Hi all

 

need some urgent advice.

Was at my friend's house tonight and their budgie (age unknown) appeared to have had a stroke on Christmas day.

He was acting strange and wobbly, fell to the ground and then ended up being paralysed on one side. He perked up a little over the next few days but is still tilting his head to the left.

I noticed he was sleeping in the water bowl leaning agains the bars of the cage

He is also closing the left eye more than the right eye when awake.

He climbs around the bars of the cage but falls down a lot and really leans to the left.

He has been eating but I held him tonight and noticed he is quite thin and upon weighing him (unfortunately not digital kitchen scales) he was probably only around 20 to perhaps 30 gr.

Is he slowly starving to death even though he is eating and if so what could cause that? Or could he indeed have had a stroke?

I know he has had a branch of an Umbrella tree in his cage, probably fairly regularly as they had no idea that that shrub is toxic until I pointed that out tonight

 

The other budgie in the cage with him is young, less than a year old and was panting rapidly tonight (as if frightened) when I pointed that out to my friend she said the other one did that before he had his "stroke".

I am leaning towards poisoning but want your input guys.

I was very sad watching that poor budgie leaning agains the bars tonight, trying to hold his balance whilst sleeping :(

I have given her some of my seed to replace her seed with just to make sure it isn't a bad batch of seed though I doubt it (she used Trill, the fancy one in the small round cylinders with the added fruit though told her they probably won't even eat that

Edited January 1, 201114 yr by Clouds birds

The best advice you can give your friend is get all these things out of the cages and get the birds to the Avian Vet ASAP. It has been a week already and she didn't do that or did she? I don't understand what they are waiting for?

 

 

No they haven't as it has been Christmas and New Year's and there is only 1 avian vet in Perth that I know of and he is quite a way from where we are.

 

 

 

Two avian vets I am aware of but I have also been told of an excellent vet .....Swan Valley Vets as well ( yet to experience that ).

 

I believe you have hit the nail on the head re the poisoning and that branch........reinforces the adage ......"if in doubt do nought" as far as putting branches in an aviary if you arent absolutely sure its safe.

Just ought to mention too.........what a good friend you have been in this case

Two avian vets I am aware of but I have also been told of an excellent vet .....Swan Valley Vets as well ( yet to experience that ).

 

I believe you have hit the nail on the head re the poisoning and that branch........reinforces the adage ......"if in doubt do nought" as far as putting branches in an aviary if you arent absolutely sure its safe.

Just ought to mention too.........what a good friend you have been in this case

 

 

aw thanks Kaz

I always try and "educate" my friends that have birds lol

The only reason I have learnt so much in recent years is thanks to forums like this one (and a few others I post on mainly re. my weeros/tiels).

Looking after a found tiel at the moment, she is lovely and I just can not believe no one is missing her. She is on Gumtree (ad from when she was still staying with another lady), All Creatures Lost and Found and on the radio on 98.5

I do know there are heartless people out there that just don't care anymore about their birds and just let them go

Still hoping that wasn't the case with this one though.....

So if any of you Perth bird lovers see any flyers around with a lost weero on it please let me know (sorry Kaz, I know totally off topic but would love to find her owners )

Edited January 2, 201114 yr by Clouds birds

Yes, there are heartless people who let birds go like that, but it was New Year's Eve, wasn't it? Fireworks could have scared her and they can fly miles.

No no, Christmas Eve........

Have looked at a few local notice boards today......nothing.

I to would say poisoning, sad

what approximate location do we draw our attention to in seeking out this tiels real owners ??

Well, I have no idea as to how far they can fly but I am in Edgewater, near Joondalup......

 

To be honest, I don't think anyone is looking for her.

It's been nearly two weeks now with only the one call to the lady she was initially staying at, and she described a totally different bird to me (I was the one that rang her back).

After 77 views on Gumtree you would think the owner would have been 1 of them..... (The lady that found the bird has now taken that ad off though)

No ads anywhere for missing birds except for some normal greys (and boy are they hard to accurately identify )

Have rung a few vets today, checked all the papers that have come out in the past week.....nothing.

 

We are happy to keep her, she has ended up in a good home luckily

She is showing signs of never having been fed anything but seed before she doesn't even know what millet is

I have introduced bok choy, broccoli, capsicum, chillies but she won't touch them apart from a bit of tearing at the bok choy.

She did nibble the native branch I gave her the other day at least and she also loves (multigrain) bread.

I gave her a bath today, her tail was filthy and stank too.

I have also given her spot on ivermectin just to be sure, she appears in good health so I also don't think she was out for very long before she landed on the other person's head

 

Have not heard back about the budgie yet by the way, not sure how he is going, will call my friend tomorrow.................

Edited January 4, 201114 yr by Clouds birds