krosp

maesie.. he isn't very frisky unfortunately but we can try and get him exercising. He will hop from finger to finger at least. I think I will totally grow his wings out now too, they're usually half there which is enough for Piccolo to fly but Cosmo is so heavy that he can't go too far.

Thanks Elly. That makes sense - he does eat way too much seed. So I guess even this change I've made with having less seed for them is a good change even though they aren't eating the pellets. Thanks for the encouragement, I guess worst case scenario they never eat the pellets I can just try and bring the proportion of seed much lower down from now on. They are not in a small cage, but yes - he is not much of a flier, but it's chicken and egg because he's too fat to fly which is why he stays fat

It's not cheaper, but I only have two budgies so I am not concerned about the cost really. One of my budgies is obese and has a lot of fatty tumours, that is why the vet recommends pellets (although they recommend it to all budgies anyway). It is supposed to be a more balanced diet. Some people think it is the equivalent of humans living off a multivitamin (ie complete nutritionally but completely unpleasant to eat). I would like to get them eating it so there is an easy source of nutrients and then feed them seeds as well. I am feeding them veggies throughout the whole transition.

Thanks guys for your quick replies. Thanks Catherine for giving me some hope that they would eventually. What happened with the budgie that took 6 months to eat them- was it only having a small amount of seeds each day for 6 months? Darryl I agree with you that when I finally get my birds onto pellets it won't be their complete diet. But I figure that I need to wean them onto pellets first if they are to ever even eat them at all, and then once they are accepting of them, I can balance it out with seeds again. Otherwise they're just going to only ever eat the seeds and ignore the pellets. Day 3 and they haven't lost much weight (maybe about a gram each) but they do have that "hungry" look Darryl was talking about! They're just more active and mouthing everything as though they're looking for something to eat. But I just refilled their seed and veggies and they haven't touched it yet so they're a bit strange.

For anyone who's been following my saga, the vet has advised us repeatedly to convert our budgies to pellets. I understand the debate and since I am really no expert and have nothing left to try, I have reluctantly begun. I put it off until after the birds were settled back into our house after our holiday. I feel completely horrible! I feel like I'm starving the poor things. I have been following the recommendation -- to put pellets in their seed dishes, a small amount of seed elsewhere in the cage, and plenty of fresh veggies. So far it's okay -they haven't lost weight, and their droppings still seem okay. But it has been two days and they haven't eaten the pellets. I am just really doubtful that they ever will but I have to keep trying. Has anyone ever seen this done successfully? I'm just after a ray of hope here! I guess this thread is not a question as such, more just seeking for some support! I would appreciate any encouragement that they will eventually come around or tips for making it more successful, I have read up a lot of what is on here but I think my budgies seem especially stuck in their ways unfortunately.

Wow, glad to hear how well he is doing :hug: What is the oldest that a feather duster has lived? You might break a record!

They feel safe when they're in a higher place, so that is why he likes your head.. it is higher than the rest of you. I agree that Pimms is not opaline. But I am thinking from that photo that he is a she... do you have any more close ups of his face?

Nothing abnormal in his bloods except raised cholesterol, which the vet attributes to a seed diet... My husband took the call, I was at work... I would have liked to have asked what exactly has been ruled out, and what his hypothesis is now. The only thing he said was that it's not a liver problem. Cosmo looks so weird though... his crop is so full of air on one side... wish I had the explanation!

We took Cosmo back to the vet and had a follow up. Cosmo's crop is big again, but this time it's not fluid, it's just air. The vet thinks he may be sucking it in as a habit for anxiety. He thinks that Cosmo does not know he's a bird - he is more bonded to people, and maybe the stress of me being away from home 6 days a week during October, combined with mating season, might have had something to do with the stress that brought on the sickness. He also thinks perhaps if Cosmo is anxious enough it could lead to overeating which could lead to liver disease which could explain why Cosmo is getting so fat and unhealthy. Just a theory for now, but we've done general bloods and will find out the results tomorrow or wednesday. It's true that Cosmo is far more bonded to us than he is to Piccolo.... but I never thought of him as anxious. Piccolo seems more anxious to me in that he is easily startled. Plus one more thing - Cosmo's feathers have changed colour, he seems to be turning blue again! This does not make any sense to me at all. Does that ever just randomly happen to yellow face type 2 budgies?

Gahh... Cosmo has put on all his weight and been his old noisy friendly self lately. Now I've noticed his crop seems misshapen a little on one side hope it's not all coming back We were meant to have our follow up consult and blood test this Wednesday but they rang and said the vet won't be in so we changed it to next Monday. Bummer I'd prefer an appointment on Wednesday than waiting another week in case it is coming back. At least it's happened at the start of the week this time - the last two times he got sick was on a Friday and we couldn't access the vet all weekend... we can keep a good watch on him now.

Thanks Richo! But yes it is hard to convey tone by the internet... but it was kind of like in this looking at us strangely kind of way, like as if you'd have two budgies in such a big cage

Recently my Cosmo was taken away for 3 days because he went to the vet, and my other budgie Piccolo went a bit nuts while he was away, calling out and running around the cage. Cosmo doesn't care if we have Piccolo or not though - he is far more bonded to people. So maybe if you wait a little while you will see if she starts to feel better - but at the very least if you buy a new one you will have to keep them separate for 30 days anyway, so she will have to be on her own for a while. On another note... it's a good thing you didn't let George go again. Budgies don't survive in the wild unless they were from the wild to begin with, so if you ever find another budgie try and find its owner or give it a new home rather than let it go

Small as in standard pet shop cages - I think it's about the minimum recommended size for one budgie long term, we had Cosmo on his own in there for about 8 months before we bought a huge cage in preparation for getting him a friend. Then Piccolo was alone in there for his quarantine too. One on its own in there is fine... some people would definitely keep two in there though. But the main reason I was asking is because I wanted to know if Cosmo being sick might benefit from only having one big change in environment (location) not two (cage).. That is a good idea to keep them in the small cage for a few days before we go. Thanks guys for the advice. On another note... recently we went to a pet shop to buy one of those stretchy elastic things you can put around the base of the cage to stop seed spilling out... and we copped a bit of flack from the pet shop owner when she found out that we only had two budgies in such a large cage. She was like "seriously? two budgies? wow okay then, they are very lucky!" or something like that. That attitude is kind of sad.

As most of you know now... Cosmo has been very sick twice, spent 3 nights in bird hospital last week and is slowly on the mend. He may get better totally but it's likely that he will be susceptible to catching another infection. Anyway, on Boxing day we are going away for 10 days and the budgies are supposed to stay with my parents... who have budgies of their own so I trust them to look after them well. I'm just not sure what to actually house them in while they're there. Their usual cage is extremely big... not sure if we could fit it in our car - maybe in two trips, one for the cage one for the stand. Or we have a smaller cage that is not really big enough for them permanently but maybe it could do for 10 days... except for the fact that Cosmo has been sick and I want to stress him no more than absolutely necessary. The good thing about the small cage is that it hangs on a stand... my mum has a cat, so having it on a stand is good. The budgies will probably be on the veranda during the hot days, so the small cage can be brought in and out depending on the weather, whereas the big cage would be too heavy for them to move. I'm not sure what the cat would do if the big cage was inside all the time, although if we did bring its stand maybe it would be okay. The small cage would be heaps easier.... except, it is small Possibly my mum might have an in between cage, but that would probably involve rearranging all her budgies and putting some together that are currently separate, I don't think that will work too well... and again, would involve Cosmo having to adjust to a new cage as well as a new environment. What are your thoughts?

Maybe it's just natural variation in eye colour like we have.... Piccolo got his light grey iris at about 6 months old, and Cosmo still has a pretty dark grey one even though he is around 18 months old

How do you think your teacher would take to you printing out some fact sheets about birds' health? Specifically ones where it explains how they hide their symptoms until they're very sick. Unfortunately there's not always a lot we can do sometimes to persuade someone else to spend a lot of money on their pet, but it is good that you have been trying to educate your teacher on the importance of her bird's health.

Ones I've had before that have learned their names well -- Ricky, Bobby, Peter I'm sure there were others I just can't think of them quickly Cosmo can say his name too but he says it with a lisp.. more like Cosh-mo haha

Thanks renee, I hope she is okay. Cosmo had some bacterial infection, I think it was called a gram negative ?? does that sound right to anyone else? Whatever it is, I guess the most important thing is they treated it. Maesie - he does have one thick perch and now you mention it he is spending most of his time on it. I have given him millet and he devoured it (weight is still the same- not up or down) and I also just gave them some spinach which is his favourite food. I think he's doing fine but as you say he is still really weak. that the worst is over ....

GenericBlue - I don't think they sell it. I'd like to try and get some though, I think.. I've separated them for now because Piccolo was disturbing Cosmo from eating. I think Cosmo's balance isn't fantastic still maybe that's just part of being weak? He's not like falling or anything but he needs to put his wings up if I'm carrrying him around anywhere, and he jerks a bit if there's a breeze

Yeah we do... but I'm thinking maybe of putting Piccolo in there so Cosmo can be in his own home. I kept a good eye on them last night and they are acting normal again now, so I'm not sure if they need to be separated or not Yeah I know, it's really tricky with the pellets.... they did such a good job with him, but I have had this sense of "well, no wonder you're having problems, he's on a seed diet" attitude from a few of the staff there...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Cosmo is back home!!! He's not really better though - HEAPS better than Monday of course, but he's lost a lot of weight and he's still kicking his bottom a bit although the poos are getting more and more solid. The crop is fully down and has stopped filling with air. He just seems a bit little and frail. But he has got some of his spunk back, haven't heard him talking yet though. He was very happy to see us a bit stressed by the vet nurse trying to catch him so in the clinic he was just a bit shaky but the second we got to the car the first thing he did was fluff up his head to my finger that was holding the side of the carrier.. and he received a continuous head scratch for the entire 25min drive home, stopping only to preen me. He's usually pretty tame and friendly but not quite that affectionate so maybe he was just really happy to be taken home. Piccolo missed Cosmo... but Cosmo didn't miss Piccolo. As soon as Cosmo was back in the cage he just wanted some peace and space but Piccolo followed him around everywhere like an annoying little brother. I felt a little bad.... it's like Cosmo is more bonded to people than to Piccolo, but the main reason we got Piccolo was so Cosmo would have a friend. Anyway.... I have got digital weighing scales and his weight is the same as last night, I will keep checking on him and hope he starts gaining more weight on his own. He's only 42g at the moment.... that's so light for him. The vet nurse didn't have anything she said I should take- I asked for probiotics and she said that he'll be fine and the only good thing they can have is pellets. Sooo.... any tips?? I want to avoid him catching anything again especially because Christmas is approaching and he'll be staying with my parents for 10 days while we go on holidays.

Thanks for all the support, it has been a very important part of getting me through this to know that there are other budgie lovers who understand and who are praying and barracking for Cosmo too. We won't get the blood test until he has been better for two weeks, the vet thinks that there is no point doing it now because he wants to see how his body functions when he's healthy. Hamish - yep he is a fantastic vet, and it is definitely worth the money, although I must admit I'm a little nervous about what a three night stay will cost lol but having him home will be priceless. Piccolo has missed him too.

*Update* Got to speak to the vet for a good while this afternoon. He says Cosmo has responded well to the antibiotics and it seems it was some kind of gastro bug. However he is concerned about why Cosmo got an infection, because he thinks he is unlikely to have picked it up from the environment given how I keep my birds and that nothing significant has changed recently. He says a budgie should be resilient enough to deal with a tiny bit of bacteria in their environment or inside their gut so maybe there is something else wrong with him that this infection was secondary to. So in a few weeks when Cosmo is better completely, then we will go in for a blood test. But he's pretty sure Cosmo is going to get better this time around and we should see him looking brighter again in a few days. So unless I hear anything between now and tomorrow evening (no news is good news) - we will be getting Cosmo at 5:30pm tomorrow!!!

Latest update.. he started eating for himself again some time this afternoon. He must be quite a bit better to have done that. This morning when he was still only being force fed, they said he had no more air in his crop. But now that he's eating for himself again there is a lot of air in his crop again. I don't know what that means. The vet will call me tomorrow. I hope I don't have to make any hard decisions. Poor little guy.... it's so hard still not knowing what is even causing all this.

Well, he took a turn for the worse. Started sitting on the bottom of the floor and coughing up heaps of sticky fluid, so I took him in as emergency. Lucky that my husband had a spare period backing onto lunch time, so he could come out of school and go with me. We had the other vet this time, and he was fantastic. So thorough and extremely caring. He can't tell what is wrong with Cosmo but he is fighting an infection and had heaps of liquid in his crop and hasn't been eating. He has flushed the crop out and is keeping Cosmo for 1-2 nights. Going to give him an injection of antibiotics and some high energy food and hope to get his system moving. If he pulls through from this infection then we will talk about further testing to find out what's going on. This vet doesn't think it's testicular cancer, but it could be any kind of underlying thing on any organ that then affects the whole system, or it could be an immune thing, or a disease... nothing was showing up, so we'll see how things go. It was incredibly sad leaving him there knowing there's a reasonable chance we won't see him again