Hi Dear Forum Members,

 

I need your advice about one of my parakeets' strange behavior. I just want to be sure that he is not sick.

 

I have three male and one female parakeet that live in their separate cages.

 

One of my male parakeets is 2.5 years old. Last year, I took him from a college student who purchased the parakeet from a Pet shop in USA (Pets mart). I noticed that he rarely was chewing something/food when he joined us. He was an active 1 year old parakeet. He started to jump on our hands and mimic our words such as "come here", "ridiculous" etc.

 

Almost three months ago the chewing episodes become more frequent. He is chewing most of the day. He eats but takes longer. He sings, mimics our words but he is sometimes nervous and is not coming to our hands. Then a couple of days later he again acts friendly. The parakeet is 30gr a little smaller than the other parakeets. Compared to the other parakeets, I think he prune himself more than the others.

 

I took him to an avian vet in Pennsylvania. She checked his crop and his wings. She said that maybe he is suffering from the feather mites. She gave 3 syringes of ivomec. I gave the content of 1 syringe orally every two weeks. His treatments were finished two weeks ago but he still chews. His video :

 

Can you tell me if anybody's parakeets act like mine? Is he suffering from a disease that the vet could not diagnose?

 

Your answers are highly appreciated. Thanks

 

Zerrin

 

PA-USA

Hello Zerrin,

 

My budgie had a similar problem. He was constantly chewing and kept tipping his head back as if he was having difficulty swallowing. He also became quiet and slept more frequently. He didn't talk or chirp as much.

 

When we took our bird to the vet, she was alarmed to find his weight had dropped to 42g (from 48g about 2 weeks before when he had a general check-up), and said he felt thin. It turned out he had a sore, swollen mouth, some sort of fungal or bacterial infection. This was preventing him from eating properly, resulting in weight-loss. You could see this swelling both above and below his tongue when you opened his beak. We still do not know what had caused it. He had to stay overnight so they could tube feed him and start him on medication. After a series of anti-fungal and antibiotic drops, he seems to have recovered, although we are carefully monitoring his eating.

 

Have you noticed that Pavarotti is having trouble eating or swallowing? Our bird was unable to properly eat his seeds or his usual favourite celery, but he was very happy when we provided him with millet, which he ate very quickly. According to the vet, being able to eat one thing (eg millet, which is small and easy for them to eat) but not others (his normal seed) is a sign of something wrong with the mouth. It was causing him pain to handle the bigger seeds (and he usually loves his seeds!).

 

Keep a close eye on Pavarotti, and make sure he's getting enough food in. Check that he isn't getting too thin or losing weight rapidly. If you are worried it is getting worse, or he doesn't seem to be eating well, another visit to the avian vet would probably be a good idea. Budgies can go downhill very quickly, but when put on the right medication will recover pretty fast.

 

Hope this helps