Something's Not Right

[intoxxication]

My family and I went away for a while earlier last week, me from Friday to Wednesday and my parents from Sunday to Wednesday, due to a funeral. We couldn't take poor little Boo with us, so we left him in the care of our next door neighbour. When I got him back on Wednesday, I noticed a few things wrong with him.

-He was antisocial
-The flight feathers on his left wing were gone
-The feathers on the front of his head had thinned out
-He was reluctant to leave his cage
-He was yellow [due to the yellow iodine and calcium perch xD]

If all of it was just from missing us, surely his behaviour would have returned to normal by now, but he is still chirping less, and refuses to stay out of his cage. He used to fly across the room to me for his millet, and now, he won't even touch any millet. Also, we tried to give him a shower today... A couple times a week, my mother or I take him to the shower with us, and hold him on our hand in the spray. He usually loves it, but today he flew straight out of the shower.

The only things that have changed since just before we left were:
-He had the iodine and calcium perch
-I had put pellets in his cage
-He had started using his cuttlebone

Also, my neighbours put him outside on a cage stand during the day and brought him inside at night. We were thinking that perhaps he got a fright from something, and that is why he is so nervous.

I noticed something else today, though. On his left wing, there is a piece of quik that is red, and looks to have been a part of his flight feathers, so I have started to consider that he may be in pain. He is still eating and drinking normally, so it would make the most sense. Also, there is a mark of some kind scattered over the iodine perch, and I am not sure whether or not this is blood. If he did manage to hurt his wing, could this be held accountable for his changed behaviour and appearance?

If anyone can offer any insight to what might be wrong or any advice on what to do, it would be greatly appreciated.

[pal0m1n0]

Yeah, I would question your neighbor carefully about what happened. Why are the flight feathers missing on one side? I would be wondering if any kids got a hold of him, are there other animals at your neighbors?

[mike_art03a]

intoxxxication,

Does your neighbor have any experience in caring for birds? The biggest mistake that people can do is entrust the care of their animals to people who have no idea what to do with them.

Seeing as you mentioned that your neighbor left your bird out for most of the day, was he/she around the entire time? Was the bird left out in direct sunlight? There are a number of questions that you need to ask your neighbur.

I'd take your brid to a vet ASAP and have him checked out, the fact that he has a few flight feathers missing and you noticed some red in his cage raises all sorts of red flags... A cat may have tried to get after him or someone tried to grab him in his cage and grabbed his wing while he was trying to get away.

Don't forget, budgies are good at hiding illness and injury.

[ronsig]

I would also guess that the budgie was attacked and survived. But he could still get infected from saliva. I would take him to the vet as soon as possible.

Sigrid

[intoxxication]

My neighbours have previously owned birds, budgies and the like, and they are elderly, and don't have any young grandchildren that could have harmed him. By what I know, he was outside on the porch in the shade, by the kitchen window so they could see him. They don't have any pets. I'm pretty sure they didn't try to get him out of his cage. The only things I can think of that could have caused it is a larger bird (there have been a few hawks around, but they rarely come near the houses), or my cat may have ventured into their yard after him.

I checked him over a little while ago, and found no injuries apart from the feathers on the wing... So I was leaning towards something startling him and he somehow got it caught on something in his cage, or he stressed and pulled it out.

But so far, what you have all said has convinced me to see if my neighbours noticed anything. The strangest thing, though, is that there were no feathers in the cage when I got him back, so I will definitely ask them.

[Pippin's mom]

Oh how terrible!:( I hope your little guy will be okay. It does sound like something traumatic happened to your Budgie.

[Budgieloveee]

I agree! :(

I hope you can figure out what went wrong! :(

Get well soon, little guy!

[BuBu&Chik]

i would be worried like you too if i got my budgie back and he was acting the way you described! i think the fact that he's a house budgie and had to stay outside all day long was a big change...also being away from you and with your neighbor for a week or however long he was there must have felt like an eternity for your budgie!!! i've read before that 1 hour for a human is like a week for a budgie because obivously their life span is not the same. He may have been scared and missed you and was not used to all the changes...and not to accuse your neighbor of any wrong doing, what if the neighbor actually let your budgies sleep outside at night... what if for one night they decided not to bring him in and he got traumatized... who knows..

so it could really be so many things... but it does sound like some animal scared him and maybe he flew around inside his cage all rapidly and injured his wing... my parents once brought my budgies cage to the backyard to give them some fresh air, and within less than 30 minutes my mom heard a large banging noise and heard them fluttering in their cage... by the time she got to them, whatever had attempted to either eat their seed or attack them was gone and all of their stuff was spilled inside the cage...so that just goes to show that it is likely something similar may have happened...

so he may just still have nightmares and cant get over it....if he doesnt recover in another day or two i would definately get him checked up...

i hope he feels better soon! poor lil budgie!

[Robin's Nest]

Gosh, that's scary and terrible.:( I hope you get to the bottom of it soon and he makes a full recovery.

[Tammy.w.]

oh no! maybe a cat got hold of him somehow :S
hope he gets better soon:)

[val leighfield]

I totally agree with the above. Talk to your neighbours tactfully and diplomatically and certainly take him to the vet to get checked out. I do hope your little guy recovers soon, but it do'es sound like something has attacked him. Please keep us informed as he how he is doing.:budgie:

[shaz128blue]

Aw poor little baby, yes best to get him checked out and a careful chat with your neighbours - i hope hes back to himself soon. xxx

[Bethany]

aw poor thing:(
I hope he is ok:(

[AngelWings]

Poor babie :(
i hope you get to the bottom of this :(
please keep up updated! :)

[Robin's Nest]

I did want to mention that this year when Strider molted, he lost all the flight feathers on one side at the same time while losing none from the other side at that time. So while in totality all the things you mention sound a little suspicious, if it was just losing the flights from one side that is possible. But the spot that you saw on the wing with the partial feather, that sounds more like a broken feather rather than a molted one.

[intoxxication]

I stopped in at the vets today on the way to my doctors appointment, and asked for advice... She suggested diluted eucalyptus to stop him from further injuring his wing, and we have come to the decision that the main problem is extreme stress... He seems to be starting his first molt. And I guess that combined with us leaving him for a few days would have affected his stress levels a fair bit. The vet doesn't seem to think that it is anything too serious, she just suggested keeping an eye on his wing, and being patient with him, as wel as spending as much time with him as possible.

Oh, and just a cute little side note :P Little Boo loves sitting on top f the television cabinet, and has recently started to like one of the photo frame, which is made of bark/leaf-like paper and rope. He nibbles at it and sings to either it or the photo in it. It is the cutest thing, but mum isn't too happy that he is picking at her photo frame xD

For the last few hours, we have been babying him a lot, and gave him some peas and corn [which he treats as a toy to nibble at and them throw onto the ground and 'wonder where it's gone' so we pick it up and he can do it again], and he has been singing almost all night. It makes me feel a lot better to know that he seems to be feeling more at ease.

Thanks for the advice and support everyone! And Robin, a BIG thanks for mentioning molting. I haven't had a bird inside since I was young, so this is practically the only molt I have experienced... and I had no idea how stressful it could be, until I did some research. When I mentioned it to the vet, she said it seemed to be the reason, so thanks so much ^-^