I just came back from the vet with Bud!

 

She was such a good girl, it's incredible. Even the vet was amazed how much she could easily handle her. Bud chewed on her fingers, but there was no biting, no fusses, she would climb on fingers and even sung a couple songs. She was still nervous though!

 

So the vet said her poo is really irregular. She checked them on the microscope and she said she found some bacteria that didn't belong there but no fungus or such. The bacterias were weird, she wasn't sure that they were the cause of the problem because per-say they were not an outbreak. Still, they should not be there so she'll be on antibiotics for 10 days. Same type I was giving to Blue. But she looks more cooperative, though she seemed pissed off after the first dose. I don't think she liked the taste, she puked around a bit. I bet the nerves didn't help. But now she's okay.

 

She also told me to try to change her diet (gradually of course!) to some sort of tiny crushed pellets. On the pot they say "for finches"... But it's written on a paper inside the quantities for all types of birds, budgies included. Because if it's not the weird bacteries's fault, it must be her organs and the vet said that a new healthier diet should help her out on that. And... well... She's fat.

 

So I'll try to feed these to all the birds.

 

So in a month I have to give her news if the poop is back to normal. If the feces are still abnormal, she gave me plates so I can put a sample there and have them checked back by her... Simpler than having to bug Bud and bring her back there.

 

Let's hope it works!

Edited August 8, 200817 yr by Michelle

Keep us updated, I am glad you were able to get her to a vet who is knowledgable.

I hope the antibiotics work so she doesn't need the pellets all the time.

When changing her diet to pellets be very careful as many budgies would rather starve to death than eat them.

 

Keep us posted and i hope her poos clear up

Yea... I'm careful of that pellets thingie too, but the vet gave me a strategy that, from she said, is nearly foolproof.

 

For a week I give seeds and pellets. Normal quantity of seeds. Their feeding bowls are split in two parts already so in one part of the bowl I put pellets and in the other I put seeds. That is to show them there's an alternative.

 

After that week, I give them seeds and pellets in the morning for 30 minutes. Then I remove the seeds for the day, and just leave the pellets. I give the seeds back later in the day for another half hour or so. That's to make sure they don't starve and to sorta try to force them to show more interest in the pellets. I'm gonna monitor the pellets level closely to make sure they eat them. But more importantly... I'll monitor Bud and give her some pellets myself to make sure she eats the stuff for real and I'll check her closely when she goes down to eat. That's because I already checked - Pat loves these pellets! I had some in my hand and he rampaged through it. So I'm certain that he'll gobble on the stuff gladly, and the levels WILL go down. But it doesn't mean it was BOTH of them that ate it.

 

When I'm sure they like the new food, she told me to still keep a 3/4 pellets 1/4 seeds feeding in different pots. She wants them to keep eating seeds anyway, but eat way more pellets than seeds.

 

I hope it'll work!

 

 

EDIT: mind you, if her problem clears up... one thing that bugs me is that I'll never know which was the problem if I change her diet AND Give her antibiotics at the same time.

Edited August 8, 200817 yr by Michelle

Might pay to take a good look at their perching arrangements...too many perches and not enough flying will make birds fat, Removing some perches so they fly across the cage or aviary helps a lot. I am a natural is best kind of breeder and I do not use pellets at all. I vary the seed slightly through the year. In winter my birds get extra in the way of hulled oats and sunflower for fat and body warmth. Anytime my birds are fat, I remove perches and I put them on finch mix for awhile. Needless to say I am not a fan of pellets and increasingly these days it seems to be advocated primarily in the USA.

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....&hl=pellets

Might pay to take a good look at their perching arrangements...too many perches and not enough flying will make birds fat, Removing some perches so they fly across the cage or aviary helps a lot. I am a natural is best kind of breeder and I do not use pellets at all. I vary the seed slightly through the year. In winter my birds get extra in the way of hulled oats and sunflower for fat and body warmth. Anytime my birds are fat, I remove perches and I put them on finch mix for awhile. Needless to say I am not a fan of pellets and increasingly these days it seems to be advocated primarily in the USA.

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....&hl=pellets

Yea, Bud and Pat's cage isn't the best *at all.*. It's a high cage, it's long and slim. Not a lot of flying space in there... So there's a lot of perches, and the perches take a lot of width in there since the cage is narrow. I was told by an incompetent shop woman that this cage was greaaaaaaat for budgies. Pshaw. One day I'll invest in a new cage for these two. One like Godzilla's, which is long and spacious (But then again, he's big like his mom too...! I guess it runs in the family.)

 

I understand you feel uneasy about pellets. They aren't quite natural of course. But frankly... I trust my vet on that one, and she did stress that I should not remove the seeds completely from their diet, but that pellets are probably a great idea for my big girl since she's more interested in destructing her veggies than eating them (But she did tell me to absolutely keep trying to feed her fruits and veggies forever and ever.)

 

And since my birds are home pets and that the temperature in the house in pretty constant I don't think I need to vary their seeds according to the season...

 

EDIT: Wait... I'm not sure they're pellets anymore. They're called "Granules" and from the ingredients... Man they don't sound too bad. Corn, soybean, wheat flour, oat groats, cane molasses, dried whole egg, canola oil.... and then the vitamin stuff. I never checked what pellets were really. Are these the same thing? I just wanna be on the same wavelength here.

Edited August 8, 200817 yr by Michelle

Bigger and wider cage sometime then

I agree, my birds aren't given pellets either, we Aussies seem to be very Bias on this subject, although I think the birds do enjoy seed more

Glad to hear nothing too serious is wrong and I hope the bacteria disappears soon

 

Right now mine are on a seed ratio of 20kg standard finch to 1 kg sunflower and .5kg hulled oats, they're loving it

I agree, my birds aren't given pellets either, we Aussies seem to be very Bias on this subject, although I think the birds do enjoy seed more

Glad to hear nothing too serious is wrong and I hope the bacteria disappears soon

 

Right now mine are on a seed ratio of 20kg standard finch to 1 kg sunflower and .5kg hulled oats, they're loving it

Well I'll see about it... All they are getting for seeds is some Hagens Gourmet mix. The thing that was really worrying the vet was that she was not getting proper vitamins, which is why they want me to switch to mostly pellets...

 

Frankly, if she thinks Bud's problem could be organ troubles due to nutrition... I'll stuff her up with pellets until she explodes!!

If it's just vitamins why not put her on a good vitamin supplement instead? Weight problems can be solved by changing the seed ratios (as Kaz said finch mix is good for reducing the size of fat budgies), maybe steer clear of the gourmet mix and try a basic seed, alot of those gourmet mixes are full of the stuff that makes birds fat.

Can you put a pick up of the granules???? I was going to suggest crush the pellets? I am not a fan of them either but it is a FAD that some vets here are saying to use too - Hmmmm But they aren't avain ones though LOL ...

 

I was under the impression from her symptoms that it was baterial ....

 

If you are worried about which one worked - Use the anibotics first then change to the Pellets / granuals .....

I'm really glad it's not too serious. You mentioned your cage is tall and thin. Can you tip it on its side and make it wider and shorter? You may need to improvise with a try for the bottom, but it would help them exersize more. Just an idea

I'm really glad it's not too serious. You mentioned your cage is tall and thin. Can you tip it on its side and make it wider and shorter? You may need to improvise with a try for the bottom, but it would help them exersize more. Just an idea

Click for picture!

 

 

Not really... at least, not really unless I want to make a mess on my floor.

Edited August 8, 200817 yr by Michelle

mmm, that would be an awsome cage if you could tip it over... are you handy with wood and a screw driver/hammer and nails???

 

This is what I would do...

 

Lay the cage down on its side:

 

 

You can still have your food dishes in the protected section on the end. Then, I'd built a support type bracket. I'd use untreated pine, or what ever bird safe timber you have over there. I'd use wider pieces for the sides and back and a narrower one for the front. I'd also make it big enough so the edges of the cage sit on it, so all mess falls within this section. Then, I'd make the tray. For the bottom, something cheap and it can be quite thin. The sides, back and front can be the same narrow timber, incasing the bottom. You can just add a handle on the front piece to pull it out. Line the tray with newspaper, slide it in under the support bracket, and well ah!!!

 

 

I must admit, I'm pretty handy with this sort of stuff, but see how you go. OR... you could just buy a new one. I really like the size of your cage, and it would be a real shame to get rid of it just because it's going the wrong way...

Edited August 9, 200817 yr by maesie

Great Idea Measie

 

You could also take the plastic bottom off all together and cover it with mesh instead. Maybe even the grid in the bottom would fit over the end instead of mesh

;P It's all great ideas, but for lazy me I think that buying a new one is the simplest solution.

 

AKA, one like Godzilla's cage!

 

It's actually EXACTLY the same size as the parents's, but laid on the side! ...and the bottom adds up some height since it's so deep.

 

These cages are really good... I like them. And because you have to snap them together yourself they are much much much cheap.

 

EDIT: Anyway I can maybe sell the old one off to a friend of mine. She's the type that would fiddle around with it to make it horizontal... and she'd put rats in there. She raises rats so she needs a LOT of cages.

Edited August 9, 200817 yr by Michelle

I have been reading this and I remember when I took Merlin to the vet he really promoted a pellet diet but after much research I realized that just all pellets is not good either their food really needs to be balanced. Too much protein isn't too either and that is what a lot of the pellet diets are. Harrison is supposed to be the best out there but you can only get it at the avian vet and in some countries it is very expensive. I found that my boys didn't touch them at all I had to crush up the pellets and even doing that they would eat around the seed with the method you mentioned. The best I could do to get them to eat the pellets is to sprinkle it on their greens like I did with the seed when I tried to teach them to eat greens.

 

Here is an FAQ article from our nutritional section http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...&artlang=en, I agree the U.S vets do push the pellets I don't know why but when you read the information it does make you nod your head and say yes yes yes but then when you really read about it on your own you realize it may not be best to be on a all pellet diet. It is recommended 30% be pellet that is all, you had a ratio of 70% I think that is too much.

 

I really respect my avian vet too but I also respect the view of those on this forum so they made me really look deeper into it instead of just taking my avian vets word .

What ever takes your fancy... I do like those cages though.