Hi

Im wondering if any one can help me ,

yesterday my 2 female budgies had a nasty fight i seperated them but one of them is quite badly injured all over her cere is bitten and covered in blood and around her facei can only see one eye and i think she has been bitten on her back between her wings . i put her on her own in a cage with some food and water but she hasnt eaten or drunk or been to the toilet since putting her in there yesterday afternoon, she just sits there , sleeps mostly with her head under her wing, shes covered in blood but has not tried to clean herself. i had hoped that the injuries were superficail as blood has a habit of looking worse than it is but i cant tell with out washing her. shes not a hand tame budgie so im worried handling and washing her will just kill her with the stress. the vet is not open till tommorow morning. what should i do between now and then ? i was thinking of putting her cage in the airing cupboard to keep her warm, but im worried because i dont think shes drinking so will the extra heat just make her dehydrate quicker ?

any advice?

Oh the poor little mite! I wouldn't try and clean her, I think that's the least of her problems, and. as you said would stress her. She definately needs to see an avian vet, but until then can you try and keep her warm? Not hot, just warm. A good idea is a heating pad, covered by a sheet under the cage. Then she can choose how close to go to the heat. Put a few dishes of water around, put one close by her. She should be able to go til tomorrow without water, perhaps put some damp lettuce leaves near her too - if she eats a bit she'll get moisture that way.

As I'm sure you know your bird is very ill, and it is important to get her to a vet as soon as possible, although you have done a lot for her up til now. Keep her warm and let her rest, let us know what the vet says.

okay thanks ill keep her warm and see if she makes it till tommorow how long can they go with out eating for ? im so wrried about her but i really dont want to hurt her by handling her . is there a pain med i can give her metacam maybe ? it might be worth grabbing her in order to stop her pain but its not worth it just to wash her .

I'll let someone with more knowledge answer those! (Laughing out loud). I see Pixie is online, she will have a better idea. I'll pm her asking her to look here.

lin just alerted me to your problem, the poor little mite!

 

metacam is used to treat dogs. i dont think you should use it because you wouldnt be able to work out the correct dosage to give her as budgies weigh so much less than dogs do. also you should not give it to possibly dehydrated animals as it can be toxic to the kidneys.

 

is she flapping around a lot in her pain? if she was mine i would not try to wash her just yet. is she perching okay or is she sitting on the floor quietly? if this is the case i would line the cage with a teatowel and put a desk lamp near the cage to keep her warm. if she isnt drinking she will do okay. budgie drink very little water anyway. if she doesnt eat in more than 24 hours this could cause a problem. leave some of her favourite foods around to give her the choice to eat.

 

the best thing you can do is get her into the vets as an emergency case as soon as you can.

 

let us know how she goes and if you have any more questions please just ask.

hi she isnt flapping around , shes quiet but shes in a hamster cage so no option to perch. metacam is used for dogs and ferrets but its the only liquid painkiller i have here and im worried that shes not eating because her beak hurts. i was under the impression that small birds had to eat a lot to stay alive.

I'm pretty sure they can go 24 hours without food, it's not ideal, but in this case I don't think you have a lot of options. Just get her to the vet in the morning and see what he says. I've brought a baby budgie into my house yesterday, and he hasn't eaten for 24 hours, and is fine, so I'm sure yours will be okay. Keep checking here though, we have members all over the world, so they come on at all different times. Someone will have some more advice for you, although it's hard because we can't see her.

I forgot to say Welcome to the board, wish it was under better circumstances

thanks me too, its about 24 hours with out food now , frankly i am not even sure what the vet wil be able to do but maybe they will have painkillers for birds.

Yes, for sure. Don't forget that if you do give the bird anything that might stop the vet from being able to medicate her as well. i know it's hard to just wait, and for some reason animals always seem to get injured on weekends . It's unfortunate their is little that can be done, but it's obvious you are a very caring owner, so I know you will do all you can. My thoughts are with you.

thanks lin , your right its always a weekend when anyone here gets sick or hurt. there is a chap on the end of my street who has 3 aviaries of birds , not budgies but little finches and cockatiels i went round to beg for his help but he was out . i hate the thought that shes in pain and suffering and theres nothing i can do to help

ive had budgies since i was a child and ive never had a fight happen before so i dont know whether they can recover from injuries like this. im worried she just cant open her beak to eat because her cere is so bad , but again because of all the blood i cant tell for sure how bad it is . maybe ( hopefully ) im just being a drama queen and under the blood its just a one peck injury and she is still able to breathe.

can you see her nostrils? if the blood is thick on her cere i would get a cotton bud and dip it in saltwater and clean it off just in case.

 

there nothing you can do about her beak without a professional. the vets will be able to help a lot, they might even keep her in to clean her up and handfeed her to get her strength back. there are painkillers that can be used for budgies but you really do need to wait for the vet to advise on whats best.

 

im sure she can recover - budgie fights are quite common and usually it looks worse than it is because the cere looks bruised and swells. once she is cleaned up and given some antibiotics to prevent infection im sure she will be on the mend. in the meantime hang in there.

 

if there are anymore signs of bleeding you can use styptic powder to stem the bleeding, if not then cornflour will do the job.

the vet is going to call me back about giving her some pain relief. i have some baytril to give her , the vet reccomended wiping her down with a piece of cotton wool to get a better idea of her injuries. other than that she said im doing everything i can .

Poor you! It sounds like you are doing all you can. I think I would have caught her with a washcloth and looked over her injuries and cleaned her up right away, in case any of her wounds were deep and to clean out her eye in in case she had gotten anything in it during the fight. It sounds like they were not so that is good for you and her too.

 

How is her eye? Is it swollen shut? Is she drinking anything? When you talk to the vet, ask whether you should force-feed her water to keep her hydrated. I'm worried that she hasn't eaten in 24 hours. I'm not a vet, and can only go on past experience, but after fights mine have always been back to acting somewhat normally shortly after. Can you see if there is any way the vet's will see her today on an emergency basis?

 

You might want to use a q-tip instead of a cotton ball when you wipe her down - it's not as large, is easier for you to maneuver, and the fibers are wound on it tighter so even when wet, they shouldn't pull off and get stuck on her. Please keep up posted.

I wiped her down but it made no difference the blood has set hard . no sign of nostrils i think she has a hole that goes from the top of her cere thru to where she breathes because when i was wiping it it was blowing bubbles but not from her nostril. the vet said it was okay to give her a drop of metacam to relieve her pain and some baytril. for something so injured she still has a lot of fight i gave her some water directly into her beak which she took, i could hand feed her as i have some baby rearing mix here but it may stress her out to much. her eye is there but it bled when i wiped it down so im guessing it got pecked.

Poor thing! She sounds like she is in a bit worse shape. I'd keep giving her water if she will take it, and hand feed her a little so she can keep up her strength. Hopefully there is no eye damage. Make sure she stays warm. It's good to hear she still has fight in her.

I think I'd try to clean her up a bit more, especially around her cere, if you can do it without stressing her too much. Depending upon how the blood dried, it might pull on her skin when she tries to open her beak to eat and just hurts. Maybe that is why she is not eating. I can't see what she looks like though, so if you think she will be fine leaving her alone until the vet sees her, then do that. Is the vet going to be able to see her soon?

 

We are thinking of you and her and hoping she will pull through just fine.

 

heres a picture of snowflake, well her face at least my poorly baby.

Poor girl. I know how worrying this must be - I hope that the vet will be able to treat her and that she'll be okay in the meantime.

 

Does anyone know what would/could have caused such a nasty fight?

i think it was the two females squabbling over a male that caused the fight.

ouch...poor little girl.

 

How is she today?

Only just caught up with this topic,I do hope you've managed to get her to a vet. Hope he/she can help.

Julie

I posted an update on the trip to the vets forum but i was in a bit of a state and i guess i forgot to press the right button because its not there now .

i took snowflake to the vets this morning and it was decided it would be kinder to put her to sleep. her head had swollen badly and her eys were bleeding the hole in her face above her cere was making breathing difficult for her . i had already pretty much decided to have her put down but i expected the vet to argue with me , but she didnt she agreed it would be kinder on account of her being so hard to treat as she hates being handled. she was still sitting with her head under her wing and still hadnt eaten anything so was quite weak (except for her beak). i think i made the right decision as she was quite obviously suffering and i couldnt allow that to happen any longer. i feel terrible and i cried like a baby whilst it was being done. at times like these i really wish i didnt keep pets

Natty, I saw your other post, and moved it to the In Memorium section. I am so sorry.