Hernias In Budgies

[SunshineE 0]

Hi All,

 

I have just been reading several topics hoping to find a way to comfort my dying budgie, and in the process I have come across several mentions of hernias and abdominal lumps in hens.

 

The reason I was looking at these topics because my bird has what seems like a fatty tumor on her breast, but back to the subject!

 

My favourite girl, Sunshine died two years ago. She was diagnosed with a hernia by Dr Tim Oldfield. Sunshine had what appeared to be a bulging sac just in front of her vent. The skin of Sunshine's hernia 'bulge' appeared to be yellowish, but it doesn't have to be yellow to be a hernia. She developed her hernia during the breeding season and at first I didn't notice it. I became very worried about her when she started not being able to fly properly, which, when half your insides are in a different place to usual, is quite understandable. We took her to Dr Oldfield and he was very honnest about her chances of surviving the surgery required to fix the hernia. He told me that because budgies are so small and have such a small volume of blood circulating in their system that she might not survive the surgery because it was such a large scale operation for her to have.

 

She survived the operation (his first of the kind on a budgie) which involved a subsequent historectomy because her ovaries had become inflamed and caused the hernia to occur.

 

Sunshine died a week after the operation. I don't know why and I have never been able to convince myself that I didn't look after her properly after the operation.

 

For anyone who needs a description of a hernia:

 

- A large, soft, squishy bulge just in front of the vent area

- In severe cases, an inability to fly (reasons mentioned above)

- If the hernia is caused by inflamed ovaries, a hen will not lay any eggs

 

I do not have any photos of Sunshine's hernia, which I regret as they could have been incalculably helpful to anyone who suspects one. I was more worried about Sunshine than taking pictures of what she looked like.

 

If a budgie has a hernia, there are basically four options:

 

1. Leave it: DO NOT IMPOSE THIS ON YOUR BUDGIE! Every living creature has a right to a safe, painless life, leaving a hernia untreated would result in a painful and drawn out death.

 

2. Euthanasia: This is sometimes the best option for an older bird or a bird with a long history of medical problems, personally, I would never have done this to Sunshine because I believe that she should have had the chance to every other curative measure and only if they had failed would I have euthanised her.

 

3. "Shortcut/Buy-some-time Surgery": This involves pushing all the organs back inside the budgie, sewing up and removing the excess skin. THIS IS NOT A CURE. This option will result in future hernias because the skin will just stretch again as the abdominal muscles still cannot hold it all in. This will buy a budgie some more time, but will not fix the problem and they will have to continue to live with the disabilities associated with it as long as they survive.

 

4. Full Curative Surgery: This involves replacing all the organs back in their correct positions and putting a small mesh in the place of the abdominal muscles to hold it all in place. Depending on the cause of the hernia it may involve aditional procedures during the surgery. This is the option I took for Sunshine because everything has the right to their best chance and I wouldn't have been able to bear watching her die slowly and painfully.

 

I hope this is helpful to people. If anyone suspects that a budgie has a hernia I am happy to look at photos, however, I am by no means a vet and can only give my opinion from my experience so you should always consult a vet if you suspect something is wrong.

[Dave_McMinn 0]

I am going to ask the question everything who reads this is thinking.......

 

How much did Surgery cost?

[**KAZ** 0]

I am sorry to hear about Sunshine. I am comforted by the fact that you had been seeing Tim Oldfield as he has got to be one of the very best Avian vets we have available to us here in Perth. He is just great.

Interesting also about the hernia as I never knew about that. I have had the odd hen or two that seemed to have what you have described and we put it down to being an internal egglayer and retire them from breeding.

[SunshineE 0]

I can't remember exactly how much it cost, but I think it was around $220. The Stop-gap surgery would have been cheaper, and for a show breeder the best option is probably to euthanise, especially if the problem is like Sunshine's and the bid ends up needing a hysterectomy and is unable to continue breeding.

 

However the option you choose depends on the relationship you have with your bird. I know this sounds cruel, but if it had been one of our later birds we probably would have euthanised them, but Sunshine was my original bird and we were very closely bonded, so it just depends on how you feel about the specific bird.

[Dave_McMinn 0]

I know what you mean. For me, my dog was like that. I had had Tess for 1 week, she was 10 weeks old, when she got something caught in her throat. 4 days and $2500 later, she was right to come home. I would have spent twice as much, and would do it again any day of the week.

[SunshineE 0]

I'm glad to know that other people think in a similar way. I would have done anything for Sunshine.

 

I do know however that some people cannot accept the responsibility sometimes and cause unjustifiable suffering for animals sometimes. Our friend rescued fifteen adult budgies last year which ad just ben left by their owners who moved house. There were eight clutches in the aviary and four of the females were dead on the floor, the only source of food for their neglected flock mates, horrible I know.

 

One of these rescued budgies also had a severe hernia, but died before we could treat her, so it is just a matter of care and attention in 99% of cases.