Sailorwolf

Go for an xray. If she has a tumour pressing on her sciatic nerve then you will know why that is happening. If the kidneys are inflamed however they can also put pressure on the sciatic nerve causing lameness. Anti-inflammatories can reduce the inflammation. Also an xray can tell you what joint is affected if any etc etc. A blood test can test for kidney function . Go for an xray first.

Sorry to hear that. You'll find another bird that is absolutely gorgeous. At least you didn't get him home and he got your other bird sick.

Yes I woud say that is a bad clip. It will grow back at his next moult, which should be happening around now, if he has already gone through it the next one should be in another 3 months. His tail could just be broken. When I first got Arkady he had 2 full tail feathers and he broke both of them off in 2 weeks. He was an active little fella. Looks like a girl to me actually.

The reason why it was popping up back then is because it is not genetic. It is the budgie form of Down's syndrome. This is when by accident 3 chromosomes go into a cell instead of the normal 2. This is a problem in meiosis and in humans typically tends to happen in older women, because their meiosis isn't as good as it used to be.

Budgies will flirt with anything at anytime. Mine even flirt with mid air.

Don't worry about feeling like you are overprotective and overloving of your pets, because I can assure you many vets are like that! Why do you think they chose to work with animals??? Because they love them!!! Also, getting someone who loves their pet and knows lots about it is far nicer to have come in than some other people and makes me feel better. Seeds are not actually that natural for budgies, because the seed that we feed them are all old world (europe, africa, asia) blends (as in they are not australian natives). Budgies naturally eat grasses, eucalyptus leaves, fruit, insects and grass seeds . Seeds and fruit does not encompass that. They do need protein and that is where the pellets come in. Pellets especially the Harrisons brand are the only specially formulated diets similar to the Hill's diets they do for cats and dogs. You don't see cats and dogs eating biscuits out in the wild do you? Yet they are perfectly formulated for them. Now with bird pellets they aren't a complete diet like cat and dog foods are, but they are part of a balanced diet to be had with seed and vege and the odd eucalyptus leaves. If you bird won't eat pellets then you will just have to cope with out them, but I offer my indoor birds pellets all the time and they take them as they want.

I think we need a video of it as your description could lead to any "diagnosis" which can be seen by all the different answers here. From your description I can't tell if he is just flirting or regurgitating, which are 2 completely different things. So post a video or clarify further.

I wouldn't buy cow's milk, it is not very nutritious. Go for kitten or puppy milk formula. What you can do is soak a piece of cotton string in the milk and let them suck the milk out of it, if you don't have a teat or syringe. Although they may accidentally swallow some cotton though. So try a tooth pick, like you would for baby budgies, instead. but if you can't find anything else cotton string will work. They will need feeding every 1-2 hours during the day. During the night I ma not so sure, you will have to research it. How many do you have? How big are they? A 1 day old mouse is pure pink with closed eyes and is about 2 cm long. They start getting coloured skin at 4 days old, with fur coming through around a week and open their eyes at 10-14 days old. At 2 weeks old they start to wean (from memory) and will eat things like budgie seed, cat biscuits and cereals. They also will eat grass too. (pretty much what a budgie will eat, plus cat biscuits and cereal). You will need to keep them warm. So a heat pad is a good idea. Almost like raising baby budgies. Pm me if you need to ask more. But do some googling on the internet. I agree with MB, wild mice grow up quite mean. I have fostered some onto my pet mice before and they were not nice.

Yea we have a few clinics like that here. Vet clinics that are adjoined to petshops but are actually a separate business. The petshops claim to have their pets treated by these vets.

Yay, good for you. I'm sure you did excellently

Yeah if you want them to sit on your finger it is best you keep them inside so they don't fly away when you take them out of the cage. We have a section in the forums on sexing young budgies, complete with pictures. Go check it out!

Welcome to the forums

That was a very bad move on her part. Like others ahve said they lori could be sick and give something to the budgies or it could kill them by attacking them. Not to mention it is not fair on either birds to be housed with each other, they have such different feeding and social needs, and also the fact that these birds are supposed to be breeding too! The babies would get killed >: ( . Baby animals can get diseases, how does she think babies die? Infact babies are more at risk of diseases because of their immature immune systems. Tell her to separate them immediately, especially as she is putting your pet at risk, which I think is very selfish of her and she is not thinking of your needs. Tell her you will not breed your birds with her birds if she continues to house the lorikeet with the budgies. And when you get your bird back quarantine it.

That's awesome news guys!

MB is a wildlife carer.

Immunisations and antibiotics are completely different things. Immunisations work by sensitising our immune system to a pathogen so that we are better able to deal with it when we encounter the fully pathogenic organisms later. This is what happens in nature. An animal that catches a less pathogenic strain of a disease will then be less affected by the disease later on, because it has memory cells that have developed to combat that particular pathogen. This is why once you have caught chicken pox, it is highly unlikely you will catch it again, because your immune system has been exposed to it and knows how to deal with it and is now much more efficient at removing it before it sets up infection. And thus generally you are immune for the rest of your life or for a long period of time afterwards. Antibiotics on the other hand are given to an animal or human being to kill bacteria that is causing infection in their body. Antibiotics do not do anything to the animal's immune system whatsoever. As soon as the antibiotics are stopped, bacteria can recolonise the animal. There is no lasting immunity. The bacteria however develop resistance (a sort of immunity if you will) to the drugs given. If they are not wiped out properly or are given at continual low doses that do not kill off the stronger ones, then the stronger ones that are resistant to the drug will replicate and more resistant ("immune") bacteria come into existence. And now because they are resitant the drug will not work anymore. Thus the bacteria can happily multiply even while you continue to give the same antibiotics. Infact by continually giving the antibiotics that they are resistant to, you are wiping out their competition bacteria, making survival much easier for the resistant bacteria and they go nuts. Thus The immunistation/vaccination itself does not kill anything, it is your immune reaction to it that does. If you put Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria into a tuberculosis vaccine they would live. If you put the same bacteria into a vessel of antibiotics (suited to them) they would die instantly. Infact many vaccinations are actually just weakened forms, dead or parts of the bacteria/virus/pathogen. They are just in a form that won't kill you or harm you. Antibiotics are a poison specific to bacteria. Oh yeah I forgot to say. Putting your birds on anibiotics is also not good for them in that it kills of their resident helpful bacteria, which can make digestion more difficult, give them abdominal pain (stomach cramps), diarrhoea and fungal infections. You will find they will drink more when there is no medication in their water and they will be happier and healthier off the stuff. Remember drugs have both good and bad side effects. Some antibiotics are known to be ototoxic causing the animal to become deaf (now banned in humans) or interfering with kidney function (like causing failure). There are many more side effects. Broad spectrum antibiotics cover a wide range of bacteria that they kill, but they don't kill all kinds of bacteria and they may only slightly kill some types as well. Broad spectrum antibiotics are actually one of the antibiotics that are most responsible for resistance formation.

Yeah sandpaper stuff is just a waste of money. Use newspaper, it's way cheaper and works more efectively (ie you can see the poos properly). The key to this situation is education. Like DrNat and Chryso said. By giving the girl confrontation you will be met with confrontation and she will refuse to change her ways. When you next see her compliment her on how cute her budgie is and sneak in a few comments about how your budgies love to sit on your shoulder and snuggle. When ever you do something ask her. Also try teaching the boys too. Have them over at your place for a few drinks or whatever and show them your budgies and their set up, get the fids out and let the guys hold them. At the very least show your boyfriend and he could maybe learn a few things. It is amazing how interested people can be in animals. I had a party at my place and my room was full of people looking at my chinchilla. Just show an interest in her budgie.

Well if you choose to let them take Louie to the vet ask them to provide you with the vet's quote/tax invoice, that way they can't get out of taking the bird to the vet and pretending he died etc. Or you could ask them if you could take the bird to a vet of your choice and send them the bill. I have a feeling that by refunding your money, before taking him to the vet, means that you have relinquished your rights in his ownership and they can do what ever they like with the bird because you effectively sold it back to them. So they may not take him to the vet, or get him properly treated (maybe they might even get him euthanised). Talk to them about it and say you would like to take him to your own vet (or at least be present at the consultation) and send them the bill. I have a feeling they probably wouldn't want to pay for much, but who knows they may be a responsible and caring petshop.

Hey awesome to meet you. Your little budgie friends are real cuties. Breed Sean and Phoebe together (when Phoebe is older) and you will get an entire clutch of beautiful opalines. You also have a friend from New Zealand too :happy-dancing:

I don't

He he. I like to stir. Well for happiness sake I decide it is a pet! (besides if it is snuggled on their lap asleep then it probably is quite used to people).

lol, budgies are not octopi

It doesn't mess around with their immune system, it increases the resistance of the bacteria, making them harder to kill. Thus when (and I mean when not if) they spread on to a human and make the human sick, those bacteria will be much harder to kill and may even not be able to be killed, becoming what is called a 'super bug' and resulting in that person's death. All people who use antibiotics willy nilly are contibuting to this. The more people who are irresponsible with antibiotics the more deaths will result from resistant bacteria in the future. Thanks to this situation I have to deal with not being able to save people's pets in the future, because they caught a resistant bug, I may even have to deal with myself catching a resistant bug for the same reason. Now you can understand why I feel this way about antibiotics.

So why hasn't the issue about permits come up here yet?

Sucks to be Australian! Here, we can raise any wild animal that we find. Unless of course it was a rare and endangered one. I once had a duckling brought in by a cat and I rang the bird lady of the SPCA and she asked whether I wanted to raise it myself or bring it in. It was badly injured unfortunately and died later that day. To be honest I think the whole needing a license to look after injured or orphaned wildlife is rediculous for a common wild animal such as a duck, or magpie or what ever. For endangered natives I can agree on. I am guessing however that that duck was a mallard. Mallards are the most common duck and are out competing all native duck species. To need a license to look after it is rediculous seeing as they are a pest. The only animals I know that you definitely need a permit to keep here are possums and ferrets and generally if you find a wild one it should be destroyed. But if I wanted too I could raise any common animal, introduced or otherwise, such as a mallard, a pukeko, a rabbit, a mouse, rat, cat, kookaburra, sparrow, magpie, fantail, deer, pig, masked lapwing, rosella etc etc. If I found a kaka or a kiwi chick I would immediately hand it into DoC or the SPCA, because they are so endangered.