Hello,

 

My pet budgie (Buntie) who is around nine years old and is female appears to have hurt her left claw or leg and I'm hoping I may be able to get some advice here on this forum.

 

I have been told by my parents that one evening she may have got a claw caught or trapped in the cage and may have pulled too hard and dislocated or damaged the joints in the foot.

 

She seems unable to open or close the foot herself although there is a very slight amount of movement.

 

The individual claws have lost their "stiffness" so when she lands the back claws tend to fold forward (but not to the side).

 

There seems to be a very small amount of swelling, but no colour change.

 

Otherwise she is remarkably fine! She chirps to the birds outside and flies around normally and nibbles on newspaper as usual. Landing and walking are a little bit difficult, but thats understandable.

 

She nibbles at the foot (more out of frustration) but is not rough with it.

 

I'm keeping an eye on the situation and if there is no improvement I will take her to the Vet, but any information is gratefully recieved.

 

Thanks

 

Andrew

it does sounds as if her foot has been damaged.

 

if she damaged her foot on the cage then you need to identify what caused it and remove it for her safety.

 

if she isnt using the foot at all and it is limp when you touch it then you need to get her to a vet right away. preferably an avian vet who will give you the best treatment. if you do not act quickly it is possible that she may develop an infection from the swelling and her general health may deteriorate.

 

only your vet will be able to fully diagnose the problem but the quicker you act on this problem the easier it will be to treat and hopefully after a course of meds to stop infection she will be right as rain sometimes a splint can be put on the leg to aid healing too depending on the problem.

 

how long has her foot been like this for?

hope she gets well soon, let us know what happens

 

pixie

Hi Pixie,

 

Thought I would give an update on my Budgie.

 

It appears that she may have damaged a nerve or broken a ligiment in the foot, but the vet that my parents took her to said that not much could be done.

 

So keep you fingers crossed that she gets some movement back over time.

 

Thanks,

 

Andrew.

oh its good news that its not broken or anything. i hope buntie gets the full use of her claw back soon.

 

thanks for letting me know how she got on,

 

love pix