Joey the budgie gets Deslorelin implant

[DonnaBudgie]

Today my 15 month old female budgie that we raised from an egg is getting a Deslorelin implant. Joey has been a hypersexual chronic egg layer and sexual harasser of the boys since she hit puberty at 5 months old. I've had to keep her isolated from the rest of my 19 budgies and have tried everything to modify her environment with no success. She's laid two clutches in the last 4 weeks!

I'm lucky enough to have excellent avian vets here in Maine but she's going to be anesthetized so there's a risk right there. I'm willing to take that risk for hope of a better life for her free of her crazy hormones. It's expensive. The implant itself is $295 and the anesthsia is another $175. People who don't have birds that they love don't see how I can spend close to $500 on a budgie but I know that my PF friends do. The implant last at least 6 months in a budgie so I'll need to do this once or twice a year.

I just hope Joey survives the procedure! I'll be pretty upset if I lose her but I'd rather lose her like this than from egg binding which is a horrible way for a bird to die.

I just dropped her off at the vet and will pick her up this afternoon. Joey's such a sweet girl. Shes never bitten anyone and is so incredibly trusting and affectionate.

 

[nkrbkr]

Hoping for the best. Please keep us posted.

 

[GivemeSeedsorgivemeFlesh]

Thinking about you and little Joey today! I hope all goes well!!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I just talked to the vet office and Joey did fine! I get to pick her up this afternoon! I'm so relieved.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Joey is doing well post implant but she's very subdued. She's eating drinking, pooping, flying and grooming normally but she's less active and less eager to come out of her cage and when she does she will just sit on me for an hour or more. Maybe her hormones caused her to be so high energy before the implant. I'm going to ask the vet about it later this week.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It's been 5 days since Joey had her implant and she's starting to act more like her old self. She had been acting very subdued, not coming out of her cage and just sitting on a perch not playing or climbing around. I think she was sore post-op. An implant the size of a grain of rice is big for a 30 gram budgie and the area where they put it was probably very tender. But she seems to be feeling better now and hopefully her hormones will calm down over the next couple weeks. At that point I'll try to bring her into the room where the other budgies live and see how she reacts when she sees the boys.

I feel so fortunate to have such good avian vets here in Maine that were able to perform the procedure successfully.

 

[leonac]

Hi, I’m wondering if you’re able to post an update about the implant and Joey? How has it been for her? Have you seen improvement?
Our sweet boy Buddy may get it for a Sertoli cell tumor, but we are doing extensive research before proceeding since he is 6 years old and we worry it may be a lot on his little body.
Thank you, and message me if you prefer!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Joey my female budgie is doing great. She recovered from the procedure very well. The first few days she was more withdrawn than usual and I think she was sore. After a week she was back to normal activity. If the vet is skilled he should be fine. The anesthsia is necessary but very short acting as the procedure takes just a couple minutes.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

More: Joey had her implant at only 15 months old because she was hypersexual and a chronic egglayer since she was 6 months old. I was worried about her surviving rhe anesthesia but she did fine. It's a risk I was willing to take so she could have a better life able to socialize with the rest of my budgies and free from hazards of egg laying.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Is your budgie getting feminized by the tumor hormones? Those tumors aren't always fatal. I had a male budgie who had a testicular tumor that feminized him. He looked like a female when he was about 3 years old to about 10 years old when his cere turned back to blue. The vet told me that these tumors can outgrow their blood supply and die. When my budgie (also Buddy) died at 13 of kidney failure the vet performed a necropsy (his idea) and found the shriveled up remnants of the tumor.

 

[leonac]

Okay, thank you for your response! Buddy is also hypersexual. His vet said that his type of tumor does produce feminizing hormones, although color change of the cere may not occur in every budgie - which Buddy hasn’t had any. The major concern is the vet believes his tumor will get bigger and Buddy is already experiencing difficulty breathing.
I wanted to see the perspective of someone else who has gotten this treatment for their budgie. I appreciate it!

 

[leonac]

*Since Buddy experiences difficulties breathing, it’s a greater risk with sedating him. Although his vet and my family are willing to take it if this can improve his life

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I've started introducing Joey to the flock under strict supervision to see if she still tries to "seduce" the boys. Beau was her usual "target" and he was eager to hop on Joey's back and do the Humpty Dance despite having his own bonded mate, Rocky.
Now, 3 weeks post implant, Joey still acts interested in Beau but she isn't posturing like she had been (horizontal with arched back, tail up and pinning eyes) and he isn't acting very interested in her. I consider this a big success because before the implant she was "shameless". However, she's still trying to crawl into my clothes and explore hidden remote areas of the room but I don't see signs of impending eggs anymore.
I want to keep her with the other birds either in a smaller cage of her own or in with the 5 who share a 32x24x32 cage but these budgies free fly all day in the room and I don't know if I can ever trust her out unsupervised. The other birds never get into trouble but Trouble is Joey's middle name! She's into EVERYTHING and I worry about her safety.
The other issue is her lack of socialization with other budgies. I've had to keep her away from them in a separate room since she hit puberty at 6 months old. She's become extremely bonded to us and doesn't really know how to behave with other budgies so I worry she will cross some personal budgie boundaries and get nipped. She's definitely interested in socializing with the rest of the flock which is good but I hope she doesn't annoy them too much.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It's been 4 weeks since Joey got her implant and she's totally back to her old self, including all the sexual behavior I was hoping would stop. She's climbing into my clothes, kicking the food out of her dish, grooming me incessantly, and searching the room for small dark places. She hasn't laid any eggs but yesterday when I brought her into the room with the other budgies to see how she behaved I was shocked by what she did. She spotted Beau, the primary object of her affection, and made a bee-line to him. She began flirting and he responded. She chased him around the room and flirted some more. Then Joey went into a trance! She locked her feet around the cage top perch, bent forward, back horizontal, tail up, neck arched and eyes pinning and Beau jumped on! I tried to break it up but Joey was frozen in place, ignoring my efforts! I tried to "bat" Beau away he mostly ignored my efforts too. I finally broke it up so they didn't finish the act. I finally got Beau back in his cage. What's funny is that Beau is very bonded to Rocky his cagemate but she's not the jealous type and the whole scene didn't faze her at all. Rocky's apparently the wife and Joey's the mistress, and a shameless one at that!

The day before when I brought Joey down she did something really strange. For a few months she shared her cage with Cora another female, but Cora didn't like Joey much so she moved out and moved into the large cage with 4 English Budgies (The English Embassy), 2 males and 2 females, and all was fine. Anyway, when Joey saw Cora she started to posture to HER, something she's never done before, so maybe Joey's bisexual. Cora didnt respond. Joey has two sisters who mate with each other and lay eggs together so I guess their unusual sexual behavior runs in the family.

I sent an email to Joey's vet telling him about Joey's behavior. I can't believe this implant, which is sized for a much larger bird or mammal, didnt appear to work in a 30 gram budgie! Perhaps it will still prevent egg laying even though it obviously didn't work to stop her hypersexual behavior.

 

[rheashard2]

Maybe a dumb question/observation. Could it be a combination of learned behavior, habit combined with need for hormones to stabilize? I was wondering after I read your post. When neutered as mature adults, animals can maintain their behavior for periods of time. I have lots of experience with male horn dogs and cats. These were neutered as mature adults. It took months for them to settle down. A consideration. It might take a while for her to change.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I don't know. I've heard that about male dogs and cats but what about females? Do female cats and dogs hump things when they're not in heat?
It seems like Joey's sexual behavior takes a lot of energy resources and I would think it would wear her out to behave like this out of habit. Especially the posturing I witnessed. Her little body was literally locked in that position on the perch. I watched her transition from normal posture to a "statue". I wonder what she was feeling?
I just hope the implant prevents ovulation.

 

[rheashard2]

I neutered several female dogs growing up. This was in the old days of allowing females to have a heat period or two before surgery. 2 excessively maternal afterwards. Nursing behaviors to toys, other pups, kittens and once a goose. Geese are naturally aggressive. Imagine living with one raised by territorial unknown bull mix. (He ended up being the best watch dog possible.) One female showed definite masculine tendencies towards females in heat. Is there reliable documentation on behaviors before and after avian implants with companion birds? I wonder what the transition period is. Human females swing between Jeckle and Hyde hormone triggered emotions and behaviors normally. Maybe whatever the avian equivalent is trying to resynchronize to this new hormonal norm.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I don't think there's a lot of information out there on how these implants affect female birds' post implant sexual behavior (I've looked). The emphasis seemed entirely on egg laying and it's very effective in cockatiels. Joey's sexuality is very strangely aggressive, making no effort to form a pair bond as most breeding female budgies do.
Since the implant is temporary and the duration of effect in a budgie sized bird is largely unknown (6 to 12 months?). If she doesn't lay any eggs in the next four weeks I think I can assume it worked for laying at least but I don't know how to judge when its time to replace the implant- when she starts laying again?
This makes it hard to determine if she just needs more time to adjust. What worries me is that when I brought her to the other birds a week ago she was fine with them, even with Beau. This new episode was a week later. I'm pretty confused at this point and maybe Joey is too. I feel sorry for her. Sexual activity seems to be her goal in life and she can't have it, poor girl.

 

[Francie Mae]

I’m sorry to hear she’s still exhibiting behavior you hoped the implant would deter, but I’m very happy to hear she’s otherwise recovered from the surgery itself.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thanks. I sent a message to her vet describing her recent behavior and he's disappointed too. He's going to examine her to ensure the implant is still in place but he's thinking that perhaps, just like @rheashard2 suggested, Joey's current sexual behavior may be strictly behavioral vs hormone mediated and the implant may still prevent egg laying. He told me to watch for eggs over the next few weeks. If she starts to lay again and the implant is still intact, it would be a treatment failure. I'm very disappointed because I was hoping to integrate her into the flock but not if she's going to harass the boys or God forbid start laying again. She is not normal that's for sure.

Did you look at any of the forum posts from Amna about Rudi the female baby eclectus?