Maureena

Hi ChrissieThank you for responding as you did. I hope your Percy doesn't have the same problem...and I hope he turns out just fine. But the avian vet did happen to mention that sometimes the lameness disappears and then does come back. And sometimes the tumors mysteriously just stop growing. I think I will phone them today to find out if they have conferred over the x-ray. I'd also like to ask them if they have any alternative medicine choices...who knows. They didn't offer anything up like that though. I have found though, that when the vets don't give me many options, I end up in research and determination mode and nothing beats the internet and forums full of the experiences of those who have gone through things and have good suggestions. I've helped and saved many of my budgies through reading and research. It's an invaluable source. And now I'm in that mode again, but do I have to face the fact that there isn't much I can do to fight this time? I guess I can't stand feeling helpless and watching death slowly creep up. I've seen it enough in my life and I've fought hard for control and beat the odds here and there but knowing when to quit is a smart choice sometimes too I guess. I'm not there yet though, and I won't be for a while. Please keep me posted on Percy. ThanksMaureena Hi MaesieThanks so much for responding to my query. I won't go down the road of having Bluie operated on and from the vet's body language and tone of voice, you could tell it isn't something they feel he would do well with. I don't want to lose him like that when he could live a lot longer, possibly. When Berdie had her ulcerated xanthoma on her abdomen, the avian vet wasn't very optimistic, didn't want to operate and I couldn't have afforded it anyway. But they aren't very forthcoming on alternatives, didn't even suggest a collar for her, in fact freaked on me when she saw the collar on Berdie. She said "how would you feel if you couldn't scratch an itch?" I said "how would I feel if she bled to death in the night from tearing it open?" I take what my vets say with a grain of salt...I always take my birds to the vet but I don't always see their word as the truth for my birds. If I'd listened to them, Berdie would be dead, and so would Anthony. In Anthony's case, he was heading for critical with Megabacteria/AGY and if I let them dawdle and hedge as they were doing, he'd be dead. Berdie got a homemade collar, we even put a pink trim on it. She could fly with it and on the weekend we let her out of it to bathe and preen. We used Polysporin cream on her tumor and little by little the ulcerated tumor healed and with some good chasing around the house for exercise, the fatty tumors went by the wayside. The vet suggested we stop the polysporin and don't have her in a collar. But if we had listened, she'd be dead now. Thanks again Maesie Hi Sailorwolf, I know that it musn't have been easy to reply to my post and I'm very sorry for your loss of Arkady. It's really devastating to lose them. I just recently lost my Alex to fatty liver disease and AGY and she died in my hands. It was heartbreaking. I also didn't pick up Bluie's favouring his left foot and even when I saw it, I really thought he had hooked his nail in something when I wasn't paying attention. But when I really think about, I think I've seen him favour this foot a bit quite some time ago. They are such wonderful little guys and it's so hard when something happens to them. Just like everyone here, I do the best I can and work hard at keeping them well fed and looked after. I fight for them when I can and protect them to the extreme.Thank you Sailorwolf for answering me as you did. Hi Angelic Vampyre,Thank you so much for that information on beetroot. I plan on giving that a try for sure! I am gathering as much herbal alternatives as I can at this point. Thanks again!

Thank you for your hugs and wishes. Much appreciated. We just lost Bluie's girlfriend a very short time ago. It's so cruely ironic that now we must face this with Bluie. Well, the vet doesn't seem keen on surgery and neither do we. He's so tiny, and we would rather not take the risk of losing him during surgery. If it's cancerous, it may have matastasized (sp) and even if it's not cancerous, who knows how the tumor has formed and what it has wrapped itself around. The vet told us they could do a barium dye to find out for sure. But at this point I am waiting for both doctors to confer on the x-rays. The vet told us she just had one of her budgies die from the exact same thing. They are going to call us to monitor Bluie's situation but other than that, there wasn't any other type of treatment recommended. I was just given anti-inflamatory for him. I just had 5 dental implants put in this morning and I got home a short while ago and laying on the sofa with my eeepc recovering from it. This is also the bird room, so I have six of my birds out flying about, including Bluie. He is doing good and right now it's more of not being in pain exactly, but more of bothersome to him. He doesn't want to put the foot down because it feels numb to him. An unpleasant sensation for him, I'm sure. But other than that, he's quite cheerful, happy and flying about and interacting with everyone. I guess it's a matter of watching him daily for any signs that his quality of life is deteriorating and at what point I have to make the call to release him from any pain he might be in. It's just tough because he and Berdie were my first budgies 6 years ago. We've been through Berdie's Xanthomas and fought and won; Bluie's respiratory illness 5 1/2 years ago; Jada's run-in with Avian Gastric Yeast which we fought and we won; two years ago getting 4 more birds from the Humane Society and losing one within 10 days of having him even though we took them for their wellness visit (Vet's aren't perfect); then Anthony also getting AGY and how we fought with the vets to understand what was wrong with him and how we really had to make them "see the light" with regards to AGY but with the help of Megabac-s and a little bird called Monkey...we pulled Anthony through and he's the picture of health today; lastly Alex who succumbed to a number of things - fatty liver disease and probably AGY on top of it - we fought hard to save her too but some battles aren't won. Today we have 4 more birds from the Humane Society who are not finished their quarantine. All green and all girls...not one of them tame. Got my work cut out for me but I love it. Anyway I'm babbling too much. Maureena

Bluie (my tamest and sweetest budgie) http://maureena.net/Images/Berdie010.jpg has been favouring his left foot, still using it but not putting a lot of weight on it and raising it in the air quite a bit. We took him to the avian vet who gave us some anti-inflamatory and sent us home to just watch him for the next few days. When it didn't improve, we brought him back and we had x-rays done. One appears perfectly healthy, but the other x-ray she told us was ominous and showed us the shadows and suspects that Bluie has tumors in the kidney area and they are pressing on his sciatic nerve. We have him home again and give him some anti-inflamatory and are watching him. The vet is going to confer with the other more experienced vet but she is pretty convinced. We, of course, are hoping she's so wrong but still have to be realistic. I would like to hear from people who have had this happen to their budgies. I would like to benefit from the advice of someone who has gone through it, what they did, how they handled it, what alternative treatments did you try? How long do I expect him to maintain his normal life before his quality of life changes? I would appreciate any experiences that anyone would be willing to share who has gone through this. Thank you Maureena

Thank you everyone, it's nice to have a place to grieve where people understand.

Alex http://maureena.net/Alex.html I came home yesterday after work to find Alex at the bottom of her cage. She was still alive but barely, I picked her up and held her in my hands and she died shortly after, just quietly closed her eyes and left. Alex had been sick for about a year. She was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and sometimes we thought we were winning the battle, she'd have really good days and then she'd have some really bad ones. She and Bluie were bonded, and Bluie looked after her and made sure she was fed. He did an amazing job for so long. He will sorely miss her. He knows that she is gone, I made sure I let him see her at the end and he reached out and touched the feathers on her head a couple of times. We buried her in the garden under the apple tree. We'll miss you Alex! I'd also like to add this poem that is on the McDonald's Family Rescue on their facebook page. They do wonderful work there, I donated one of my cages to them. Their website is http://www.themcdonaldrescue.com/ and this is their facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-McDonald...ion/11891617044 MY HEART IS MADE OF FEATHERS ‘’My heart is made of feathers’’, The mad parrot woman said. ‘’I have feathers in my heart and soul, Feathers in my head.’’ She knew that people laughed at her, And talked behind her back; But her love of all things feathered Would never falter, never slack. Her world was made of feathers, Of the birds that she adored. The smirks of open ridicule She simply just ignored. But as the months passed into years, The laughter, it grew less. They all began to listen As she spoke so proud, shameless. Very few would understand But they began to realise; That her devotion to those birds was real, Acceptance was her prize. For it meant that people realised She would never hide away. For the birds that suffered, the birds that died, Her voice was here to stay. Her world was made of feathers, A place of loneliness, she knew. But if her human friends walked off; Her feathered friends stayed true. Her world was made of feathers! And with tears, her eyes did glisten As finally, the world laughed less, The world began to LISTEN! ‘’My heart is made of feathers!’’ The people heard her cry. And to her joy, they didn’t laugh…. They stopped, and asked her ‘’WHY?’’… By Anne.M.Kenyon

Well, everything in moderation as they say. A little broccoli and a little kayle won't hurt, but feeding these things constantly could do damage I would imagine. I try and mix it up a bit with different greens.

My birds love broccoli and kale, but I have been more cautious with how much I give them now. Broccoli and kayle are goitrogenic agents, which interfere with the normal production of thyroxine by the thyroid glands, may result in Avian Goiter (Thyroid Hyperplasia or Dysplasia). Feeds containing goitrogenic agents include soybean, flax, rapeseed, kale, cabbage, broccoli, and turnips. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM029

Maureena how do you cook yours, air popped or with a little oil? I was thinking that maybe if it was popped with a little Cod liver oil or Safflower oil.. Cod liver oil would give them an additional source of iodine, more vitamins and Safflower oil is rich in essential fatty acids. Just a thought Hi Una, I just air pop mine plain. I haven't tried to add anything. I just feel they need a treat sometimes too and plain popcorn hasn't seemed to have hurt them. The hamster also would be standing up peering out through his cage when it was being made too, and he was pretty greedy about the stuff as well. I just love the feeling of being swarmed when I have a bowl of popcorn...they all want to land on me and get at that stuff.

I'm also interested to hear what the answer will be because I DO give my budgies plain popcorn (no salt or additives) occasionally and I have to tell you it's their top favorite treat. The only way to describe it is a feeding frenzy. Their little faces are covered in the stuff.

Hi I've been putting a few drops of raspberry cordial in my budgies drinking water for a while now. Since I found it difficult to find raspberry cordial store bought, or if I did it was rather expensive, I make my own from frozen raspberries. I make a batch of cordial and it lasts for quite a while in the fridge. I boil my water for my budgies, let it cool and then I run it through a Brita filter. I put this in larger bottles and add a few drops of raspberry cordial to that and store them in the fridge. I have no idea whether or not they "love" it, they treat it no differently than plain water. There are a number of different things on the internet about using raspberry cordial, not just for budgies but for ourselves. Just do a search on google. Here are a few links I saw. http://baliforfamilies.com/bali_belly_and_...rry_cordial.htm http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/arc...topic11208.shtm http://www.solwayparrotclub.co.uk/tips.htm

hiya I would take her to the vet to have her beak trimmed and they could do a check up to see if everything is okay. One of mine had an overgrown beak and the vet trimmed it, the vet recommended I not try doing that myself. I wouldn't have tried it anyway. Mine have lots of wood to chew on.

Hi As Lovey said, you need to take her to a vet to check this out. As she indicated, "giving them medication they may not need is not good and can be more harmful." We shouldn't play doctor when we don't know what's wrong. Only an avian veterinarian is qualified to make a diagnosis and prescribe the correct medication. Lovey also has a point about the "good" bacteria (flora) within the stomach which will be killed off by antibiotics. And everyone knows these days that giving antibiotics without there being a valid reason, just makes bacteria all the stronger.

Great videos!

:hap: that's too funny...I don't feel so bad now! (Laughing out loud)

Didn't realize so many people had so many finger/toe lovin budgies! :-)