Bruising, bleeding, chasing & a temporary truce

Cagney has hurt his foot again.

Cagney holding up right foot
Cagney holding up right foot

Yesterday I noticed that he was holding his right foot up.  He was limping too.  This has happened before & I think it is because his long toenails get caught in something.  I continued to observe him & was concerned enough to remove the swing from the Manor & put some padding on the bottom in case he should fall.

He seemed fine in himself & was getting about.  He even sat in Phinny’s cage for a little while but as the day progressed he seemed to get a little worse.  He had difficulty turning on the perch & could not be bothered to go all the way down to his seed pot.  Naturally, I held the seed pot up to him.  I decided that a vet visit was in order, if only to confirm it was a simple sprain & nothing sinister.

Today, Cagney visited the vet.

Continue reading “Bruising, bleeding, chasing & a temporary truce”

Blowing bubbles

Did you know that budgies can blow bubbles?  Phineas can.

He has always been into regurgitating & favours my finger or thumb, on my right hand, of course.  A few weeks prior to his recent little break from regurgitating & jiggying due to moulting/breeding/a reason known only to Phinny, the amount of seed regurgitated increased.

Normally, he would leave, at most, a very thin smear of goop on my finger.  All seed is gobbled back up by him.  During the increased regurgitation, a lot more was left behind:

(Click on photos to enlarge)

It was when there was the increase that I noticed his ability to blow bubbles with the goop.  I was impressed to say the least!  If you look closely at some of the photos above, you can see the goop is foamy & bubbly.

Since his return to normal form, he has quickly returned to that high level of regurgitating.  All the signs are there:

  • Lots left on my finger when he has finished,
  • The occasional blowing of a goopy bubble,
  • Near constant demands for my finger to regurgitate on/to.
The Bubble King
The Bubble King

I wonder how long this phase will last?