gazebo_dude

Well it's now been 7 weeks since the accident, and there has not been much further improvement in the use of Piper's toes. She can clench them occasionally (about once a day from our observations), but this seems involuntary. She has no perch reflex. Her cage is now completely disabled friendly with various platforms. She has developed quite a system to move around, using her beak to pull herself along. But she seems a happy little budgie, and seems to be full of more character then ever. In fact, sometimes I wonder if she's faking this just to get all the extra attention. She absolutely loves having her head scratched when she's out (we figure because she can no longer do so with her feet) and if she's in your lap and you're not scratching, she will nudge you until you do so. We've been monitoring her weight and diet to make sure the decrease in activity doesn't mean an increase in weight. We are now putting in a controlled amount of seed each day, rather then an "endless" supply just sitting there. And we have upped her vegetable intake. She has also taken to herbs (which we never would have thought of, had we not read it on here) - she's particularly fond of basil, doesn't mind a bit of parsley, and thyme is yet to grow on her. This forum helped us yet again 3 weeks ago when she had a broken blood feather. We read up what to do and were able to remove it with minimal fuss (although it was definitely a 2-person job). A new feather is growing back in it's place. So thank you for being such a great resource. A link to this website should come with every budgie sold.

Well today was the last day of her medicine and there hasn't been any noticable change. She still can't use her toes, although her legs seem to be back to full strength. We've put in a low platform for the time being until we work out a better system. She does climb up on it and she's flown a little bit, but not much. She usually just climbs up to roll back down again (a bit like a budgie luge ). As pet owners we're getting used to the idea of having a disabled budgie. There is only one minor problem at the moment. Seeing has she's often laying down and her poos have nowhere to drop it gets quite messy down there (dried poos getting matted in her feathers). We've been cleaning it as much as possible once a day or so, occasionally having to snip it away (very carefully) with scissors when it gets really messy. Is there any better system?

Thanks for the quick replies. We will get to work on the platform thing and making her cage more "disability friendly." Also, thanks for the encouragement. We were really starting to get worried. It's amazing how these little creatures work their way into your heart. :hap: Will keep you guys updated.

Two days ago our budgie, Piper (~7 months old female), had a flying accident and ran into the wall. At first she went into shock but we kept her warm and luckily she pulled through. A couple hours later she had calmed down quite a bit but still wasn't using her legs so we took her to the vet (just a regular vet because we couldn't find an avian vet in our area) to check if any bones were broken etc. The vet couldn't find anything broken and said it might be nerve damage. She put Piper onto anti-inflammatory meds (Meloxicam 0.01 ml/dose twice a day for five days). That was two days ago. That same night she got control of her legs back but still cannot move her feet/toes. She has no perching reflex. The vet said that if it was nerve damage we should see improvement within 48 hours but we haven't seen any major improvement since that first night. She sits on the bottom of her cage which we've padded with a cloth. She gets around fairly well by using her wings to push and her beak to pull herself along. She seems to eat and drink normally, and her personality seems to be quite normal except maybe for some (understandable!) periods of frustration. She seems to have full control of her rump and legs... everything except her toes. Has anyone else had similar experiences? Is there anything else we can do? She doesn't seem to be in any pain but this certainly isn't the kind of life she would want or deserve. We really don't want to put her down but at what point do we need to start considering that option? :-( (by the way, the vet weighed her as 53 grams.)