# Got a sick budgie on my hands.



## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Looks like my new budgie, Nemi, is sick.

It started when I came home from work to check on him before I went to my own doctor's appointment at 3pm. He was looking very lethargic and was not vocal at all. Tried his little heart out to try to climb the cage when he saw me, but decided he would rather hang out on the floor of his cage. I noticed immediately that his poop was tar-black colored and that he was not really interested in leaving his cage so that I could take a look at him. His vent seemed clear, but he also had poop and pellets sticking to his leg which told me he hadn't been cleaning himself. I had to quickly prep his cage with new clean stuff, new water, fresh food before I went off to my own doctor's appointment. He resigned himself to sleeping on the bottom of the cage as seen here.










My appointment ended around 6pm which was too late for any avian vets in my area. So, I called my sister who is currently a 2nd year in vet school to ask her 4th year peers who had avian experience about his condition and provide updates to them. I also looked up homecare for budgies which recommended I put a lamp over his cage, line the bottom with a blanket/towel rather than bars to make it warmer, and put his food/water in one area on the ground of the cage.

After I came home, I provided him some new food (temporarily seed mix, because he likes it more than pellets) and did the previously mentioned things. He is still lethargic and almost acts like he's narcoleptic, as he falls asleep randomly in the middle of what he was doing, but he is eating and drinking.










My sister's peers told me through her that this was a very positive sign, because it meant it was probably not GI or any blockage. They also told me to just continue to monitor his condition and if it takes a turn for the worst, take him in ASAP, but if his condition is still around the same in the morning to just continue to monitor symptoms and avoid the stress of going to the vet unless it gets worse. Not sure how I feel about that, might go take him in tomorrow anyways.

Currently, he's going from sleeping to suddenly waking up, remembering that he was eating, eating for about a minute or two, then falling asleep in his food bowl or on the towel. I intend to keep my eye on him for the rest of the night while I watch a movie or two with headphones in.

More symptoms I've noticed:
-He has a what looks like a tiny amount of caked blood on his cere a little bit away from one of the nostrils as well as red patches on his beak.
-He very occasionally has slight spasms that last a second or so when he's sleeping. Not sure that's anything, thought I'd mention it.
-His feet are colder than normal when he stepped up for me, again not sure if that's anything.


So, to those more experienced, any thoughts or comments on Nemi's condition?

tl:dr- Birb sick. Pooping black. Lethargic. Sleeping at bottom of cage. Still has a healthy appetite and drinks water. Vet tomorrow (most likely).


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

A bird that has taken to sleeping and sitting at the bottom of the cage is not well. Black tar like droppings can be an indication of the bird not eating or blood in the droppings that would have come from the upper part of the GI tract, if there was bleeding from the lower part you would see red blood. Prior to this, what was he eating, were you trying to get him to eat only pellets? If you were offering him only pellets, are you 100% sure that he was eating them? When converting a bird to pellets it is common that they do not recognize them as food at first and if you take away their prior seed diet they can starve. Spasms are not normal and can be caused by various things, also the feet should not be cold. Even if he seems better tomorrow I would have him examined by an avian vet.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> A bird that has taken to sleeping and sitting at the bottom of the cage is not well. Black tar like droppings can be an indication of the bird not eating or blood in the droppings that would have come from the upper part of the GI tract, if there was bleeding from the lower part you would see red blood. Prior to this, what was he eating, were you trying to get him to eat only pellets? If you were offering him only pellets, are you 100% sure that he was eating them? When converting a bird to pellets it is common that they do not recognize them as food at first and if you take away their prior seed diet they can starve. Spasms are not normal and can be caused by various things, also the feet should not be cold. Even if he seems better tomorrow I would have him examined by an avian vet.


Thanks for your reply! I did transition him over time from seed to pellet, and he was eating them as I've actually hand fed him pellets by cupping my hands together to make sure he was actually eating them. As for the GI issues, I was told that if he was eating a lot, that would rule out any possibility of those issues and that any avian vet I visited would say the same. I will still probably play it safe and go visit a vet tomorrow anyways, but that's just the info I was given. As for the spasms & cold feet, that's good to know and I'll bring it up tomorrow with the vet.

Also a small update: It's way past his usual bedtime at 11:20pm and he's still occasionally wakes up to eat a seed and then wander around the cage for a bit before falling asleep. I did see him preening his feathers a few times which I hope is a good sign. He also did not like it when I covered his cage with a blanket and gave me a weak chirp in protest. So I only covered the half incase he wanted to sleep under a cover but still in sight of me, to which he seems ok with.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Eating is better than not eating but does not rule out GI issues, he may not have any GI issues but please do not think that just because a bird is eating that there cannot be a GI issue, many bacterial, parasitic and fungal infections that effect the GI tract can be present and will not cause a bird to stop eating until the infection becomes advanced. I hope he recovers from whatever the issue is, please keep us posted.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Eating is better than not eating but does not rule out GI issues, he may not have any GI issues but please do not think that just because a bird is eating that there cannot be a GI issue, many bacterial, parasitic and fungal infections that effect the GI tract can be present and will not cause a bird to stop eating until the infection becomes advanced. I hope he recovers from whatever the issue is, please keep us posted.


Thank you for your well wishes! I'll let you know how it goes.


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## Winter_3874 (10 mo ago)

Yes, I have experienced this. My budgie got the same symptoms and when we were out for a week's vacation, my budgie died. So you must go to the vet to prevent this from happening.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update on Nemi's condition:

We went to the vet today and he's doing marginally better. There was nothing wrong in his fecal samples which was very good. He's pretty thin, weighing 23g at the office, but he's still eating well. The vet instructed me to let him eat whatever he'd like for now and try to get back to the pellets when he's fully recovered. Unfortunately, he was too thin to take blood from, but the vet gave me a 3 week anti-biotic to treat possible Chlamydia which is the only thing treatable they would've been able to detect from a blood sample. X-Rays show a small piece of something that the vet thought might be grit in his stomach. He told me it was probably benign, but if he didn't get better soon, he would have me administer a dissolvent with food as well.

















The vet also instructed me to make his cage into an incubator and give him anti-biotics twice a day. Things are looking up! The little guy did a really good job at his first vet visit. Did a great job stepping up for both me and the vet. He's waddling around a lot, has taken well to his new heat lamp, and still eating healthily.








​I'll update this post as his status changes, but things are looking positive for now.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Good to hear that the vet visit did not stress him out too much, did the vet say anything about the spasms you noticed?
What seed mix are you using, does it have a variety of seeds in it?


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Good to hear that the vet visit did not stress him out too much, did the vet say anything about the spasms you noticed?
> What seed mix are you using, does it have a variety of seeds in it?


No, I brought it up to the vet tech who got all my info beforehand but he didn't mention to me anything about the spasms. So it might be he wasn't worried about it or didn't see the spasms themselves. As for the seeds, it's what they gave me when I bought him from the pet store. It seems like a general batch seed mix, but I couldn't tell you exactly which seeds are in there, as they just gave it to me in a plastic bag. The vet told me to feed only that until he's completely healed as it's probably what he feels comfortable eating.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Good luck with Nemi. I'm glad to hear he's doing better now. 
Sending Prayers and Love for his full and speedy recovery. 💜💜*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Honestly, I'm pretty scared about handling my bird to give him medicine, not because he might bite me, but because I have particularly big hands and I don't want to pull a Lenny from 'Of Mice and Men'. Tonight was the first time I administered the medicine and I had a hard time getting him to open his beak. Whenever I did get it open, he used his mouth to block the entrance. Eventually got most of it in there, but it was a lot less clean than when the vet did it.

I'm also, admittedly, scared of losing his trust, as doing all this looks painful and terrifying for him. He already runs away from my hand when it's in the cage now, which makes me really sad, although he still easily takes millet when fed by hand from me. I just don't want to scar him mentally with hands being something to be scared of.

Edit: Ever since I administered the medicine, he has been flexing his crop a little more than normal. I hope that's normal.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: Nemi seems to be doing better. He loves the heat lamp and hangs out directly in front of it most of the day when he's not wandering around occasionally. Still sleeping and eating a lot. Poop is the healthy green color again. He hasn't tried to perch on any of his perches within the cage, just hanging out on the ground. He's gaining weight, at the vet office, he weighed in at 23g, last night he weighted in at 24.98g and this morning 24.44g.

I have a concern though, he's still doesn't sleep through the night all the way. He will shake himself awake, goes back to eating for a couple seconds and then fall back asleep, which he'll do ~4-5 times an hour. I don't know if that's a normal bird thing, but it keeps happening and I'm not sure why.

And finally a question. I just got in a new cage that I ordered before he was sick that is much bigger for him to be able to fly in and it also has a much larger door to the cage so I can actually get my hand inside without having to contort my hand. Do you all think it would be ok to set this cage up and use that instead of the current cage or sick to the one he's in now until he's feeling better?

Thanks again!


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

It is not normal for a bird to be eating throughout the night, birds usually sleep through the night. I would keep him in the cage he is currently in, he does not need the added stress of being moved into another cage right now, especially since he is not perching. Do you know what his environment was like before you got him?


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> It is not normal for a bird to be eating throughout the night, birds usually sleep through the night. I would keep him in the cage he is currently in, he does not need the added stress of being moved into another cage right now, especially since he is not perching. Do you know what his environment was like before you got him?


I thought not. I might set up a recording for him overnight to see how much that's actually happening when I'm asleep. Ok cool, I'll leave that for later then. As for his environment at the shop, it looked like maybe ~25"W ~12"L and ~12"H with 10+ budgies inside.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

ZachExMachina said:


> I thought not. I might set up a recording for him overnight to see how much that's actually happening when I'm asleep. Ok cool, I'll leave that for later then. As for his environment at the shop, it looked like maybe ~25"W ~12"L and ~12"H with 10+ budgies inside.


The cage in the shop was way to small for that many birds, he probably had a lot of competition for food.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> The cage in the shop was way to small for that many birds, he probably had a lot of competition for food.


Agreed, glad I got him out of there. I hope this sickness, whatever it is, is isolated only to him and not the rest of the budgies in that shop.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I hope Nemi will be completely healthy soon and will be watching for all your updates on his progress.*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: Things are relatively the same. He did lose weight tonight which I’m slightly worried about (morning- 25.61g evening-24.33g) but we’ll see how it is tomorrow morning. Something I’m concerned about is that there is a large gab in between his back feathers as well as a large white feather back there too. I’ll include pictures of that here. It’s a lot more noticeable when he’s eating. It looks like a large hole is missing in his back. Let me know what you all think could be wrong and/or how I could treat it.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

In my opinion something is systemically wrong, be it bacterial, viral, nutritional, toxins etc. the feathers do not look normal and in these 2 pictures he looks like a sick bird. I know you have been to the vet, did you see the x-ray, did the vet mention anything about heavy metal toxicosis, if a bird has ingested metal it sometimes shows on an x-ray and will be a very bright object. I would call the vet and let them know that he is not gaining weight and if perhaps a vitamin supplement is something that might be advisable at this point.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> In my opinion something is systemically wrong, be it bacterial, viral, nutritional, toxins etc. the feathers do not look normal and in these 2 pictures he looks like a sick bird. I know you have been to the vet, did you see the x-ray, did the vet mention anything about heavy metal toxicosis, if a bird has ingested metal it sometimes shows on an x-ray and will be a very bright object. I would call the vet and let them know that he is not gaining weight and if perhaps a vitamin supplement is something that might be advisable at this point.


Yeah exactly that actually. We did X-rays and he did bring me back to show a circular object in his digestive tract that was bright on the X-rays. He mentioned it may be a metal object or just grit, but Nemi was too thin to be able to take blood to check. He did tell me to let him know in a couple days (now today) if he wasn't getting better, to let them know, and he would add in some sort of dissolvent or supplement (I don't remember which) to give to him. I've already emailed them this morning with the pictures I posted here, explaining the situation and I'll let you know when they get back to me.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Adding on, here's roughly how the xray looked to give you an example of the size and shape. (it's been 3 days since I saw it, but this is as close as I remember).


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

ZachExMachina said:


> Yeah exactly that actually. We did X-rays and he did bring me back to show a circular object in his digestive tract that was bright on the X-rays. He mentioned it may be a metal object or just grit, but Nemi was too thin to be able to take blood to check. He did tell me to let him know in a couple days (now today) if he wasn't getting better, to let them know, and he would add in some sort of dissolvent or supplement (I don't remember which) to give to him. I've already emailed them this morning with the pictures I posted here, explaining the situation and I'll let you know when they get back to me.


Not sure that grit would show bright like you say something was, but metal would, I have never heard of a bird being given something to dissolve something in the GI tract, especially if you are nor sure what it is, however metal poisoning is usually treated with Calcium EDTA, take a look at this Lead and Zinc Toxicoses in Pet Birds


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Not sure that grit would show bright like you say something was, but metal would, I have never heard of a bird being given something to dissolve something in the GI tract, especially if you are nor sure what it is, however metal poisoning is usually treated with Calcium EDTA, take a look at this Lead and Zinc Toxicoses in Pet Birds


I wasn't sure either, but I'm just relaying what was told to me. I'm not really sure what in my apartment could be that shape and metallic. I'd only let him out of his cage for 3 or so days before these symptoms started. Could they have appeared this fast or would he have gotten HMP from the place I picked him up from?

Edit: Do you happen to know a rough estimate for how much treating this would cost? I hate to say it, but, last month has been a bit tough financially, so I'm not sure how long I can keep paying for treatment.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

He may have had a problem before you got him, who knows what he was exposed to with all the other birds he was living with, birds are experts at hiding illness which is why you must always quarantine a new bird from others, to see if anything surfaces within the first 30 days at a minimum. I don't know what it would cost for treatment but first you have to know what you are treating for, my vet always gives me an estimate before proceeding, I would discuss with you vet and see what options you have.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> He may have had a problem before you got him, who knows what he was exposed to with all the other birds he was living with, birds are experts at hiding illness which is why you must always quarantine a new bird from others, to see if anything surfaces within the first 30 days at a minimum. I don't know what it would cost for treatment but first you have to know what you are treating for, my vet always gives me an estimate before proceeding, I would discuss with you vet and see what options you have.


Alrighty, I just wanted to find out if I need to go to the shop with this and try to get some sort of compensation for selling me a sick bird. I called the vet an hour or so ago and was told the vet was still reviewing things from other patients, but would get to Nemi soon and would call me when they do. Updates to come, hopefully good ones.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Does the shop have any type of health guarantee? Maybe you could get a refund for your purchase price but many times they will just tell you to return the animal and they will not take any action to have the animal treated, they will just resell it.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Does the shop have any type of health guarantee? Maybe you could get a refund for your purchase price but many times they will just tell you to return the animal and they will not take any action to have the animal treated, they will just resell it.


I just checked and their policy is:

"Unfortunately there is* NO* warranty on livestock
Please make sure this is the correct color, size, gender of your livestock before purchasing. Please do your research before purchasing any of our livestock.
Due to health regulations, we are *NOT* allowed to exchange any livestock once purchased."

So I guess that's a dead end. Is what it is.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: Just got a call back from the vet to update him on everything. On the feathers, he's not too concerned with them right now as they are most likely a symptom of whatever he has, but to continue to watch. On the shaking and spasms, he told me he didn't think it was neurological in nature from his examinations, and that it's either part his his physiology or just the fact of being sick is causing it. He talked about the possibility getting him a new heating source instead of a light to help with the sleeping. On the throwing up after getting meds, I was told that birds sometimes do that because they are ****ed about receiving meds. We are going to start on the HMP treatment tomorrow and I was also instructed to not stop the anti-biotics for now, but that if the anti-biotics were too stressful, that maybe we could switch to a weekly injection instead.

Unfortunately, I have to think of all this in the context of money now, so I will probably just continue trying with the oral meds.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Is there anything in Nemi's current environment which would cause the heavy metal poisoning?
You are not using grit in his cage are you?

I'm sorry he is so very ill and will be looking for your updates.
Sending love and prayers.*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

FaeryBee said:


> *Is there anything in Nemi's current environment which would cause the heavy metal poisoning?
> You are not using grit in his cage are you?
> 
> I'm sorry he is so very ill and will be looking for your updates.
> Sending love and prayers.*


Thank you for your kind words as always! Nemi’s cage doesn’t haven’t anything metal like that, I made sure of that before I got him. And no, I don’t have any grit, as I heard that is unnecessary and potentially dangerous for budgies.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: I replaced the light with a space heater that generates much more heat last night, but that I need to turn on and off as the situation demands. No light in his cage seemed to have gotten him good sleep. He’s a more active today, but still doesn’t trust his wings again yet, so he’s climbing around the cage walls. He prefers to perch over being on the ground now. Still eating and drinking ok, but still throwing up/regurgitating whenever I give him medication for a little while. I’m worried because we were gaining weight but we lost more weight again this morning back to 23.16g. I placed food practically all over the cage today on the ground and near the perches he likes to encourage him to eat. We’ll see if that works. Going to start the calcium supplement tonight to see if that helps. Updates to come.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

If you are going to continue with the oral medication and if that is what is making him vomit there is something that can be given to help with the vomiting, ask your vet about it. What are you using as a calcium supplement?


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> If you are going to continue with the oral medication and if that is what is making him vomit there is something that can be given to help with the vomiting, ask your vet about it. What are you using as a calcium supplement?


Calcium Disodium EDTA, 0.01cc once every 12hrs alongside the anti-biotic. He did better with the anti-biotic this evening, only threw up twice or so. I'm also getting better at giving them, which makes the process much easier and less stressful for him. He also gained a lot of weight, back up to 25.13g. He is also using the perches even more. As soon as I put him back in the cage, he immediately climbs the side of the cage to one of them. Still sleeping a bunch, but its looking up. I'm thinking the bald patches + raggedy feathers are due to the fact that he got very sick in the middle of his molt and he paused his feather growth but some of the old feathers still fell out. Read up on that a little bit and hope that's the case.

(Also on a possibly unrelated note, he will occasionally and intentionally make this click sound like if you were to click your tongue in disappointment. I'm not sure if it's a sneeze, it sounds similar to his normal sneeze, but it sounds more like a vocalization and he's never done it multiple times in a row. Any thoughts on said sound?)


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Calcium EDTA treats metal toxicosis, the fact that he is perching shows he is feeling stronger. I don't know what the click sound is I would have to hear and see him do it to give an opinion. Hope he continues to improve.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Calcium EDTA treats metal toxicosis, the fact that he is perching shows he is feeling stronger. I don't know what the click sound is I would have to hear and see him do it to give an opinion. Hope he continues to improve.


I hope he does too. On the topic of clicking, I make that noise a ton, so he might have picked that up. Will update tomorrow!


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update today: He's doing better this morning as well. Lost about 1g last night, from 25.13g to 24.19g, which should be normal, I think. I decided since he doesn't use the floor anymore, I would remove the towels from the ground and just let there be a grate like normal. Less sleeping during the day, but not much more moving. I heard one chirp last night, but other than that no normal vocalizations other than the occasional annoyance squawk when I try to get him out of his cage in the morning for meds. No playing with toys yet either, but he never liked playing with toys in the first place.

I believe he choked on the calcium drops I gave this morning, because he was making a squeaking (almost wet squelching) sound and open his mouth like he's chirping as well as regurgitating a lot. He decided to go upside down when I was wrangling him after his medications, which is apparently bad for bird who are choking on liquids. I read up on budgies choking and from what I read, when a budgie is choking on liquid, there's really nothing we can do to help them. I'm hoping he gets it clear of his system so I don't need to make an emergency vet visit. He's, currently, still making that sound and tail bobbing, though much less frequently, and is still actively moving around his cage. Eating does seem to trigger this response more frequently. Any advice on that?


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

I would leave the towel at the bottom of the cage and cover it with paper towels, that way you can observe the droppings and if he should fall or want to sit at the bottom he will not have to sit on the grate. Birds have a slit in the roof of their mouth that links to the trachea and if liquid gets in there they will cough and choke, if liquid gets in there repeatedly it can cause aspiration pneumonia, and you don't need that to deal with on top of everything else, here is some info Aspiration Pneumonia in Birds - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Recovery, Management, Cost


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> I would leave the towel at the bottom of the cage and cover it with paper towels, that way you can observe the droppings and if he should fall or want to sit at the bottom he will not have to sit on the grate. Birds have a slit in the roof of their mouth that links to the trachea and if liquid gets in there they will cough and choke, if liquid gets in there repeatedly it can cause aspiration pneumonia, and you don't need that to deal with on top of everything else, here is some info Aspiration Pneumonia in Birds - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Recovery, Management, Cost


I went ahead and set up a vet appointment tomorrow. Our vet said he wanted a follow up appointment anyways, so I'm going to drop him off tomorrow morning before work and see what's going on. The squeaking has largely stopped in the past couple of hours, but I want to be sure, and it give the vet more hands on time with him for the original problem as well.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: I dropped him off at the vet's office this morning to which they are going observe him and conduct his exam sometime in the afternoon/early evening. His squeak/wheeze has stopped entirely, or at least, I haven't heard it since 4-5pm yesterday. Vet told me to stop meds yesterday until the appointment, so I haven't given it to him since yesterday morning. Still is terrified of my hand, I really hope this whole experience doesn't traumatize him from hands in general.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: Picked up Nemi from the Vet's office over lunch and they were very pleased with his progress. Squeak/Wheeze is a non-issue now. He's looking more healthy and active. We are going to continue the anti-biotics for 2 more weeks and the calcium for 3 more weeks. We also won't need to go back for anymore follow up appointments unless it goes downhill at all. Things are looking up for my little dude!









Also, as a side note, thanks so much you all for responding, giving advice and well wishes! I'm a worrywart and just having somewhere to post my updates and concerns has been a big deterrent from me going insane. I'll post more updates as they come.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

So glad he is doing better, good job.


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Fingers crossed Nemi continues to improve. Looking forward to updates! 🤞🏻


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: Looking good this morning. Weighed in at 25.33g. The downside of him getting stronger/healthier is that he's now much better at avoiding my hands when I need to scoop him in the morning for meds. Doesn't help that I have to squeeze my hand through the holes in the cage because my hands are too big to actually fit, which gives him time to plot an escape route. Took meds fine this morning, though again, increasingly more struggles to get him to take it.

I also started mixing in pellets to the seed mix just to get him used to seeing them in his food again and to see if he will actually choose them over the seeds. He also, for whatever reason, prefers using his bath on the side of the cage to drink from rather than the water tower I have for him. I change both out daily so there's no worry there, just an interesting quirk.

I'm interested to know your opinion, would it be alright to go ahead and introduce his new cage now or would it be too stressful? I, personally, prefer the new cage because it's wider for him (30"Lx18"Wx18"H rather than 18"Lx14"Wx36"H) to be able to work on flying again, and for me, it has a much bigger door so I can reach in without straining myself.


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Honestly, your inability to get your hand inside his cage and etc. is probably a major stressor right now as well so with regards to stress levels I don't think that the move to a new cage would be any worse for him. If you have to medicate him for more than a few more days I think in this case it may be fine to introduce him to his new cage. If possible to make the transition smoother, putting his perches, toys, etc. in a familiar configuration may help. Additionally, I'd medicate him right before moving him to the new cage so he has a good chunk of time to get used to it before you have to medicate him again.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*So glad to hear this news! Will be looking forward to your future updates. 💜💜
And, I agree with Star about moving him to the new cage at this point in time!*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

StarlingWings said:


> Honestly, your inability to get your hand inside his cage and etc. is probably a major stressor right now as well so with regards to stress levels I don't think that the move to a new cage would be any worse for him. If you have to medicate him for more than a few more days I think in this case it may be fine to introduce him to his new cage. If possible to make the transition smoother, putting his perches, toys, etc. in a familiar configuration may help. Additionally, I'd medicate him right before moving him to the new cage so he has a good chunk of time to get used to it before you have to medicate him again.


I appreciate the input! Sounds good, I'll probably try to do that on Friday so we can do the transition during the day rather than asking him to sleep in a new cage after medicating at night.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update: He is still doing well. I tried to give him only pellets today to see if he would go back to it and it looks like, now that he has gotten back into the taste of seeds, he isn’t interested in pellets. So I’ve gone back to seed/pellet mix with more pellets to make him at least get a taste for them when picking them out.

He’s also decided this evening that he enjoys hanging from the ceiling of his cage a lot as I was putting him to bed. He isn’t scared of anything in his cage, so I can only assume it’s for his amusement. I can hear his claws against the cover fabric which means he’s also decided to sleep up there as well. Not sure what brought on this behavior, but it’s pretty cute.

I’m still a bit worried about his feathers. He preens plenty, and rubs his head on toys/perches, but his feathers are still not the healthiest. He also still has those random bald spots, including one I found today where there is no feather coverage over his keelbone. I know the vet said he wasn’t worried about it, but just my own concerns about wanting him to be healthy again.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Glad he is feeling stronger. Since he is such a tiny guy and needs to put on a bit of weight, at this point I would not try to push the pellets too much. It might be helpful to crush them and sprinkle them on the seeds so he will get the taste as he picks up the seed.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Cody said:


> Glad he is feeling stronger. Since he is such a tiny guy and needs to put on a bit of weight, at this point I would not try to push the pellets too much. It might be helpful to crush them and sprinkle them on the seeds so he will get the taste as he picks up the seed.


Alright will do that for dinner tonight for him. I will say, he’s already physically small for budgie as it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if his average weight is somewhere around 27g. I think we will be approaching his ideal weight pretty soon here.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update here: Nemi is doing well. We transitioned to a new cage this morning and it’s clear he still doesn’t trust his flying skills yet after being sick as he will sometimes prefer to climb on the cage walls between perches rather than fly. I’ve has him escape and fly when I’ve been trying to give him meds and it’s clear he’s having trouble with gaining lift.

I’ve also been crushing/sprinkling the pellets over his food which it looks like he’s ok with for now.As a result, his poo has turned a greenish brown color which, from what I’ve read, means that pellets are getting into his system.

For those who have gone through similar situations as I have (sick in the middle of a molt, stopped molting as a result), how long did it take for your bird to resume molting? Nemi preens himself plenty, but his feathers are looking pretty raggedy and has plenty of bald spots. When he stretches his neck, you can see plenty of underlying skin which still has me worried.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update today: Today Nemi has been very quiet and has decided to hangout on one perch all day. Not sure if he's just tired from being uncomfortable sleeping in a new cage or what, but he has decided to take it easy today. Appetite and poop are healthy as well.

I've also noticed he shivers all the time lately. His environment isn't cold and I have a heat lamp in his cage going just in case. But whenever I get near him or even look at him, he's shaking. I don't want to stress him more than necessary, but not sure what I can do there.

Edit: We then proceeded to have a productive day where he was brave and I got him to fly to my hand again. Birds man....


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Isn't it interesting how much we end up worrying about our little budgies? Every change in poop, eating, behavior etc. sets off alarm bells.
You are doing a good job monitoring Nemi and giving him the best care possible.*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

FaeryBee said:


> *Isn't it interesting how much we end up worrying about our little budgies? Every change in poop, eating, behavior etc. sets off alarm bells.
> You are doing a good job monitoring Nemi and giving him the best care possible.*


Haha, very true and thank you for your kind words! This is definitely a different experience, being a first time bird owner and having to immediately play the concerned parent role. I've done this for dogs most of my life, but birds are a whole different ballgame. It's quite the interesting relationship, having just brought him home, and now having to essentially force liquids down his throat twice a day. I feel like it's a whirlwind for him as well, not knowing me too well yet either.

Anyways, Nemi updates: Still eating well, but wont touch pellets yet. Medicine has now become even more of a chore because as soon as he sees the gloves on, he's in full escape mode. And while it's much easier to reach my hand into the new cage, it's also much easier for him to maneuver around my hands. So he will usually escape into my room where I then have to lure/chase him back into his cage and start over again. On that note, his flying is improving drastically (for better or for worse) which makes me happy, as a few days ago I was worried that he couldn't gain much lift.

Overall, he's more or less back to normal, but with a few less feathers and a slight phobia of hands. Updates to come.


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update today: We hit 30.33g last night and 28.43g this morning. Perhaps I was wrong about him being a 27g average bird. Things were pretty good this week. I switched him from the store bought seed mix to a homemade human grade one so that if he is going to eat seed, at least it will be healthy. I've also been starting a livestream of him every morning when I go to work so that I can monitor him from work, which has helped my peace of mind a lot. Last couple of days he's been a little shy around me, avoiding me or my hands and has been a little tired. But, since I try to turn on the TV during the day so he gets some noise, he may not be getting enough sleep. I will be eternally concerned about his feathers until he molts again, because I can see down feathers through the holes in his plumage, giving him a withered, wispy-white look in spots, especially when he fluffs up to preen.

I've also been looking into getting Nemi a buddy and found a well known, experienced budgie breeder in the area, who has glowing reviews. After asking her plenty of questions, I can tell she knows her stuff and has been keeping all her babies and parents in very good health. She usually breeds English and hybrids, but occasionally has regular budgie clutches, and has 2 male hybrids and 1 regular ready for adoption. We're going to finish Nemi's medications before I decide to bring another one home, but sometime late next week, I'm going to head over and take a look, and possibly take home, a new friend. (I do plan to make an appointment and head to the vet that same day as well, just to be safe, as I cannot quarantine effectively where I live.)

Things are continuing to look up here!


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

Update on Nemi: It’s been some time since our last update here. I weight him once a night, right before bed and he’s hovering between 29g and 31g every night. That looks like it will be his healthy weight. His diet is mostly a human-grade seed mix I started him on, as he has no interest whatsoever in going back to pellets. I’ve been mixing plenty of pellets on top of the seeds and he seems to think immediately pick out the seed beneath the pellets. He’s also yet to even try a nibble on any veggie/fruit I’ve offered to him in various methods. Very picky eater on my hands.

A few things I’ve been worried about since I last posted.
#1: Over the last few days, the edges of his beak (what we would call our lips) have been a little white and crusty, I think this is probably just shedding the old keratin, but it’s still of concern to me.
#2: He still vibrates his wings a lot like he’s scared. I don’t know if this is a thing he picked up from when he was sick, but he does it so much even when he’s calm or interacting with me. I live in Texas and it’s plenty warm where I live, so I doubt it’s too cold. Is this excitement/heightened emotions or something I should worry about?
#3: I’ve seen a lot of videos of budgies in preparation for keeping one and even now. He seems to be one of the most non-active budgies I’ve seen. He seems very content to chill on a perch and watch for hours on end. Don’t get me wrong, he likes to vocalize and will fly around a bunch if he gets excited, even without his budgie YouTube videos. But, he barely plays with toys at all (he’s still scared of the swing and a few of the toys that have been in his cage for weeks) and seems generally less hyperactive than I was led to believe. Is this a personality thing or should I be concerned?

I may be overreacting, but I want to be sure he’s alright, especially before I bring home a new budgie this week. Thanks as always!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Each budgie is a unique individual with its own personality so it is hard to say what is "normal" for Nemi.
My assumptions are:
1. The edges of his beak are simply shedding and this is normal.
2. The vibrating of his wings may simply be something he's become accustomed to doing and I would not be concerned about it.
3. Certain budgies are not very active but will become more so when they have a same species friend.
With regard to toys -- my birds don't play with the toys in their cage but love their swings. They do like having their bead box on top of the cage and will dig in it and throw the beads all over the floor. Some of them like the little plastic balls that have bells in them and think throwing those off the cage is quite fun as well.

I don't think you have anything to be concerned about at this time!*


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## ZachExMachina (10 mo ago)

FaeryBee said:


> *Each budgie is a unique individual with its own personality so it is hard to say what is "normal" for Nemi.
> My assumptions are:
> 1. The edges of his beak are simply shedding and this is normal.
> 2. The vibrating of his wings may simply be something he's become accustomed to doing and I would not be concerned about it.
> ...


Awesome! I kind of figured I didn't, but I wanted to make certain that his behavior was "normal", or maybe rather, not abnormal. Adversely to most pet owners, I've only really known the little guy when he's been sick, so trying to figure out normal from sick behavior has been kind of a challenge for me. Picked up more toys today to make a separate cage for at least a couple days for the new bird coming this Friday. I'll see if he likes any of these toys before I put them in this other cage.


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