# Two health scare stories with happy endings



## meta (Oct 14, 2008)

I haven't been here in a while, but we had some drama in December, so I thought I'd post about it.

One Friday in early December Rico suddenly started acting as though he was at death's door. He fluffed up his feathers. He sat silently looking at me, instead of singing happily. He made repeated crop adjustment movements with his neck. He spent the afternoon alone at the back of the house, looking out of the window. He totally failed to appear on my shoulder when I opened the fridge door, and even more troubling, he showed no interest in food — not even millet. We were so concerned that we called the vet and made an appointment at short notice for Saturday morning.

The next morning I got up early so I could drop rothko off at seminary and still make it to the vet for the appointment. Rico, in the mean time, had apparently fully recovered. He even sat and munched millet on the way to the vet's office. They gave him a full exam, checked his poop, and announced that he was the healthiest budgerigar they'd seen in ages. Meanwhile, he sat on my shoulder and crunched his beak contentedly. He was so tame and friendly that the staff came in to meet him.

He's still perfectly fine.

Then right before Christmas, Bruce had a panic attack in the night and apparently fell and hurt his left wing. When I heard him distress calling at 5am I ran downstairs and found him running in circles on the floor of the cage. I think what freaked him out was a woods roach which had made it indoors and was on the bars of the cage.

After dealing with the roach, we separated him from the other birds. He kept distress calling, so we made another emergency vet appointment. He had quieted down a bit by the time they opened. They carefully inspected his beak, crop and wings, declared that he seemed physically fine. We took him home, and over the course of the day his distress gradually diminished until in the evening he was singing again.

So on the one hand, two unnecessary vet bills. But on the other hand, coming back from the vet's office with a totally healthy pet is the best case scenario.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*It's refreshing to read a post where a member takes the initiative to get their budgies prompt professional care at the very first sign of illness or injury. 
Thank you for being an excellent budgie owner!!

I'm so glad to hear both Rico and Bruce are healthy and happy. I completely agree that coming back from a vet visit with a totally healthy pet is the best case scenario - no matter what the monetary expense.

Well done!*


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

I agree with FaeryBee 100%, much better to have a couple of vet bills than to risk the health of the bird and potentially many more bills. Well done. :2thumbs:


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