| Hi Donna,
8 years is fairly old for a budgie, I have heard of them living to 14.
I had one live 10 years on Grocery store food and lettuce, that was
before I joined this conference and I was lucky.
It sounds to me like he needs to see the vet, as it could be a number
of things.
15 months ago Buddie(my budgie) had problems with watery droppings and
I took a dropping sample to the vet and they found he had the wrong
bacteria. They prscribed Chloro... and he got better. $15
3 month ago he had the same problem, and I took him to the vet. She
looked him over said he looked fine, but found the wrong bacteria in
his dropping. They prscribed Chloro... and he got better. $55-65,
don't remember exactly.
The vet I went to was dr. Kilgore at the Littleton animal hosp.
1.are his dropping normal ?
2. are his breathing holes clear ?
3. when he perches does his tail dip up and down ?
4. Does he sleep on 2 feet, 1 foot is usually normal ?
Anyone one of these indicates problems as does not taking care of
himself as you mentioned.
It sounds like you have been taking good care of him, but sometimes
they just get sick. Do you let him out for exercise ? how big is his
cage ?
Doug
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| Hi Donna,
If your node name means you are in the Bay Area, Dr. Brian Speer at
the Oakley Animal Hospital is in the vicinity and is excellent. He
specializes in birds. I am in Massachusetts and use Dr. Kilgore,
same as Doug in -.1 note, but had occasion to visit Dr. Speer while
on vacation out there. His staff seemed very knowledgeable, even
over the phone. Look at note 12.5 in this conference for address
and phone number.
If your bird is not feeling well, one of the best things you can do
for him is to keep him warm and free from too much stress, like noise
and commotion, changes in the amount of light he is used to and the
number of hours of light. To keep him warm, drape the cage with a
heavy towel or other thick cloth around the two sides, the back, and
the top of the cage. If you are using newspaper or corncob in the
bottom of his cage, put two layers of plain paper towels on top of
this to be able to watch his droppings better. If you can, put a
heating pad on high under the bottom of the cage, between it and
whatever it is sitting on, especially at night. You might need to
drape the lower half of the front at night to keep in the heat more.
Some vets will let you bring in the stool sample in a baggie from
that morning and only charge you the gram stain lab fee--usually
about $15 -- it saves the bird from the stress of travel. But
at some point the vet might insist on seeing the bird. If he hasn't
ever seen the bird, he might not agree to just getting the sample.
The Topper seed you say you are now using is very high quality, but
has one drawback. It has acidopholus powder in it, which will turn
rancid when wet. So if you moisten the seeds to make it easier for
the bird to eat if it is not feeling well, be sure to change them
twice a day to avoid adding a digestive problem to the situation.
Otherwise, Topper is excellent because it is fresh and contains no
preservatives. Their claim that the infusion method they use to
get the vitamins *into* the seed seems hard to prove or disprove,
but if they are right, you get the vitamins besides the nutrition
from the seed mix. If you can get ahold of Abba or other nestling
food, try giving this soft, easily digested addition to his diet,
but also change regularly because is spoiles quickly!
Pls. let us know how Blue Boy does...
Linda
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| I can't recommend Dr. Brian Speer enough. Mention my name, if he
doesn't remember, mention my B&G koko, or my hahn's Precious with
the spraddle leg. He'll probably remember then (although he probably
will anyways.)
Ed
|
| Wow, I did not know about keeping the food dry. I never just put
water on the food but I do freeze it for 24hr's before I store it
will that hurt it? I have checked his droppings they seem normal
I watched them for 2 days new paper and all. I have been covering
Blue and Lady at night just because I thought it could not hurt
them. When he sleeps he sleeps on one foot and no tail bobbing.
I live in Castro Valley, Ca. I have a Great Vet! I just found him
thru a friend. Dr. Gandolphie sp? he is also in Castro Valley.
maybe I will call the Vet to make sure.
Thank you,
Donna
Donna
|
| Hi Donna,
Freezing the food shouldn't hurt it...kills the moth eggs, so that's
good. Topper doesn't use preservatives, so you almost have to do this
to ensure you don't get the little flying lovelies in your house. Good
that the droppings are normal. Also good that he is sleeping normally
and no tail-bobbing. Your original thought that he is just getting
older seems the answer for now. Stay in touch with your vet and have
an evening/weekend emergency vet number handy in case things go wrong
off-hours. Just as you would be especially gentle and careful with
an older person, Blue can probably use all the TLC, lack of noise and
changes in his environment or food or water, as you can manage.
Keep us posted!
Linda
|
| Hello,
Thank you for the support. I did call the vet and he said it is
just old age. I was at a breeders house this weekend and asked him
if old age is painfull he said only if he has problems eating or
standing. So Blue is just getting old. I am keeping an eye on him
just so if he stops eating I can catch it soon, I dont want him
to suffer, if he stops eating I will have to have him put to sleep.
But right now he is just fine.
Thanks,
Donna
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