Hi guys,

 

I was hoping to get a bit of advice on if you think this sounds like a sick budgie or not; or if there's any cause to take Jet to the vet. I feel that there is, but when I've mentioned it to either of my parents they're not really jumping on the bandwagon here. The reasons to think he might not be sick are that his eating habits are the same, and although he plays a bit less, it's not toooo much less, and his crop is clear. The reasons to think he mght be sick are the following: his flying ability has declined greatly (he used to be an excellent flier and now he is much slower, can't fly as far & flies a bit lower than he used to). Also, any time he lands after he flies he's always panting. My parents seem to think it's just "old age," (Jet is around 7 or 8), but I would much rather be safe than sorry.

 

Anyway, any insight would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Have you weighed Jet? He may be overweight in his old age which is affecting is ability to fly and then when he lands he is panting because it was a difficult feat. (like people who are overweight)

 

Going to the vet would be a good thing, because if he is overweight, they can weigh him, give you a good diet to follow and make sure it is not caused by an underactive thyroid or any other medical condition.

I agree with lovey, I was thinking weight too. dont forget, budgies are very good at hiding poor health too. good luck with your parents. I would advice a check up.

Hey guys,

 

Thanks for the reply. I hadn't even thought of weight, though looking at him it might be an option. He is housed with an english budgie (who is definitely overweight though we really don't overfeed her!). We've always found we need to give them perhaps a tad more food, b/c elsewise he doesn't get to eat very much since she will eat it all & push him around if he tries to eat first. Outside of taking him to the vet (my parents are really not in favour of it unfortunately) are there any budgie-weighing machines we could possibly purchase ourselves?? Since we do have 6 budgies in total, it might be a not too bad investment.

 

Thanks again!

I just use digital kitchen scales. Weigh a container, pop the budgie in, weigh again, and subtract the weight of the container. Remember, if you do decide he needs to lose weight, that slowly does it. They don't weigh very much, so a gram is a lot to them!

 

With the other budgie giving him a hard time about food, try putting 2 or 3 containers of food in different places. The bully bird can only be at one container at a time!

I was reading when loosing weight don't decrease the food supply just what type they are eating. So more veggie/fruits vs seed and try pellets. Another one, I remember Daz saying is give Canary Food it is less fatting and still what they need. Budgies will and can starve themselves to death if they don't like the food or if you are decrease it too fast.

Edited March 11, 200619 yr by lovey