't get the best care! But I can understand the fear of the medical professional in treating small ones. I suggest adding probiotics, you can find them st pet stores, or online, or you can try feeding a small amount of live culture yogurt. But a budgie it's probably better to get the avain probiotics powder and sprinkles on the seeds, don't add it to the water. This isn't going to cure anything but it will help repopulate the gut with healthy bacteria. Thank you for sharing your story even though it's a ruff one!

Yep, avian gastric yeast. Treated for 30 days with amphotericin B. I also had them on apple cider vinegar in their water and a touch of citric acid in their chop for the following couple of months, in addition to avian probiotics. I also scrubbed their feces off of everything, sprayed everything with bird safe disinfectant, then soaked everything in vinegar. The aviary's been AGY-free since...April, maybe? Probably longer. I had a couple of more tests done on their feces, and they're fungus-free. From what I'd read, I thought AGY was right up there with PDD and PBFD in terms of how terrible it is, but it's really not that bad. It's nothing to scoff at, but it's manageable. I think the problem lies in the fact that until recently vets believed it was a bacterial infection, rather than a fungal infection.

Live and learn -> thank you for your honesty and explaning.


I am a rather simple person sometimes- if the leg issue is not a result from any known problem .. back tot he vet! A dislocated hip or knee is no fun.
Of courses chances are very slim they will be able to put it back in its rightfull place after a few days (the faster the better because of the tissuereactions) but it is an excruciatingly painfull problem.
If it is just a nerve that causes all these issues .. it is up to you and the vet of course.


but remember: all birds lie!
(esp. about being in pain)

I wouldn't put any type of brace or splint on it until you get her to a CAV tomorrow and get an x-ray done to see what the problem is, because if it's a fracture or a dislocation and you put a brace/splint on it, you could make it much worse, you could cut-off the circulation to the rest of her leg, etc...And if it is a Femur fracture (since you said it's her "thigh"), then it's absolutely extremely painful and she definitely DOES NEED PAINMEDS! All birds instinctively hide all outward signs of pain/illness, so you're theory about "just making their pain bearable" goes right out the window when dealing with birds, because you have no way of knowing how much pain they are actually in, and the stress of constant pain can also kill a bird, especially one who already has health issues...So she needs an x-ray ASAP and let the CAV determine whether or not it needs to be splinted/braced and whether or not she needs pain medication, which she will if it's a fracture or dislocation.

Okay, so we just saw the vet and it turns out she just pulled a muscle or injured a tendon. She just has to take painkillers twice a day for five days and she should be fine. I'm glad it was just something minor.