My Budgie Died Overnight

[Penny 0]

Hi,

 

Up until very early Friday morning my family and I lived alongside a much loved sky blue recessive pied budgerigar. He was just over 12 months old and seemingly healthy - very active, eating well, playing chattering etc. He hadn't been exposed to draughts, pesticides, chemicals or poisons of any kind. I don't use, or even possess Teflon pans, so no fumes from those either. He hadn't eaten avocado and I don't have indoor plants. He lived inside the house and spent most of his time outside his cage with me as I am lucky enough not to have to work outside the home. Leading up to his death, he hadn't had any signs of being fluffed up or sleepy. He hadn't vomited or had diarrhoea.

 

The only things that I could say I ever questioned were every now and then he would sneeze a couple of sneezes in a row and they were wet sneezes. This would happen say once a week, maybe less, but not more. There was no staining above the cere. When he was a few months old I took him to an avian vet and his impression was there was no staining above cere, nostrils were clear and not to worry as it would be due to dust acting as an irritant, but to bring him back if the nasal discharge (when sneezing) became anything but clear or if his symptoms changed or got worse. Nothing changed - so life went on as normal.

 

The other mysterious thing he would do was get overheated very easily - even when it wasn't hot. For instance he was incredibly bonded to me and my partner and would get close as possible to our faces and mouths to kiss us and to hear us talk to him. Within half a minute he would be holding his wings away from his body - slightly, but enough to notice. Sometimes he would do this for no apparent reason and occasionally his wings would quiver or shiver. It would last no more that 30 seconds and be over.

 

I am also not sure if this is relevant but I am searching for why he died andif I have allowed it to happen by not acting when I could have. Anyway, when he preened/groomed part of his ritual involved kicking his legs/feet up to hisbutt - seemingly to something off. However, there was never any debris thereand he was mite/lice free so have no idea why he did it as none of my otherbudgies have. Incidentally, he only occasionally slept on one leg.

 

This is the lead up to his death:

 

On Thursday just past he seemed to be of normal character – eating normally andplaying etc. At about 3am on Friday morning, (crazily), I was at my computertrying finishing off some incomplete work. Budge was asleep in his cage on thetable and I noticed he had woken and had come down to the door to be let out. Iturned the light on and he came over to sit near my laptop (a favourite placefor him). He was not fluffed up. He proceeded to groom his feet and legsdesperately – almost like he had lice, mites, or ants biting/irritating him. Iput my hand down for him and instead of hopping on; he put his head to the sidefor me to scratch him – something that he doesn't readily offer on a whim. Iwas surprised and concerned so I picked him up fairly easily (again somethinghe would usually see coming and fly off), to see what was wrong with his feet/legs.I took him to a bright lamp and could see nothing so I put him back in his cagebut left the light on to observe him. He had stopped grooming but had startedopening and closing each of his feet alternately – somewhat, like walking onthe spot, he looked agitated. This went on for a minute or so – he started tolook quite distressed. He jumped down from his perch and continued moving histoes/feet – by now I was extremely worried and took him out. He stood on myhand and continued to flex his toes in and out, he now started to hold hiswings out from his body and they started to quiver. He still wasn't fluffed up.It was now almost4am. It's still quite warm up here but I got a heat pad andput the aircon on warm. I put him back in his cage and he continued to move hisfeet/legs. He didn't want to perch and stood on the bottom of his cage. Hedidn't stay on the heat pad and moved away from it. I gave him seed and waterwith Quikgel (Rob Marshall product). I droppered him a little quickgel waterand he climbed to my shoulder and continued to twitch his wings a little andmove his feet. This behaviour seemed to diminish but when I took him from myshoulder he had dropped down to a horizontal position and his eyes had thatterrible vacant look.

 

I have a few medications in the fridge as I have learned that small animal vetstry to help, but birds are different to cats, dogs and guinea pigs, so it'shard for them too and an acutely sick bird would be hard pressed to travel12+hrs in a car to the nearest avian vet in either Brisbane or Toowoomba. Fromthis part of the world I usually phone consult with an avian vet in Sydney whenI have had problems with my other birds. But at 5am no chance of that. Feelingdesperate and totally out of my depth, I droppered him some broad spectrumantibiotic. He was weak, and hadn't attempted to stand or move and his eyeswere now closed. It was a desperate attempt to fix him but it was either thewrong thing to do, the wrong meds or too little too late - He didn't open hiseyes again and took his last breath at 7.45am. I haven't been able to ring theavian vet and speak to him about what might have happened but I will do so inthe next couple of days when I am feeling a bit less emotional.

 

Any ideas or insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

Not a great photo, but was taken the day before he died.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2012 by Penny

[Finnie 0]

Hi Penny. I'm very sorry for your loss. It doesn't sound like it was due to anything you did, or even like he was sick at all. Just one of those sudden, unexplained deaths. Try not to beat yourself up, although I know it's hard when you feel so sad about it. At least you can console yourself that you were there and tried to help him. On a normal night, you would have just woke up in the morning after it was all over, and it would still have been just as unexplainable.

 

I do feel bad for you loss, though.

[robyn 0]

Hi Penny,

So sorry you lost your bud. he certainly didn't look ill in your picture. If he seemed worried etc about his legs etc maybe he was having some sort of seizure/stroke kind of thing.

 

It's easy to try to see "what could I have done, that I didn't". Don't blame yourself it was just old mother nature at work again. I hope you find another budgie to have as a pet when your feeling better about it.

[Bird Junky 0]

Hello Penny , Sorry for your loss. You asked quite a lot of questions. I shall try to answer each one after the paragraph

they are in.

 

Hi,

 

Up until very early Friday morning my family and I lived alongside a much loved sky blue recessive pied budgerigar. He was just over 12 months old and seemingly healthy - very active, eating well, playing chattering etc. He hadn't been exposed to draughts, pesticides, chemicals or poisons of any kind. I don't use, or even possess Teflon pans, so no fumes from those either. He hadn't eaten avocado and I don't have indoor plants. He lived inside the house and spent most of his time outside his cage with me as I am lucky enough not to have to work outside the home. Leading up to his death, he hadn't had any signs of being fluffed up or sleepy. He hadn't vomited or had diarrhoea.

Small pray birds will try to cover the fact their ill whenever they can as this would mark them out as a meal for the next hunter who came along.

It only the debilitating illnesses that we become aware of , coughs & sneezes etc. There doesn't have to be blame as life is a precarious gift at best.

 

 

The only things that I could say I ever questioned were every now and then he would sneeze a couple of sneezes in a row and they were wet sneezes. This would happen say once a week, maybe less, but not more. There was no staining above the cere. When he was a few months old I took him to an avian vet and his impression was there was no staining above cere, nostrils were clear and not to worry as it would be due to dust acting as an irritant, but to bring him back if the nasal discharge (when sneezing) became anything but clear or if his symptoms changed or got worse. Nothing changed - so life went on as normal.

 

Lots of creatures have allergies, dust being the most common. If you find this ever happening again. Rinse a daily ration of seed & millet spray

under a running tap to remove the dust. Drain in a sieve overnight & feed the next day.

 

 

The other mysterious thing he would do was get overheated very easily - even when it wasn't hot. For instance he was incredibly bonded to me and my partner and would get close as possible to our faces and mouths to kiss us and to hear us talk to him. Within half a minute he would be holding his wings away from his body - slightly, but enough to notice. Sometimes he would do this for no apparent reason and occasionally his wings would quiver or shiver. It would last no more that 30 seconds and be over.

 

This is not a sign of overheating., As you describe it, it's more a happy greeting. The same action with wider wings & an angry squawk, means

Back off.

 

 

I am also not sure if this is relevant but I am searching for why he died andif I have allowed it to happen by not acting when I could have. Anyway, when he preened/groomed part of his ritual involved kicking his legs/feet up to hisbutt - seemingly to something off. However, there was never any debris thereand he was mite/lice free so have no idea why he did it as none of my otherbudgies have. Incidentally, he only occasionally slept on one leg.

 

Preening is part of a birds daily ritual to keep feathers in prime condition. Liking his head scratched. is something all living creatures enjoy when

among family & friends. Sleeping on one leg is not compulsory, & you couldn't watch him all night.. How could you have known?.Haven't the

papers just recently run stories of athlete's dying from some undiagnosed problem. Don't beat yourself up you not a trained vet are you?

 

 

This is the lead up to his death:

 

On Thursday just past he seemed to be of normal character – eating normally andplaying etc. At about 3am on Friday morning, (crazily), I was at my computertrying finishing off some incomplete work. Budge was asleep in his cage on thetable and I noticed he had woken and had come down to the door to be let out. Iturned the light on and he came over to sit near my laptop (a favourite placefor him). He was not fluffed up. He proceeded to groom his feet and legsdesperately – almost like he had lice, mites, or ants biting/irritating him. Iput my hand down for him and instead of hopping on; he put his head to the sidefor me to scratch him – something that he doesn't readily offer on a whim. Iwas surprised and concerned so I picked him up fairly easily (again somethinghe would usually see coming and fly off), to see what was wrong with his feet/legs.I took him to a bright lamp and could see nothing so I put him back in his cagebut left the light on to observe him. He had stopped grooming but had startedopening and closing each of his feet alternately – somewhat, like walking onthe spot, he looked agitated. This went on for a minute or so – he started tolook quite distressed. He jumped down from his perch and continued moving histoes/feet – by now I was extremely worried and took him out. He stood on myhand and continued to flex his toes in and out, he now started to hold hiswings out from his body and they started to quiver. He still wasn't fluffed up.It was now almost4am. It's still quite warm up here but I got a heat pad andput the aircon on warm. I put him back in his cage and he continued to move hisfeet/legs. He didn't want to perch and stood on the bottom of his cage. Hedidn't stay on the heat pad and moved away from it. I gave him seed and waterwith Quikgel (Rob Marshall product). I droppered him a little quickgel waterand he climbed to my shoulder and continued to twitch his wings a little andmove his feet. This behaviour seemed to diminish but when I took him from myshoulder he had dropped down to a horizontal position and his eyes had thatterrible vacant look.

 

 

Sorry to say this. Sounds like he was having a seizure. There was nothing you could do.

 

I have a few medications in the fridge as I have learned that small animal vetstry to help, but birds are different to cats, dogs and guinea pigs, so it'shard for them too and an acutely sick bird would be hard pressed to travel12+hrs in a car to the nearest avian vet in either Brisbane or Toowoomba. Fromthis part of the world I usually phone consult with an avian vet in Sydney whenI have had problems with my other birds. But at 5am no chance of that. Feelingdesperate and totally out of my depth, I droppered him some broad spectrumantibiotic. He was weak, and hadn't attempted to stand or move and his eyeswere now closed. It was a desperate attempt to fix him but it was either thewrong thing to do, the wrong meds or too little too late - He didn't open hiseyes again and took his last breath at 7.45am. I haven't been able to ring theavian vet and speak to him about what might have happened but I will do so inthe next couple of days when I am feeling a bit less emotional.

 

At leased he passed away with those he loved around him.

 

 

Any ideas or insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

Not a great photo, but was taken the day before he died.

 

 

Hope I have been able to help in some small way. Yours B.J.

 

 

[stace 0]

Penny, that's very sad. It's really hard to say what happened, but it really sounds like something like a seizure. As terrible as it is, it's good that you were there with him when he passed.

[Penny 0]

Since my post of the other day, I have done a little bit of research and I found that what my budgie was doing in the hours before he died was a type of behaviour that is mainly seen in Eclectus parrots. It is called Toe Tapping & Wing Flipping. However, Eclectus don't normally die and even though there are few different theories as to its cause, the most popular theory is dietery related - over supplementation of certain vitamins/minerals. Other speculative causes are fortified foods, preservatives, colours, additives, metal toxicity, pesticides, chemicals, calcium deficiency & food allergies.

 

The only possible cause in the case with my budgie could have been a food allergy. He would literally eat ANYTHING and earlier on in the night had tried to get into some horrible Maccas that one of the children had brought home. It was some type of salsa sauce on a burger. Except for this, these causes don't seem to relate to my little bird so I guess I will never know what else was going on and what went wrong.

 

Thank you to all who answered - I really appreciate the kind words.