I was at Petsmart today with my goddaughter, just looking around. I swear I only went in there to buy a new beak block! But then it happened: we started wandering towards the adoption centre. We rounded the corner, and then I saw him: I took a closer look, why was this budgie separated from the others?? And then read the sign: he was to be given free to a good home. No one would adopt him because of his birth defect. I looked closer at him, sitting on his perch, looked down & realized what his birth defect was & knew I couldn't leave the store without him.

 

Basically his feet are little stubs. He's 3mos old, and will always require thicker/flatter perches as he can't grasp smaller ones to steady himself, but I just couldn't turn my back on him. All I imagined was an ill-prepared owner adopting him out because he was free and then not giving him the quality of life he deserves. We have an extra cage, tons of extra perches & toys, and an abundance of love to give.

 

He's in his new cage now, doesn't seem too scared, even tried to eat a little bit & chirped downstairs to our other budgies when he heard them squawking up a storm...(Laughing out loud) Of course, he'll be going through a quarantine period (I'm still trying to explain the importance of this to my mother *sigh* but I do intend to stick to it fully), and I'm pretty sure he'll always need to be housed separately from the other birds (to be dealt with in the future), but my question for anyone out there: has anyone ever dealt with a budgie without any toes/claws and is there any immediate insight you can provide?

Razzo got in a major hen fight and as a result has 1 claw and just stumps for toes. They are very adaptable. Razzo fell off perches and stuff at first but she's adapted and can now get around easily. She prefers bigger branches to the smaller ones but she can still use them because she's learned to grip with her stubs. She still has a good life. I'm glad you took in the little guy. You're obviously going to give him the love and affection he needs.

im glad you took the little guy!

 

My 1 budgie has a splayed leg and was constantly picked on by everyone until Tweety finally grew on him and their now together... Which proves even the lowest of the pack can pair up with the All mighty queen. Buddy gets kind of a ladder mesh type at the back of our Cabinet so he can walk easily along that for his bad leg and rest on it and we have lots of Rope perch so its easy on his leg and i just ordered a thicker one just for him

 

and one of my previous Cockatiels i was quarinteening for a Bird Society had almost no Toes... he couldnt walk on flak surfaces very well and king of hubbeled along on her perch so he go a variety of perches to choose from and actually prefered the smaller ones so he could get a full grip

 

It all depends on the bird i think

 

ive actually been planning to open up my own Budgie Handicaped place for Budgies like this

 

Tip

 

Sombody Recomended to me this and i think its a great idea

You can try getting a all plastic platform or a wire one ( kind of like the bar spazings in a small Budgie cage) and have a platform for him to go and rest on if his little legs are having troubble with the perches. you can cover the Platform in Polar Flece ( can be bought from your fabric store) just for some extra padding on wrap some of that just 1 layer around a perch to make it a bit more Grippy and softer

 

If you have any questions feel free to private message me

Bea & BrokenDreamz: thanks sooooooo much for your replies! It's just so wonderful to hear other words of encouragement, and other people having faith that he can still have the same quality of life as other birds. I'm afraid not everyone in my family has the same opinion, which made the evening a little heartbreaking for me. They just don't get that I don't only see "stubby" when I look at him, but that I actually see an alert little guy who, with a little bit of love & understanding, can grow to be the biggest champ of all. :sport:

When I breed budgies many years ago. I had a babie hatch with 1 and 1/2 wings and only stubs for feet. I was told to humainly kill him, but couldn't. There is the story in the forum here somewhere. I'll look for it, save retyping it. I ended up adjusting the aviary to suit him.

 

 

Found It

That's a great story, i remember reading that!

Daz, that's a lovely story, thanks for sharing it!

 

I'm going to work on making his cage more adaptable to his needs in the next couple of days, for now he has a rope perch & two perches wrapped in material so they're softer for his feet. In order to make it easier for him to balance while eating, I placed a flat (clean) ruler-type painting stick so he can actually lean over comfortably without struggling to not fall off as I saw him doing earlier today.

 

Might sound like a silly question, and he didn't seem uncomfortable at all from my observation, but does it hurt their feet at all having only stubs, or is it just a matter of not being able to get around the same as other birds??

Unless it's a birth defect i'm sure it would hurt at first but then get better. :fear I supose it would be the same as someone who got a leg amputated. It hurts on occasion, but they can still enjoy life.

aww poor budgie! its great of you to take him on... hope he does well with you :angel1:

floppingfish that's a really GREAT thing for you to do. All my respect to you.

I'm sure we'll all be racking our brains now to think of ways to get that little thing way up there with all the other birds!

 

Julie

Well done for adopting him - you are probably right that he would have gone to an ignorant person who saw the free bit only!

I hope he adapts well bless him although I am sure he will all animals have that unique ability to over come things!

Might sound like a silly question, and he didn't seem uncomfortable at all from my observation, but does it hurt their feet at all having only stubs, or is it just a matter of not being able to get around the same as other birds??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You will find with any animals, us included that the body adapts. His little feet/stumps will develop calisis to protect the bones. Simalar to our heals. He will adapt and with your help, have an enjoyible life.

 

Well done floppingfish, many would have over looked him or brought him home only to find out its "too hard" and he would have been neglected. He's lucky to find you

Thats great..The little guy will adapt as he gets older and will smother you with affection..

It annoys me that some animals are overlooked just because they have a defect.. I went out for some pet food one day and came back with a 49lbs king charles spanial. An old woman had spoiled it toooo much. She was given a month to live as she was sooo fat. She is now 8yrs old and still like a puppy.it took 6 months to get her to 23lbs but it was so worth it....

:angel1:

I would love to own an animal rescue centre so i can help all the neglected and mistreated animals.

Who wouldnt Bea but there really should be no need for any rescue centres - in an ideal world though huh?

Bless you, bless you, bless you! Do you have any more details...maybe a picture or two?? Can you tell from looking whether this is congenital, or whether a mishap of sorts occurred? Did they give you any background information at the store? Oh, I have a million questions! There is a very good website out there about caring for birds with disabilities that someone gave me when Rainbow could only use one leg...I'll find it and post it for you so you can get a few more ideas about what to do.

 

**edit**

Found it! http://www.avianweb.com/specialabledbirds.htm

Edited May 12, 200520 yr by Rainbow

So wonderful of you to offer this bird a much happier life than what it would have probably had otherwise!

Thanks so much for all the replies! Bennett (meaning: little blessed one, I thought it fit perfectly) woke me up at 8am this morning to his sweet dear chirps. Seeing as my other little one, Galen (2?mos) is still soooooooo quiet (I think he believes that Jack can do all the talking for both of them! :(Laughing out loud): ), it was so lovely to hear.

 

I don't have any pictures right now (no digital) but I am going to work on getting some really really soon, promise! My understanding from the store was that it was congenital and he was just hatched like that. But that's really all the background they were able to give me. They originally housed him with the other budgies, where he was fine, just spent a lot of time at the bottom of the cage. Then someone adopted him without realizing his condition, and when they did, they returned him Of course, on the plus side, if they hadn't returned him, the sweet boy never would have entered my life...

 

Thanks so much for the website Rainbow, I've taken a bit of a browse of it & it looks like it's going to have some really helpful ideas!

But definatly try and get some flat solid platforms with maby some flece on them to make them soft . platforms are great resting places. Buddy uses his all the time and because its soft it doesnt hurt his leg

 

But im definatly starting up a place for Handicap Budgies or all birds for that matter now

I will have to try & post some pics eventually, but Bennett's cage is officially set up to accomodate him & he's already sooooooooo much happier! I'm sure there will be a few changes in the days to come as he adjusts, but I really feel like the cage is so much better now to suit his needs. :artist

 

We put in a makeshift platform at the bottom to raise the "bottom" of the cage to the portion where cage meets plastic. This way even when he's on the ground, he can still out through the bars, instead of being shaded in. We made him his own flatter swing, put some dishes for food & water on the bottom of the cage, and gave him a few different levels of platforms along the bottom which can serve as little steps going up to his other perches.

 

He's so sweet, and has been so patient!! Even while we've been rearranging his cage, he would just sit on his perches peacefully, not even trying to get away or panicking at all.

 

*I'm in love*

He sounds lovely! How much feet has he got left?

 

And that specially adapted cage sounds great! Good job....if anyone has a lazy budgie maybe they should set their cage up like that! Save the bird from jumping around! :(Laughing out loud):

He doesn't really have much at all Bea...basically imagine your bird's feet without its toes/claws...you can tell where one was trying to grow, but didn't quite make it. My nickname for him is Little Mr. Man cause he kinda looks like he has a human's foot, just without little toes :(Laughing out loud):

Little Mr Man! That's adorable!!!