Remember this date, 2nd June 2022. Why? Moriarty had a bath! It has been so long that I cannot remember when his last bath was.
I offered Perry some water. Usually I offer the bath water (clean, not water that Lennie has bathed in!) but if I am giving him supplements I put the water in a small, transparent water pot, which was the case this time. Moriarty seemed keen to have a bath in it but I did not want him to bathe in supplements, plus it was only big enough to fit his belly in. So, I quickly got the bath. I have done this before when he has shown interest in bathing in the water pot but he has declined the proper bath, but this time, he jumped straight in.
It was surprising as the Thomas Bath had been on the cage door all morning & Moriarty had passed it many times. Still, who knows how a budgie mind works. What was important was that he finally had a bath! What a fun one it was! Lots of fluffing up, splashing & going around in circles!
Sorry – no photos as I was holding the bath, but here are some aftermath photos when he went back to his original cage to have a preen:
In my last post on this subject (click here) I reported about Perry’s ‘turns’. We have had further developments.
On the 4th July, Perry had, what I would describe as a ‘Twitchfest’. He twitched, though not violently, off & on all day, but settled by bedtime. I was on edge the whole time, anticipating that he would get worse.
Perry
Perry’s next, more significant, episode was on Saturday, the 22nd August. At around 11am, he began twitching, & a couple of those were major enough to propel him off the perch. At one point, he was hanging from the perch by one foot. He seemed okay after about 15 minutes. However, about two & a half hours later, the twitches began again, but this time they were throwing him off the perch, on average every 30 seconds (sometimes the frequency between was longer, sometimes shorter). Lennie was sensible & went into Dalai’s cage, so I locked him in there for the duration.
For about an hour the twitches continued, at varying levels of intensity. Each time his movement was from his left to the right, so I could predict where he would go/land. Sometimes he would have a few minutes where he was just twitching & able to stay on the perch. He pooped throughout, but a watery substance. Through it all, he did not make a sound. He was completely aware & scared as he clearly did not know what was happening to him. The times he landed on the bottom of the cage he immediately made his way back up. By 3pm they were subsiding & he was able to preen & behave a bit more normally, by which time, Lennie joined him again.
Things had settled down by the Monday, but nevertheless, I spoke to the vet, & she suggested adding calcium to their water as they were both still moulting.
New cage set up L to R: hospitalisation cage, ‘home’, Dalai’s cage
The next episode was Saturday the 12th September (I am starting to dread Saturdays!). He seemed extra quiet that morning & when I offered him a spinach leaf, he had to turn his head at a strange angle to eat it. This alerted me & I decided to dust off the quarantine cage & prepare it for possible hospitalisation purposes. Later that day, he spasmed, fell to the cage floor & was rolling around. I carefully picked him up & put him in the spare cage. He came out of the spasm & I placed him on a perch, where he was very still. His balance was very off & he fell off the perch a few times but at least did not have far to fall in the newly set up cage, & the bottom has extra padding. Occasionally, he would turn his head from side to side & his eyes were flickering.
I have been remiss in giving mistings. Fortunately both Dalai & Lennie are happy to have baths. Perry will have a bath when there is a blue moon & equally Bezukhov will have a bath if he really, really needs one. Neither Perry or Lennie have partook in earlier mistings which may have further reduced my motivation to give them. However, a few days ago, I gathered together some celery leaves & the spray bottle & a misting was given.
As soon as Bezukhov saw the yellow spray bottle he knew what was coming & started to fluff himself up. He definitely prefers mistings to baths & went straight to the celery leaves to roll about under the water that I was spraying. He also went to the Thomas bath & had a dunk there as the spray from the water bottle was also going across that. All in all, he had a good wash! Dalai very briefly joined in. Perry & Lennie looked on in bemusement from afar.
Here are photos of Bezukhov after his misting:
Wet Bezukhov
Bezukhov having a shake
Bezukhov
Bezukhov resting
Here he is having a thorough preen:
I must resolve to do more mistings, even if only Bezukhov is interested!
Bezukhov is getting better. He is eating a reasonable amount each day. His poops are looking fine. He is chatting again with Dalai & has even engaged in the odd flirting session here & there. He is still moulting though, so looks a bit rough & still likes to have a sleep during the day.
Dalai is also moulting.
Bezukhov’s bare patch above his cere
Bezukhov’s pin feathers
Dalai with pin feathers
During the last week, I have noticed Dalai preen Bezukhov’s cheek feathers. I have only witnessed it happen about 3 times & each time was very brief but I did manage to get one little session on film:
Despite the rather brusque ending, I think Bezukhov appreciated the attention.
After the last few weeks, it gives me great pleasure to see Bezukhov tucking into his seed:
Phinny’s new need for me to ruffle his cheek feathers makes me think of Thomas. Thomas often used to fluff up his cheek feathers & tilt his head slightly & that was his cue for someone (anyone – I do not think he was fussy) to preen them. His subtle signals were ignored initially until one day, when the Toyboys were holidaying in my bedroom, Phineas temporarily put aside thoughts of his own needs & preened Thomas. It was a momentous occasion, not just because Thomas finally got what he wanted but because in getting that, he showed that Phineas was capable of putting someone else’s needs before him – an amazing achievement for such a young lad!
The Thomas Bath was named in honour of him. He would throw himself in there with abandon & once again, without realising, taught the others of the joy of having a bath. When I see Phineas & Bezukhov bathing in the Thomas Bath I think, “Thank you, Thomas – what a guy!”
One of the medication’s (Lactulose) I have to give orally to Bezukhov is like a syrup. Unfortunately, the combination of my lack of expertise in administering medication by syringe/dropper & Bezukhov’s propensity for wriggling, has resulted in the sticky syrup landing on his feathers & not in his beak.
Ignoring Bezukhov’s desperate desire to leave my grip, I usually try to wipe as much medication away from his cheek & chin feathers before letting him go. The medicine is very sticky though & remains on his feathers.
What he really needs is a best buddy who can preen the goo away…
I was going to reserve these photos for the Weird poses & funny faces post but felt they needed their very own post. Here is Cagney preening & getting into some interesting positions:
Puddings & Toyboys 