Help guys, my first real problem with birds.

 

I've come home from work today and my female budgie was in the corner of the bottom of her cage, wings spread a bit away from her body.

 

She can hardly move. To the point where I could put my hand in and remove her from the cage without her being able to run or move away. She did squark a few times but that was it.

 

The bird had both food and water supplied.

 

I currently have her on the ground with food and water within extremely close reach.

 

It was roughly 28c all day today but the bird has gone through much worse weather than that.

 

Any ideas? I and her are very distressed.

Edited January 2, 200718 yr by VippiN

Emergency vet, asap!

Have taken small video to show the seriousness of this. Please view. Realise this is a video of a sick bird on the verge of death.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkpXhW9EzjI

 

I have cleaned cage out and sprinked seed on the matt, as well as water in an easily accessible lid.

 

Emergency vet, asap!

 

Thanks Eterri, I realise this, however all vets are closed where I live. There are no 24 hour emergency vets I can go to. To make matters worse there are no avian speciality vets in my state.

 

If she makes it through the night i'll take her to the local tommorow.

 

Between my last post and now, the bird has passed away.

 

From the movie where I placed it, I closed the blinds which are close. The noise must have spooked it, it kind of 'jolted' and it's mouth opened, and that's where it stayed.

 

I just don't understand WHY this happened. Not seven hours ago this bird was completely fine. It took SEVEN hours to go from normal to dead.

 

I'm pretty pissed off to be honest. If an animal in your care dies for a certain reason, you can learn from the experiance and make sure it doesn't happen in the future. But I treated this bird NO DIFFERENT from my three others.

 

12PM today bird normal, fine.

7.26PM today, bird deceased.

 

No ******* idea.

 

-out.

Edited January 2, 200718 yr by VippiN

I'm very sorry to hear that the bird has passed, I know how devastating it is. I've had the same thing happen to me and it's heartbreaking.

 

Though, there are two things you can do. If you want to make sure this isn't something being passed around amongst your flock, you can put the body of the deceased budgie in a bag in the refrigerator (not the freezer) and take her in to the vet in the morning for a necropsy. It's hard to do, but since you have other birds, it could possibly save their lives.

 

The other thing you can do is a bit easier. Take your budgies in for a thorough checkup (fecal tests, blood tests if your vet will do them, the whole works) as soon as you can. I learned the hard way that prevention really is the very best defense against these sorts of things. By the time a budgie shows symptoms, it's usually pretty bad off. It's best to get them in for regular exams, monitor their weight regularly, and make sure they're on excellent diets. Sometimes even the best of care can't save a bird though, the poor things have a lot working against them, unfortunately. Genes can play some pretty cruel cards.

 

Again, so sorry for your loss. I know it's hard.

 

*Just wanted to add that it might be a good idea to put a bit of a warning on the video. For those of us who have watched a beloved budgie pass away, it can be tough to watch.*

Edited January 2, 200718 yr by eterri

Thanks for the reply Eterri I appreciate it.

 

The bird was in-training so away from the flock, in the single small cage. (If you can call four a flock.) So there is very little chance that I can see of the others from catching anything.

 

I won't be taking the bird in, as right now finances are quite tight. As much as I would love to know what was the cause of death, I imagine the costs to be ridiculously high.

 

The bird has been removed.

 

I am still very annoyed (my wife asked me to calm down as I was storming around the house like a madman ranting) that the fact that if this was caused by myself what could it have been. My wife tends to think a insect bite, spider bite. I doubt it personally.

 

It was .. disconcerting when after removed from the cage it was rather stiff.

 

The bird was not even a year old. What a total waste.

The first that comes to mind is the use of teflon/nonstick cookware in the house. Was anyone cooking using something like that today? Any chemicals used in that room for cleaning, scented candles, anything like that?

 

As I'm sure you know, it's just really hard to figure out what happened based on guessing. Another thing to consider is that this may not have been as fast as it appeared. Often, budgies show VERY subtle symptoms that we don't pick up on until they increase to the point of being obvious. A little tailbobbing here or fluffing up more than usual there... it could have been something the bird was born with that just finally caught up with it or an illness that has been going on for a while. So many if's, but we can only do the best we can and from there, it's up to mother nature (so to speak).

The first that comes to mind is the use of teflon/nonstick cookware in the house. Was anyone cooking using something like that today? Any chemicals used in that room for cleaning, scented candles, anything like that?

 

As I'm sure you know, it's just really hard to figure out what happened based on guessing. Another thing to consider is that this may not have been as fast as it appeared. Often, budgies show VERY subtle symptoms that we don't pick up on until they increase to the point of being obvious. A little tailbobbing here or fluffing up more than usual there... it could have been something the bird was born with that just finally caught up with it or an illness that has been going on for a while. So many if's, but we can only do the best we can and from there, it's up to mother nature (so to speak).

 

The budgie training room is my study, where I spend most of my time when not on site I work in here on the computer. No fumes at all.

 

By the sounds of it you've lost a bird in the past? It's all very new to me, whenever i've had a sick or injured animal i've been able to treat the problem and never have I had an animal die on me from non-natural causes.

 

Edit: I'm trying to work it out in my head. The blind closing scared it literally to death. Heart problem? Birth defect?

From the video i would say that even a vet couldn't have helped it by that stage. I've had quite a few budgies look like this and it's when they're literally about to die. I'm so sorry that your birdy died, it's just heartbreaking and not knowing why is even worse.

i'm so sorry for your loss. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video but i'm sure you did everything you could for her.

Hi, I am really sorry for your loss and can understand your frustration at not knowing exactly why

 

Can I please just ask you to edit your earlier post and remove the video as it not longer serves any useful purpose and may upset some people.

 

So sorry again ...

Sorry to about the death of your friend.

Necropsy is around $100 or so - pretty much what a vet visit costs - something to think about.

So sorry for your lost.

 

I saw the video, my first impression was that your bird may have had a stroke of some sort may be? She seemed alert enough, but cannot move her body. At the start of the video where you gentley nudged the bottom of the feet and she didn't respond to that. In the past when I looked after a really sick bird, when she was on the verge of dying, she had a grip response when I touch the bottom of her feet. May be your little one had a stroke which caused her to be paralysed hence the lack of movement and also the quickness of going from a normal bird to a very sick bird.

 

Sorry once again for your loss.

I am really sorry for you on the loss of your bird. I am in agreement with Cheeta about possible stroke. I had a baby budgie once that had a kind of epileptic fit or stroke and the symptoms sound the same. The budgie at the time was just 9 weeks old. I also have a disabled budgie that when caught and under stress goes into a spasm and acts paralysed until it settles down. It sounds very much like your budgie did have a kind of stroke. I guess you will never know. But if so, you wouldn't have been able to do anything. Your obvious caring shows here. Once again, my sympathies

Once again thanks for the replies, all.

 

I do now believe that a heart attack of sorts was the cause of death. The sound of the blind closing (venitians, it's not a quiet thing) was the direct cause of death. The bird jolted violenty when it happened, then seconds later dead. I believe it had another heart attack then, final.

 

It makes me wonder if that I had put it in a quiet place it might have recovered overnight. I doubt it, but there will always be the mystery.

 

I won't remove the video, reason being for educational purposes. I was searching the forums madly for threads similar to mine, but found nothing of use. It may help someone in the same situation I was earlier in.

Awe I just woke up and read this I am so sorry , I know how much you were working with your birds and how much you cared.

 

In the end if the time is near and that is what is to happen there is nothing you can do. You did the best you could in the situation that happened. The only thing we can learn from a tragedy is what we can try to do better next time (even if we do or don't know why).

 

It is so hard to lose but remember she will always be in your heart and now she is flying free painless she remembered all the love and I bet she is sitting on your shoulder, preening and she is your little angel.

 

Take care and remember you did your best you have 3 other little budgies that need your love.