A blog about my beautiful budgies.
Last week, on Wednesday the 2nd of March, we had another visit from the vet.
Perry
Perry & Moriarty
It appears that Perry is working his way through an avian medical encyclopedia & I told the veterinary nurse that I had lost track of what letter he is up to. She suggested that he might be at ‘L’ for leg.
So yes, he has a problem with his leg.
About a week prior to the visit, I had noticed Perry holding his left foot up & barely using it. I could not see any visible signs of injury. He could rest it on the perch but only lightly. As the days progressed it got a little better in that he could lift it to scratch the side of his head, which suggested there was no problem with the actual foot. My concern was that perhaps one of his lumps was beginning to press on the leg & causing the problem.
The good news is that the problem is not lump-related. He must have caught his leg/foot & sprained it as his knee joint is swollen. Otherwise, all appears fine with his foot. The vet gave him an anti-inflammatory injection to expedite recovery, but basically we just have to wait for it to heal, which could take 2-4 months.
To help with any pain or inflammation, I have been putting cayenne pepper & turmeric in his water, that he seems to like. I noticed the cayenne pepper does not dissolve fully, so I wait for it to settle & then skim off the top, without bits, to put into his water. Before giving it to him, I taste the water to check for ‘pepperiness’. I also put a spoonful or two in my own drink!
Whilst the vet was here, she gave Perry a little makeover by trimming his beak (it was longer than it was the last time she trimmed it) & his toenails. She also weighed him & he was 53g, which is a bit less than his last weigh-in but nothing to be concerned about.
In this video you can see, about halfway through, how long his beak was:
With a little extra help, Perry is still ‘out & about’. I just hope he will put aside the avian medical encyclopedia for a bit!
We could not let the year go without another visit from the vet.
At least this time it was not an emergency. We actually had an appointment booked for January, but I rang on the off chance there was a cancellation, so the visit was brought forward to the 30th December.
Perry
Perry’s beak has been getting long. As the end nestled into his feathers it was not always noticeable but when I did see it, I got increasingly alarmed at its length. He was still able to crack seeds though I wondered how long he would be able to do that for. Also, as time went on, Moriarty was less appreciative of the head preens Perry was giving him!
By chance, the day before the vet visit, was a bad one for Perry with respect to his ‘turns’. My last post on them was October 2020 – Update on Perry’s health. This year, he has continued to have them at intervals: 16th March, 7th April, 6th June, 26th November, 29th December. Obviously, these are only the ones I have witnessed. Each has been of varying intensity. Fortunately, each time he has recovered well & despite having two episodes (11:30, 16:10) the day before the vet came, she said he was looking well.
So, yesterday Perry’s beak was trimmed & is now back to normal. This is one less thing for me to worry about… & I have had a lot to worry about!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟚.
Across the budgie realm, I hope all chirps are happy, all flirts & kisses are reciprocated, seed & vegetables are plentiful & all naps are accompanied with peaceful chattering.
**•.¸♥¸.•*´💖 *•.¸♥¸.•*´*
Just 8 days after seeing the vet for Lennie’s health problems, I was back at her clinic.
All initially seemed fine on the morning of the 2nd November. Normally, I would let Perry in with Moriarty where they could get their morning flirt out of the way without interruption from Lennie. This went ahead as usual but I noticed it ended quicker than usual, & Moriarty wanted to go & say good morning to Lennie. This meant Perry was on his own in Moriarty’s cage.
Not long after, I noticed the tip of his beak was red.
Now was the time for some intense observation.
I thought I saw a flash of something dark around his preening gland area. I wondered if he had a broken blood feather. Sure enough it was not long before, I started seeing spots of blood on the bottom of the cage… Then bigger drops.
More blood from Perry
I rang the vet hoping there was a cancellation for a home visit, which there was not. She was already out doing home visits but would be back at the clinic in about an hour or so, so they suggested I make my way there. I immediately covered Perry in corn flour. He was bleeding as I was doing this (the place looked like a crime scene afterwards). I could not quite work out where it was coming from so just pressed my finger in certain places & if it came out red, I shoved corn flour in that area. There seemed to be a spot below the preening gland that was bleeding. I put him in the travel cage. Fortunately, the corn flour temporarily stopped the bleeding. The cab ride would be at least 30 minutes, so I put some corn flour in my bag in case it was needed on route. We got to the clinic about half an hour before the vet. It was not until about 5 or 10 minutes before she took him in, that I saw a drop of blood on the bottom of his cage – so the corn flour held up well.
It seemed like forever that Perry was in with the vet. The longer he was gone, the more worried I was getting.
It turned out the bleed was from a broken blood feather on the left side of the main tail. The feather itself was not in situ & to date, still has not been found. (It is possible there was not blood on it when it came out, so I may have missed it).
There was quite a big hole left by the feather & the area was inflamed & bruised. By that time, the bleeding was heavy so the vet cauterized the feather follicles to stop it. She also removed some of the surrounding feathers. She gave Perry an anti-inflammatory injection & also made sure he was well hydrated. The vet said several times that it was absolutely the right thing to bring him as soon as we did.
We finally got home early afternoon. Perry started chirping to Lennie & Moriarty as I brought him into the lounge. I left him in the travel cage for about an hour as he seemed comfortable there (knowing he was back home). Moriarty was going mad, wanting to give him a kiss but I think he too calmed down a bit just seeing that Perry was home again. Both Moriarty & Lennie were locked in Perry & Lennie’s cage. Whilst Perry was resting I took the opportunity to clean up Moriarty’s cage. When Perry started to stir a bit, I offered my finger & he came out, so I put him into Moriarty’s cage. To try & get some normality back, I let Moriarty in at intervals so as not to tire Perry out.
Perry was quiet for the rest of the day but in the evening had some water & also tucked into some millet. I checked on him during the night & he was stable. The vet nurse rang first thing in the morning to see how he was. Importantly, there was no further blood loss. The anti-inflammatory was due to wear off 24-48 hours after administration, leaving the sore, bruised area which will take a little longer to heal. So far, Perry has continued to recover well.
I would like to end this post by recommending that all who have birds should have a tub of corn flour in their medicine cabinet. You never know when it might come in handy. Without corn flour Perry may not have made it to the vet. Lastly, I would also like to say a big thank you to my vet who immediately understood the gravity of the situation & responded as quick as she could & was a star!
Corn flour
As you know, from my earlier post (click here: Three near-flightless birds), we are having a pretty bad moult season. Since that post, Lennie has lost more flight feathers resulting in one wing being, well…. not much use as a wing.
It has not stopped him from feeding Dalai:
To add to that, Dalai decided to grow his beak…
…that the vet trimmed down yesterday. She also investigated a strange thing beside his beak that I had noticed a few weeks ago. At first I thought it was a stuck seed, then I wondered if it was a strange feather. The vet confirmed it was fleshy & attached to him, similar to a skin tag. She whipped it off pretty smartly. Hopefully, whatever it was, it will not grow back.
Last Friday (12th) we had a visit from the vet, to check over all three, Dalai, Perry & Lennie. I had/have concerns about all of them for various reasons, one of which may be my paranoia!
At the time the vet came, Lennie was locked in by himself so we decided he would be first up. I had concerns that he was having trouble flying – only that morning he had attempted a lap of the room & landed in the plant pot! The vet checked over his wings & found some missing flight feathers on both wings. She said his heart sounded fine, which suggested the flying problem was a result of moulted-out feathers, which should be resolved when they have all grown back in again. The only problem with this is that I find that when a bird has a few crash landings, their confidence can be dented & they are put off flying again, which in turn makes the problem worse. Hopefully Lennie gets over this & is flying well soon.
The big shock with Lennie is that the vet weighed him & said he was 64g!!! She did not seem concerned as she said he was clearly not overweight but did have a full gizzard. There is a slight chance there may be a mass behind the gizzard, so I am to keep my eye on him.
Perry was up next. The last time the vet visited, she identified a lump, which has since been growing. Sometimes, at certain angles & when he is fluffed up, the lump is not noticeable at all. However, it is definitely there, defined & dense. It currently appears to be isolated, i.e., not attached to anything major. Certainly, it is not imposing on Perry’s health or behaviour yet, but at sometime in the future I may need to get a sample from it in order to work out possible treatment. Perry weighed a very respectable 55g, lump & all.
Perry contemplating eating some vegetables
Dalai was last. He has been very much under the weather & his poops had changed. He did have a very dodgy poop that was ringed with red, but I only found one of those (believe me, I was checking ALL of them after that discovery!) & the vet said he may have strained when passing that particular one. The day before the vet came out, Dalai dropped a mountain of feathers overnight, which then made it clear that a lot of my concerns were most probably because he was moulting (again!). Additionally, he has developed a dark mark on his beak. I was not aware of him having bumped/crashed into anything for it be a bruise. The vet thought it was either a blood blister or just a pigmentation change. Dalai’s weight was also respectable, coming in at 45g.
Dalai
So, for a change, the vet did not leave me with any medication. It took Dalai, Perry & Lennie awhile to recover from all the prodding & poking & it took me awhile to recover from the news of Lennie’s weight… in fact, if truth be told, my jaw is still on the floor over it!
A little while ago I posted that Cagney’s beak was getting a bit too long. Putting the iodine block on the landing platform seemed to prompt him to file it down more frequently & it is now looking a more manageable length.
Good boy Cagney
I have treated the toyboys to millet as Phineas has been having it to help him settle in. Here is a video of Cagney tucking in. His beak is looking in fine form.
Cagney appears to be keeping his toenails under control & they are a reasonable length at the moment. However, the other day I got a shock when I saw the length of his beak! I have never seen it so long! It has always been quite long & pointy, particularly compared to Bezukhov’s, but now it has got far too long.
They always have an iodine block in the Manor. There has always been an iodine block in the spare cage. In fact, the toyboys have usually gone into the spare cage specifically to chew its iodine block (pre Little Grey Man taking the spare cage over, of course).
To encourage Cagney to sort his beak out I have started putting an iodine block on the landing platform in the hope he will have a nibble on his way in & out.
Beak curling round to his chinny chin chin!
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Puddings & Toyboys 