Kiwi is having seizures-

[KiwiAndBubblesBudgies1]

For the past month or so, Kiwi’s been steadily showing signs of sickness. Recently, he began throwing up a clear, gooey substance, along with occasional whole seeds. The throwing up seemed much more violent and uncontrollable compared to normal birb throwing up, and now, when he’s about to throw up, he seems to be forcing himself to keep it down.
This is certainly an issue, but my parents didn’t seem too concerned and tacked most of the blame on Bubbles, who continues to be a very aggressive and angsty female birb.
But recently, Kiwi began having violent seizures.
Watching him this morning, he suddenly collapsed while on top of the cage, his breathing heavy and his wings flopping down through the bars, seeming like his feet weren’t holding him up. Then he began to… literally roll and writhe around. I tried to grab him and hold his wings down, but he flopped off the cage and towards the shoe rack, twisting around and flapping his wings uncontrollably…
I probably should’ve added this in earlier, but Bubbles has been extremely aggressive and did… something… to his wings and Kiwi is no longer able to fly properly…
After this, I took him into my room and onto my bed. After he calmed down, I tried giving him water, but he refused to drink any.
He’s been sick for a while, like I said, and seems unable or unwilling to eat any food besides millet and the occasional spinach or broccoli bit.
I’m very worried about him. My parents are working on making a border thing to separate them inside their cage, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring Kiwi to the vet at some point-
If anyone has any idea what’s going on with him, why it’s happening, or how to fix any of it, I’d be very grateful, I’ve had Kiwi for over two years now, and I really don’t want to lose him…

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

For the past month or so, Kiwi’s been steadily showing signs of sickness. Recently, he began throwing up a clear, gooey substance, along with occasional whole seeds. The throwing up seemed much more violent and uncontrollable compared to normal birb throwing up, and now, when he’s about to throw up, he seems to be forcing himself to keep it down.
This is certainly an issue, but my parents didn’t seem too concerned and tacked most of the blame on Bubbles, who continues to be a very aggressive and angsty female birb.
But recently, Kiwi began having violent seizures.
Watching him this morning, he suddenly collapsed while on top of the cage, his breathing heavy and his wings flopping down through the bars, seeming like his feet weren’t holding him up. Then he began to… literally roll and writhe around. I tried to grab him and hold his wings down, but he flopped off the cage and towards the shoe rack, twisting around and flapping his wings uncontrollably…
I probably should’ve added this in earlier, but Bubbles has been extremely aggressive and did… something… to his wings and Kiwi is no longer able to fly properly…
After this, I took him into my room and onto my bed. After he calmed down, I tried giving him water, but he refused to drink any.
He’s been sick for a while, like I said, and seems unable or unwilling to eat any food besides millet and the occasional spinach or broccoli bit.
I’m very worried about him. My parents are working on making a border thing to separate them inside their cage, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring Kiwi to the vet at some point-
If anyone has any idea what’s going on with him, why it’s happening, or how to fix any of it, I’d be very grateful, I’ve had Kiwi for over two years now, and I really don’t want to lose him…

Vet ASAP, and you NEED to separate them. I cannot stress that enough. He needs to be away from her NOW, and you need to find an emergency vet, even if it's not a CAV.

 

[KiwiAndBubblesBudgies1]

Vet ASAP, and you NEED to separate them. I cannot stress that enough.

My dad’s working on a separator for their cage right now- My parents are still skeptical about taking them to a vet, but my dad seems to be slowly agreeing and hopefully we’ll take Kiwi to the vet in the next week and find out, and hopefully fix what’s going on-

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

My dad’s working on a separator for their cage right now- My parents are still skeptical about taking them to a vet, but my dad seems to be slowly agreeing and hopefully we’ll take Kiwi to the vet in the next week and find out, and hopefully fix what’s going on-

The need to be separate now, the female is a huge danger to him. Not saying females are inherently like that, but they need more space and privacy than males so they don't go crazy from stress. Can you just let one free roam for now? Or can you get another cage, even if it is small?

And like I said, if Kiwi is having seizures, it's not just a "yeah, sure, we can go to the vet sometime, whatever" situation, it's an emergency. Tell your parents he will die if he doesn't see a vet ASAP. Here in the USA, even with horrible inflation, taking one budgie to the vet (for me) was only 75USD. And that included checking Picasso's (the bird I brought) heart, lungs, and prescribing more meds. Some things you can even do on your own, and don't have to pay for the prescription. My vet prescribed some Aspirin dissolved in her water to reduce inflammation (DO NOT do this without a prescription from a vet, it can kill your bird). So I didn't have to pay for some fancy medication for that part, just some Aspirin and some water.

 

[KiwiAndBubblesBudgies1]

The need to be separate now, the female is a huge danger to him. Not saying females are inherently like that, but they need more space and privacy than males so they don't go crazy from stress. Can you just let one free roam for now? Or can you get another cage, even if it is small?

And like I said, if Kiwi is having seizures, it's not just a "yeah, sure, we can go to the vet sometime, whatever" situation, it's an emergency. Tell your parents he will die if he doesn't see a vet ASAP. Here in the USA, even with horrible inflation, taking one budgie to the vet (for me) was only 75USD. And that included checking Picasso's (the bird I brought) heart, lungs, and prescribing more meds. Some things you can even do on your own, and don't have to pay for the prescription. My vet prescribed some Aspirin dissolved in her water to reduce inflammation (DO NOT do this without a prescription from a vet, it can kill your bird). So I didn't have to pay for some fancy medication for that part, just some Aspirin and some water.

My dad was planning on getting a smaller, separate cage for Kiwi since he can’t really fly anyways… and we need one anyways for vet trips- My dad still doesn’t think a vet can help, but he did say that if Kiwi doesn’t improve after separation, we’ll try a vet trip- I really hope we do end up taking him, but there’s not much I can really do to get my dad on board with the whole idea, like usual, vets are too “expensive”…

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

My dad was planning on getting a smaller, separate cage for Kiwi since he can’t really fly anyways… and we need one anyways for vet trips- My dad still doesn’t think a vet can help, but he did say that if Kiwi doesn’t improve after separation, we’ll try a vet trip- I really hope we do end up taking him, but there’s not much I can really do to get my dad on board with the whole idea, like usual, vets are too “expensive”…

Seriously!? It could even be 50USD! And that's a small price to pay for a life. I'm so sorry 🫂

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

Can you pay with your own money? Or at least partially with your own money?

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

Or make a deal with him that you'll pay him back or that he can withhold allowance for a bit? Anything?

 

[KiwiAndBubblesBudgies1]

Or make a deal with him that you'll pay him back or that he can withhold allowance for a bit? Anything?

*wheezes I don’t get allowance- T-T

 

[Laurasea]

I'm so sorry you have sick budgies. Its heart breaking to love and not be able to make decisions and choices on their care. Its an absolutely horrible position to be put in.

I just don't understand parents who do this, of which their are many. I'm sure they don't mean to be teaching that life only has value if its easy and perfect and then the second its hard or takes work give up.


It looks like you've been posting about your birds being sick since last September. So its not going to get better on its own .

There are lots of causes of chronic health issues. Only a veterinarian who examined the bird would be able to help. And work on trying to find answers.

The only thing you can do , ( until veterinarian help) is to continue to care for them and love them as you do. Provide the best possible diet. Warm and clean cage.

I wish I has a magic way to make it better for you. You obviously have love and empathy and a desire to do right by them.

 

[BirdyBee]

Try to separate him asap, and give him some warmth. Limit movement. Keep an eye on him whenever possible(I'm sure you already do that.) Sorry to hear he is ill, praying and hoping for the best 🙏

 

[Kitty16]

The need to be separate now, the female is a huge danger to him. Not saying females are inherently like that, but they need more space and privacy than males so they don't go crazy from stress. Can you just let one free roam for now? Or can you get another cage, even if it is small?

And like I said, if Kiwi is having seizures, it's not just a "yeah, sure, we can go to the vet sometime, whatever" situation, it's an emergency. Tell your parents he will die if he doesn't see a vet ASAP. Here in the USA, even with horrible inflation, taking one budgie to the vet (for me) was only 75USD. And that included checking Picasso's (the bird I brought) heart, lungs, and prescribing more meds. Some things you can even do on your own, and don't have to pay for the prescription. My vet prescribed some Aspirin dissolved in her water to reduce inflammation (DO NOT do this without a prescription from a vet, it can kill your bird). So I didn't have to pay for some fancy medication for that part, just some Aspirin and some water.

My parents act like this with pets also, I’m sure that person definitely would right away but sometimes parents think that even people who study birds know nothing, I told my Mom that we would have to do yearly check ups and she basically said that’s unnecessary and “those people on YouTube know nothing”, same thing with my hamster, he has an extremely small cage and I’ve been wanting to get him a big cage even before I got him, it’s been 2 years now and he’s going to die with a sad life, and I’m not sure if you saw my thread about it but one of my budgies got it’s foot stuck on a toy and my Dad keeps putting the toy back in the cage, every time I mention it to my parents they start laughing and think it’s crazy that I said it will try to eat it’s foot off again if it gets stuck during the night and we won’t be able to help it, I’m guessing the reason why my Mom thinks she knows more about birds than people who study them is because she had birds like 20-30 years ago.

 

[HeatherG]

The vomiting could be a neurological problem, or could be part of the original issue that’s making Kiwi sick.

It’s normal for a healthy bird to pick on a sick or weaker flock member. It is sad and seems mean, but is quite normal. I’ve seen this happen several times in my own birds after owning birds since I was a little kid. Usually my budgies were discarded pets that someone else did not want, so they had problems.

I would suggest making a cage divider (even out of cardboard but your birds couldn’t see each other then and that would be upsetting.). What about using hardware cloth, wire mesh, or window screen cut to size? It’s not the best but it’s better than letting the female beat him up.
You could call a thrift store and find out if they have any bird cages.

Another option I used with my Lucy when she was sick was a big clear Rubbermaid plastic box. You could line that with newspaper. A clean aquarium would be ok too. I would line this with newspaper and give Kiwi some washed branches to sit on.

I am sorry your folks won’t take your bird in. Most veterinarians are trained to deal with basic bird problems, but some veterinarians ONLY study birds or specialize in exotics like birds and reptiles. There are things that could be done to help your bird. But right now you just need to make sure he has access to food and water and is at an ok temperature.

Gotta go—I am being pinched because I stopped petting Willow.

 

[KiwiAndBubblesBudgies1]

The vomiting could be a neurological problem, or could be part of the original issue that’s making Kiwi sick.

It’s normal for a healthy bird to pick on a sick or weaker flock member. It is sad and seems mean, but is quite normal. I’ve seen this happen several times in my own birds after owning birds since I was a little kid. Usually my budgies were discarded pets that someone else did not want, so they had problems.

I would suggest making a cage divider (even out of cardboard but your birds couldn’t see each other then and that would be upsetting.). What about using hardware cloth, wire mesh, or window screen cut to size? It’s not the best but it’s better than letting the female beat him up.
You could call a thrift store and find out if they have any bird cages.

Another option I used with my Lucy when she was sick was a big clear Rubbermaid plastic box. You could line that with newspaper. A clean aquarium would be ok too. I would line this with newspaper and give Kiwi some washed branches to sit on.

I am sorry your folks won’t take your bird in. Most veterinarians are trained to deal with basic bird problems, but some veterinarians ONLY study birds or specialize in exotics like birds and reptiles. There are things that could be done to help your bird. But right now you just need to make sure he has access to food and water and is at an ok temperature.

Gotta go—I am being pinched because I stopped petting Willow.

Thanks for the advice, my dad loves building things and he had a bunch of skinny wood dowels and he made a little wall with a bit of spacing between each dowel, and it seems to be working fine- the first few times we put it in, Bubbles managed to worm her way underneath it so we had to plug up the bottom- now Bubbles is spending half her day biting the wall and trying to get to the other side, but Kiwi is just lying around in the food bowl and spending hours grooming without getting his wings bitten- I think this might actually help him recover.

 

[HeatherG]

I hope this works. There is a chance that kiwi just did not have adequate access to food and water and this barrier will help! But make sure both birds have food and water.

Also if the birds chew up the dowels then maybe you can get hardware cloth or window screen.

I’m glad your dad helped you!!