Sick budgie Mariah

[bug_n_flock]

I don't give those people the time of day. The very reason budgies and cockatiels make such good starter birds is because they are very near to "perfect".

Or maybe I'm just biased

 

[kme3388]

Are the short lifespans due to inbreeding? My conure has some odd coloration. That was one of the reasons given to me as a reason. The vet mentioned parrot inbreeding causes medical issues.

I don’t blame someone for not wanting to adopt out a parrot who has hollow bones, and is very fragile to children. I do my best to not judge a situation but I haven’t found young kids that my parrots like. I don’t have anything against children I just think there are better “starter” animals. Like a pet rock

 

[kme3388]

The huge difference between smaller parrots & larger is that beak. The larger parrot beaks can be dangerous, and inflict a lot of harm. My sun conure actually bites me more often than my larger parrots combined. He is also a bowl flipper, and can be quite challenging. He’s a lot of personality packed into a little body. He’s a snippy little boy. He is also very trainable like the big parrots. Training wasn’t really a thing when I had my budgie. The internet wasn’t really a thing either. So I can’t comment on how they differ from larger parrots. My conures I can though.

 

[bug_n_flock]

My second ever budgie was only semi tame, named Kitten. She taught herself to explore the whole house. Meaning-in and out of cage, up and down stairs, under/thru open doors. She knew all that stuff. Was wing clipped very very close so she could fly about as well as a pet rock at the time i was between 10-13 years old so didn't know better.

Yeah budgies are underrated *geniuses*. Can absolutely be trained very well, and can have extensive vocabularies. I had one budgie named Fatty Dingdong who could sure chat up a storm.... All hilarious horrible things for a tiny little boidy to say it was amazing. I miss that bird so much he was such a a character not just the stuff he knew how to say

And all this praise I'm singing for these lil guys?

I've also got a big Mac and have had other larger parrots in the past, or worked with them.

Budgies and cockatiels are 100% real parrots. And 100% really amazing feather people.

Also I personally am fine with selling my babies to kids, responsible kids. I got my little Tweety bird when I was only 9 years old. Parental supervision can be helpful in learning to care for a pet properly, but I certainly didn't have that! Everybody's gotta start somewhere and youth doesn't necessarily mean they ain't gonna be a great bird caretaker/the best one they can be.

 

[bug_n_flock]

And I mean Kitten got in n out of her *closed cage* i don't remember if it had sliding feed cup doors, but i do remember that wasnt how she did it. At the time my family also had three cats and a dog. Kitten never got ate up, what eventually did her in was she broke her neck after falling down the center of a paper towel tube while I was at School. I stopped letting the birds free range my bedroom unsupervised after that

And thinking back I was probably close to 12 when I got her, because I had Tweety and only Tweety for I think 3 years before I got Kit it was a long time ago


Yes the short lifespan is due to inbreeding. When I worked at the parrot shop one of my customers had a 21 year old American budgie. And that was just one example. Personally my youngest budgie at the moment is 6 I think. My oldest is a mystery, but I got him as a "free to good home" bird off Craigslist before I moved here.... So in 2017? And he was a grown adult then, at least a couple years old. So probably 10-12 id guess? Nice healthy mutt American budgie. And I'm just guessing he's my oldest, I bought a group of birds off some guy several years ago and some of those birds have leg bands so I know they weren't hatched out in his care. I have no idea on their histories.

 

[AprilRobin]

Also I personally am fine with selling my babies to kids, responsible kids. I got my little Tweety bird when I was only 9 years old. Parental supervision can be helpful in learning to care for a pet properly, but I certainly didn't have that! Everybody's gotta start somewhere and youth doesn't necessarily mean they ain't gonna be a great bird caretaker/the best one they can be.

Oh, I agree - there are good, responsible kids. The main problem is when careless parents don't do their research and take the animal seriously. It's one reason why I will never work at a pet store again. There are parents who let their child pick out a small pet on a whim, then complain about buying the most basic things that the pet needs.

 

[AprilRobin]

DonnaBudgie, I apologize for making Mariah's thread go off-topic...I hope she is feeling better.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Are the short lifespans due to inbreeding? My conure has some odd coloration. That was one of the reasons given to me as a reason. The vet mentioned parrot inbreeding causes medical issues.

I don’t blame someone for not wanting to adopt out a parrot who has hollow bones, and is very fragile to children. I do my best to not judge a situation but I haven’t found young kids that my parrots like. I don’t have anything against children I just think there are better “starter” animals. Like a pet rock

I think a lot of budgies have short lifespans because they are overweight and out of shape. Sitting in a cage all day with an all you can eat seed buffet and no out of cage flying time is so bad for their health. I should adopt out some of my budgies but I don't want them sitting in small cages never enjoying flight. But if they are let out of their cages they may fly out a door or window, get stepped on, or get eaten by the family cat or dog. Either way their lives will be at risk so I keep all of them. I will be quickly overrun with budgies if I don't prevent breeding.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Mariah isn't getting better but she isn't getting worse. She stumbles around in her bin but is still able to sit in her low perch. She eats and poops. I haven't watched her drink but she has a bowl of fresh water closeby. I clean her vent area every morning to prevent buildup and she's pooping. She tends to stumble and fall and land on her back with trouble rolling back onto her feet. I help her when I see she's in a bad position. She preens and looks around. She's never been very active. She's always slept much of the time but before this "event" she could fly and climb normally. I won't let her get injured by putting her in a conventional cage. She could live like this for a long time I suspect.

Please, friends, help me decide what to do. Do I make her comfortable and keep her in her bin or do I have her euthanized?

 

[Corkscr.ew]

Mariah isn't getting better but she isn't getting worse. She stumbles around in her bin but is still able to sit in her low perch. She eats and poops. I haven't watched her drink but she has a bowl of fresh water closeby. I clean her vent area every morning to prevent buildup and she's pooping. She tends to stumble and fall and land on her back with trouble rolling back onto her feet. I help her when I see she's in a bad position. She preens and looks around. She's never been very active. She's always slept much of the time but before this "event" she could fly and climb normally. I won't let her get injured by putting her in a conventional cage. She could live like this for a long time I suspect.

Please, friends, help me decide what to do. Do I make her comfortable and keep her in her bin or do I have her euthanized?

I wouldn't immediately resort to euthanasia unless she gets worse or is visibly in pain most of the time. But it could also be necessary if she doesn't get better at all, because I think it's morally questionable to let a bird suffer for a prolonged period of time.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I don't know how much she's suffering. That's the problem.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It really seems like does had a mild stroke that's affected her mobility. I'm so tired of strokes. My mother at 88 is severely disabled from a stroke and both my father and my sister's husband died of strokes in the past 8 months. So much suffering whether they kill you or not.

 

[kme3388]

These are always hard decisions to make. Have you seen this in any of the other budgies you’ve had? Do they recover? Strokes are nasty. When I worked in a nursing home we had a few residents that were there following strokes. It can severely impair people. I never had the chance to see the mild ones due to where I worked. I am glad to hear Mariah isn’t worsening, and can still eat.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I've never had a budgie recover from any kind of stroke. I did have a budgie get back the use of her legs after a fractured femur and after her pelvic bones spread too much while laying eggs (same bird) but once she had a stroke, which was worse than Mariahs, I put her down because she was so bad.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Strokes are tough. **Hugs**

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I'm starting to think Mariah may have a broken bone, maybe her femur (upper leg deep inside her pelvis) and not a stroke because she doesn't seem to have any weird neurological behavior I would attribute to a stroke. Both her feet grip properly, but she's weak overall.

Birds can definitely fracture a femur in a fall. That's what happend to Lilibet, a beautuful female I had several years ago. She fell about 3 feet and had similar problems. The vet showed me her broken femur on an xray and told me her prognosis was questionable because there was nothing they could do. I brought Lilibet home and kept her in a specially outfitted 24x24x32 plexiglas cage with a heavily padded floor and very low perches. She recovered well and lived another year before I had her put down after a major stroke.

This whole thing with Mariah began when I found her six days ago on the floor in my house at the end of the day when all the budgies were going to sleep. Her balance seems okay, but she stumbles and falls onto her back when she moves around too quickly in her bin and has difficulty flipping back onto her feet so I help her. She does some grooming and stretches her wings. I keep her millet spray (the easiest most tempting food for her) right there at her perch stand and a bowl of water a couple steps away along with a fresh leaf of wet romaine lettuce, mostly for moisture. I hold her in a small towel once a day and make sure her vent is clean. She struggles some when I do this but not like a strong healthy budgie would.
She's never been very active and sociable so I don't worry too much about boredom and loneliness like I would with most of my other budgies.
Here's her current setup. The bin is about 20x14x14. She has a nice view outside through the hazy plastic bin. I don't think a cage with bars is a good idea because she'll try to climb and will fall. That would quickly wear her out and I want her to use her energy to heal. I'm willing to take special care of her for the rest of her life whatever that may be. It seems like as long as she's eating she must feel okay, right?

I hope I'm doing the right thing with her.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Sounds like what you're doing is perfect.

Is she a chewer at all? She could get in some good shredding action without moving too much and could beat back boredom that way.

 

[Jcas]

That looks like a great set up! If she’s still eating then I think you’re right to give her a chance to heal!

 

[kme3388]

I'm starting to think Mariah may have a broken bone, maybe her femur (upper leg deep inside her pelvis) and not a stroke because she doesn't seem to have any weird neurological behavior I would attribute to a stroke. Both her feet grip properly, but she's weak overall.

Birds can definitely fracture a femur in a fall. That's what happend to Lilibet, a beautuful female I had several years ago. She fell about 3 feet and had similar problems. The vet showed me her broken femur on an xray and told me her prognosis was questionable because there was nothing they could do. I brought Lilibet home and kept her in a specially outfitted 24x24x32 plexiglas cage with a heavily padded floor and very low perches. She recovered well and lived another year before I had her put down after a major stroke.

This whole thing with Mariah began when I found her six days ago on the floor in my house at the end of the day when all the budgies were going to sleep. Her balance seems okay, but she stumbles and falls onto her back when she moves around too quickly in her bin and has difficulty flipping back onto her feet so I help her. She does some grooming and stretches her wings. I keep her millet spray (the easiest most tempting food for her) right there at her perch stand and a bowl of water a couple steps away along with a fresh leaf of wet romaine lettuce, mostly for moisture. I hold her in a small towel once a day and make sure her vent is clean. She struggles some when I do this but not like a strong healthy budgie would.
She's never been very active and sociable so I don't worry too much about boredom and loneliness like I would with most of my other budgies.
Here's her current setup. The bin is about 20x14x14. She has a nice view outside through the hazy plastic bin. I don't think a cage with bars is a good idea because she'll try to climb and will fall. That would quickly wear her out and I want her to use her energy to heal. I'm willing to take special care of her for the rest of her life whatever that may be. It seems like as long as she's eating she must feel okay, right?

I hope I'm doing the right thing with her.
View attachment 80352

This is such a nice, and thoughtful setup for a parrot who’s struggling. She’s lucky to have you. She really is beautiful.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I'm starting to think Mariah may have a broken bone, maybe her femur (upper leg deep inside her pelvis) and not a stroke because she doesn't seem to have any weird neurological behavior I would attribute to a stroke. Both her feet grip properly, but she's weak overall.

Birds can definitely fracture a femur in a fall. That's what happend to Lilibet, a beautuful female I had several years ago. She fell about 3 feet and had similar problems. The vet showed me her broken femur on an xray and told me her prognosis was questionable because there was nothing they could do. I brought Lilibet home and kept her in a specially outfitted 24x24x32 plexiglas cage with a heavily padded floor and very low perches. She recovered well and lived another year before I had her put down after a major stroke.

This whole thing with Mariah began when I found her six days ago on the floor in my house at the end of the day when all the budgies were going to sleep. Her balance seems okay, but she stumbles and falls onto her back when she moves around too quickly in her bin and has difficulty flipping back onto her feet so I help her. She does some grooming and stretches her wings. I keep her millet spray (the easiest most tempting food for her) right there at her perch stand and a bowl of water a couple steps away along with a fresh leaf of wet romaine lettuce, mostly for moisture. I hold her in a small towel once a day and make sure her vent is clean. She struggles some when I do this but not like a strong healthy budgie would.
She's never been very active and sociable so I don't worry too much about boredom and loneliness like I would with most of my other budgies.
Here's her current setup. The bin is about 20x14x14. She has a nice view outside through the hazy plastic bin. I don't think a cage with bars is a good idea because she'll try to climb and will fall. That would quickly wear her out and I want her to use her energy to heal. I'm willing to take special care of her for the rest of her life whatever that may be. It seems like as long as she's eating she must feel okay, right?

I hope I'm doing the right thing with her.
View attachment 80352

A setup fit for a queen! Heal fast, lovely girl!