New budgie is starved. Hasn’t eaten in two days

[Yasmine]

Hi everyone, I kind of need your help again. My neighbor found out that I have budgies and she sent her daughter over with a tiny cage right now. She said “my mom told me to give this to you. We didn’t have time to buy it food so you should feed it because it hasn’t eaten for two days”. I’m shocked. The budgie still seems young as I cannot tell if it is male or female. I just served some of my bird food to it and it ate it up quickly. It also drank water but now it’s jhst on the bottom of the cage. It won’t perch up on anything. I’m taking it to the vet tomorrow but I wanted to know if I should be doing anything else. It breaks my heart how people abuse these poor birds. They buy them at pet stores because they’re known to be beginner birds when in reality they need a lot of care and attention. What can I do to make the little guy more comfortable

 

[ParrotGenie]

Good thing is he, or she is eating and drinking? Usually a bird being at bottom of cage is a bad sign, but it could be due to he, or she is in a new environment and they do tend to stay at the bottom of the cage for a couple of days. A good idea to get the bird to a vet to check for illness?

 

[Yasmine]

Yes, the bird is eating and is drinking. The poor thing didn’t even let me place the food dish in correctly before it started to eat. That’s how hungry it was. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you for taking this little one in to your home and your heart, it may have been a bumpy road to get there but this baby is in the right place now. All the very best to you and hopes for a good vet visit tomorrow.

 

[Allee]

Thank you for offering a home to a budgie in distress. Poor little guy, I’m glad the neighbor reached out before things got even worse. Budgies are awfully tiny, two days without food is a very long time, the long stretch with no nutrition and the stress may be the reason he isn’t feeling well enough to perch even after being fed. Sounds like you’re doing everything right, keep him warm and quiet and hope for an encouraging vet visit. It’s always a good precaution to follow quarantine protocol when you bring in a new bird. Best of luck, please keep us updated.

 

[Scott]

Thanks so much for rescuing this hapless budgie! Hope he improves and becomes a beloved companion.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I can't add much, but thank you for being in the right time and place and, beyond that, opening up your home to this little one!

 

[ChristaNL]

Congrats on another edition to your flock (if the little one makes it).
I think you've already done it: you made sure the birdy has enough to eat now, fresh drinking water and a place to rest and get his/her strenght back.


Training this one is going to be a breeze- the foodmotivation will last quite some time I guess.

 

[Yasmine]

I just got back from the vet. Everything’s going very well for him (he’s a male). Had some tests run on him. When I uncovered his cage this morning I was shocked to see him wide awake and perching! I’m so happy because I was so worried last night. It has been a good day with much improvement!!

 

[Squeekmouse]

Thank you SO much for rescuing him!! The poor little guy!!

Share pics and keep us posted. Sounds like he's going to ba all right now that someone is FEEDING HIM!! Oh my God that makes me so mad... and so sad! At least they had the heart to bring him to you. Sigh.... people amaze me... :49:

 

[Aspie_Aviphile]

Report them to the police and your country's animal protection agency, like the RSPCA here in the UK, as soon as possible. I say both in case the police ignore you, because then the agency will do the investigation for the police before passing on any possible charges. The adults in that house must all be banned from ever keeping animals again and any other animals must be taken away from them immediately. Depending on how speciesist your government's sentencing guidelines are, they might get probation too. Prevention is better than cure, and you can bet they WILL do this again if not put on an animal abuser list or at least punished in some way or other.

That house must be searched for fish, brine shrimp, stick insects, any and every live animal and I'm afraid the only way for you to know for sure they have no more animals and never will is to get the law involved. :smile037:

 

[EllenD]

Thank you for saving this poor little guy's life...I see that the UK doesn't feel any differently about Budgies than people do in the US, like they are "beginner" or "starter" birds and that it's okay to throw them away like trash, neglect them, starve them, and just let them die...A lot of people don't even think that Budgies are actually Parrots at all!!! I'm literally a life-long Budgie owner/breeder/hand-raiser, so I have a very huge part of my heart taken-up by Budgies and all the other small Parakeet species, so this really pisses me off...

Did your neighbor tell you why they got the Budgie in the first place? I mean, was this a Budgie that they purposely went out and bought as a pet for themselves and then just decided to starve to death, or did they take it in from someone else or find it outside and then decide they couldn't care for it? Because if they actually went out and purposely spent money on buying this Budgie as a pet for themselves, brought it home, and then decided they didn't want it anymore or that they didn't like it and didn't want to spend money on food for it so they were just going to let it starve to death, then I would be not only contacting your local law-enforcement and/or local Animal-Cruelty agencies (I don't know what you have in England), but I'd also be contacting all of your local pet shops, especially the pet shop where they bought him, and tell them to never sell them another live animal/bird ever again and let them know that they were literally letting him starve to death. People like this typically go right back out and buy another bird or other type of small pet very quickly after they allow the first one to die or get rid of it, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if they go right back to the same pet shop for another bird or animal within the next week or two...So you need to make sure that the owners of the local pet shops and local bird breeders know what they were doing to this poor little Budgie so they can refuse to sell them any more live animals...

 

[Allee]

This is wonderful news! He had a terribly bumpy start but you changed everything for him. We’d love to see photos of your flock and it’s newest member.

 

[Yasmine]

Hi Ellen, I’m from the US too, specifically Michigan. I don’t know where to go or who to contact about this issue. As for them buying it? The story is extremely frustrating which is why I didn’t mention it in the beginning. They bought the bird from somewhere (not sure where exactly) because their two year old son cried for it. Bought a tiny cage and NO FOOD!!!! Their son was allowed to do as he pleased with it. My little sister contacted them when found out (she’s 10) and said if they couldn’t take care of the bird, then to give it to me. And I had no idea any of this was going on until they brought the poor baby over to me. I ended up naming him Georgie lol. I am in class now as I’m a full time student but once I’m home I will take plenty of pictures!

 

[ParrotGenie]

Bad parents for sure. No responsibility what so ever? Why would they buy him the bird and not teach him proper care, or chores? When I got my first bird i had to learn how to hand feed and raise the bird correctly, thankfully from a experience vet, since I was the one that wanted the bird. Plus we were taught at a young age to treat animal as part of family, as you would yourself.

Now a days is sad as people treat them as a throw away item. Honestly quite shock they didn't even bother to buy food,or even try to? Glad you have it now and lives to see another day. Otherwise that bird would have ended up dead, or let outside?

 

[ChristaNL]

Can we adopt your little sister as an honorary member here?


She did great!
(just like you)

 

[LaManuka]

Bad parronts, bad parents, the two usually go together, sad to say. At least the kids seem to be bucking the trend (so far!) Given the way grown adults treat each other it should be no surprise that they neglect/abuse helpless animals. It just makes me wanna cry - thank heavens you were there to save at least one more little soul!

 

[Laurasea]

Thank you for the rescues, thank your sister for stepping up and saying something, that takes a lot if guts! Even just suggested to rehome to you, to take action, very inspiring! I've seen a lot of horrors in my previous career that I am unable to understand how people justify to themselves.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

That little budgie is going to be thanking you (and your sister!) for saving his life with many years of happiness and lovies to the both of you!
Thank you!And your sister! for taking this guy in!


Jim

 

[EllenD]

I'm sorry Yasmine, I must have been looking at someone elses profile that said they were from "England"...In the US, pets are considered personal property, just like a TV set or a car, so law-enforcement won't do much about it, except that they can give you the name and phone number of the correct animal-cruelty organization to call, so I'd call your local police department or sheriff's department, whatever police department you would call for anything else (the non-emergency number), and just ask them who you should contact locally to report animal abuse and neglect, and they'll be able to give you the phone number to the place you need to call...Then call them and give them the entire story of what happened. They probably won't get in any kind of legal or criminal trouble, however the local animal cruelty organization that you call generally will make a visit to their home or at least a phone call to let them know that purposely not feeding any animal that they buy is actually legally considered to be no different than "Animal Abuse" as a criminal charge, and that they could be charged criminally with a misdemeanor if they do it again. There is no such criminal charge as "Animal Neglect" in any state in the US, because "animal neglect" is considered no different than "Animal Abuse", so neglecting to feed a pet is considered no different than beating or physically harming or killing an animal. It's all the same charge, and it's taken very seriously...In most states they can only charge people with Animal Abuse if they are either physically harming their pets, or if they are failing to provide "basic needs" to the pet: food, water, and shelter at all times. And that's exactly what your neighbor failed to do, so they did break the law and could be charged with Animal Abuse.

I don't know if your area has a "Dog Officer", who is a part of the local law enforcement, but that's probably who the police department will put you in touch with if you ask them who to report animal abuse to. The Dog-Officer is actually a law-enforcement agent, and they will assess the situation and then they make a choice as to whether or not they go to a local judge and ask them to issue a warrant to charge them with animal abuse. That's usually how that works. In this case they may or may not decide to charge them, but if nothing else they will put the fear of God in them so they don't do it again, which I'm sure they will do unless they are threatened with criminal charges in the future.

I have no idea why adults would go out and buy a living creature for their very young child and think it's okay to not feed the poor thing, I guess they just thought it was okay to buy the poor bird just to shut their child up and stop him from crying, and then they'd just let the bird die, which they think is okay to do as long as it shuts their kid up...Obviously they aren't very good parents either, so they certainly shouldn't have any pets. If you have a local pet shop like Petco or Petsmart, that's probably where they bought the Budgie, they both sell Budgies and always have plenty of them for sale, and they typically don't care at all who they sell them to, they just sell them. It's hard to do anything to stop them from selling them to them again, so you have to go the law enforcement route.