August

So my family rescently addopted a 23 year old greater sulfur crested cockatoo "loui' from a friend who's wife would no longer let him keep her, she's a great bird, in 3 weeks has not actually bitten anyone but when she is annoyed she nibbles at you (it tickles really) she'll cuddle with anyone, and a complete flirt and show off, like a 'too should be. well today i had her out on the back of the couch and i was cuddling my 16 day old budgie that i'm hand feeding, and loui comes over clicking her beak like she usually does, and goes in a whisper 'whats that?' (she's never said this before-that i know) i said its a baby, and loui replies, 'oh hello baby, shh'. i'm flabergasted, i'll have to take pictures, she isnt aloud to touch the baby, but she likes to whisper to it, 'pretty bird' and 'hello baby, how are you' its too cute. just had to share, our avian friends are really so smart and i think we take them for granted some days. :angel1:

a baby hatched this morning, i must have counted wrong.... can't figure this one out,

So i have a hen who laid 7 eggs, one cracked and they tossed it out of the nest, life went on, well now its 12 days past the last eggs hatch date and she won't budge, when should i take her eggs away? i've candled the eggs and i can see embryos in all the eggs and i though i saw some move but i think it may have been the heat of my hand and movement of the egg. i'm terrified to toss live babies or open eggs and fine live babies, i did that once with my quakers it was 7 days past due and i started opening eggs to see what happened and the last two eggs had live babies in them (they didn't survive). 12 days is a long time past, :S Geeze

there is no harm in trying, if they eat the 'better' stuff (never heard of labebers) most companies can send you little trial packages too. and leave their orginal stuff in there if your worried

some companies sell 'dust' to help convert those budgies that won't budge, but keeping old food is in my opinion not a great idea, with maybe a bit of poop, who knows what nasties are growing in that dish! maybe try putting more controlled amounts in the dishes if your worried about wasting, so they can't waste as much, i know for harrisons its about 1.5-2.5 tsp per bird,

heheh wonderful

and on top of lovey's amazing process GO WITH YOUR GUT! if someone just doesn't feel right even though everything seems perfect, your probably right

Thank you everyone for your care and support. I am really at peace with his passing right now, I will miss him so much and its still hurts but it’s a different pain from accidental deaths or preventative deaths in the past. We exhausted every resource we had until he was too weak, I think I may have put him through a little more than I should have but I was really trying to give him a chance. I love him and he’s not hurting anymore. My question is I want to drop something off; I want to leave the vet staff something. They called me late at night to say he was still alive and so that I could sleep, but what do you give them, I know I want to donate a couple hundred dollars for the next budgie that goes in there and its owners can’t afford so I can give them a fighting chance but what do you get the staff? Dinner? Movie tickets? I’m kind of lost, what’s appropriate what’s not? Thank you :budgiedance:

So to conclude this dark chapter in my life, Bo has passed, just 10 minutes before I arrived at the vet clinic he passed peacefully the only way he should have. His condition was a mixture of his age and the metal poisoning, and anemia (which may have been brought on by either age or metal) Its likely that Bo died from anima his blood screening showed us that he had 8% red blood cell count, where in a healthy budgie its 40%, they usually loose birds at around 20% so he was really trying. The theory on the origin of his anemia is old age and his spleen was not making enough red blood cells (or his body was destroying them) or the metal in his gizzard was sharp enough to have him slowly bleeding and depleting his RBCs, but that would have taken much longer. In the end he is no longer suffering and he is being cremated and we’re going to toss him to the wind, because he just loved to fly and it’s not fair to keep him in a box or a vase. So fly free little man, you were best first budgie ever! I would like to thank the staff at the Calgary avian and exotic pet clinic, they were really there and offered personal advice that no other vet has done for me. :angel1: ps, part of me thinks this will make no sense and i;m sorry if it doesn't still crying i will be for a few days now.

we're losing the fight and i'm going to say goodbye now, i'll have all the details when i'm back and emotionally here again 1125am

Saturday morning update B isn't doing any better; neurological problems are intensifying even with the treatment to get rid of the lead/zinc in his body. He does however show the desire to perch (which is good right?), but when he gets up there he falls asleep and then face plants into the bottom of his incubator. His stance is wide and his head is way back, (something seen more in brain tumor patients than lead/zinc poisoning patients) he's still not eating on his own, three tube feedings a day... I want to keep pushing but financially we're getting close, and him not getting any better. I wish vets would tell you when you should stop pushing, one more test and 24 more hours, I guess, if he doesn't improve we're going to say good bye, and reading chirpy's post on 'Euthanasia, A dark topic that need NOT be so dark' has made this a little easier. Thank you again everyone this is a little easier with the rest of the budgie world listening :angel1:

5pm update, the vet said that he is perking up and with more fluids in him its looking better and the treatment is progressing well. our obstical now is his liver, his stool is pointing towards liver problems the urate(?) it greeny so they're doing blood work now to see if its another infection or something else (she didn't say what else it might be) anyway thats all i know i'll post the morning results when i get them. thank you to everyone who is thinking of him! it helps to know other people out there care too,

Bo is at least 13 years old now, so the normal signs of old age are setting in and i've noticed those and have pain management in place for his arthritis and herbal therapy for his liver problems. i took bo in this morning to my the regular vet clinic because the emerge clinic suggested putting him down. which wasn't fair to him, because the vets their are still learning from the vet i usually go to. so i waited over night and this morning we took him in, we've found the issue he has metal poisoning from one of his toys aswell as a enlarged liver he's now hospitalized, and has a therapy going that will have all the metal in his gut combine and a laxtitive that will allow him to pass it easily (atleast we hope so) so we've gone from a deaths door budgie where the vets had me say goodbye, to stable and eating perching old man. i get another update later this afternoon, i'm praying today I love my avian vets!

to answer my own question i called the vets just moments after posting, older budgies will exibit fluffing up, sleeping, extreme un-coordination, deep slow breathing and sudden inability to fly, among other things

what some signs that old age may be taking its final toll on our geriatric budgies?