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Thank you. I have put the heating pad underneath the cage in the tray. Budgie really seems to be worse then the day before I took him to the vet. I wonder if the stress of everything has made him worse. He is breaking my heart. He is so very weak, yet when I peeked at him he was on the ground trying to wobble over to his millet. He ate a little and is now just sitting on the bottom of the cage. I've heard bad things about when they sit at the bottom of the cage for a long time. I hope he goes back onto his perch. I just got off the phone with the vets office. They called to check on him. They said it would take 2 to 3 days to see the antibiotic start working, but they reminded me that the doctor had said that he wanted to hospitalize him, so if he wasn't feeling better soon, we would re-evaluate the situation then. They gave me some more tips on how to get the antibiotic into him. I think I will have to use those tips to try and get some food into him today too. But, I feel that all contact with him just exhausts him even more.

Has anyone ever left their bird at the vets to be taken care of (ie. hospitalization)? I am working from home this week so that I can take care of him and I thought I would be able to do it all just as well as the vet would do and I imagined that hospitalizing him would be a huge expense. We are in a new house and my husband just took a huge paycut, so we don't have a lot of extra money at the moment. I have no idea how much leaving him there would cost or what they would do differently from what I'm doing. Can they put an IV in him or tube feed him or something?

My understanding is that birds will go down to the bottom of the cage when they can't support themselves on the perch.

BUT Budgie may also be on the bottom of the cage to be closer to the warmth of the heating pad. When they are sick they can't keep themselves warm without a heat source.

Many years ago, I had a sick budgie. He would sit on my shoulder and curl around my neck for the warmth.

How old is budgie? I was told (again, many years ago) that older birds get kidney tumours - which is what my budgie had.

I don't want to give you anything more to worry about. Hopefully, the antibiotics will kick in and Budgie will be a happy birdie again.

Thanks Sunnybird that helps. He may have been lingering at the bottom longer than usual because it is nice and warm there now. When I went in to change his water, it gave him enough andrenalin to climb back to his perch. (The vet said it would be a good idea to add the probios to his water). He is wobbly on the perch, but at least he can still hold on. He just hasn't eaten much today, so I'm worried. I added a little bit of baby food on a piece of paper plate to his buffet, to try and entice him down. If he hasn't eaten by the time my daughter gets home, we will try to syringe feed him. It is easier when both of us are doing it.

When Dino was sick in Jan., it took about 6 days for the antibiotics to appear to be working. It was in pre-measured syringes like hand feeding formula. I admit I missed a bit because it was such a struggle to do it myself.

As for the hospitalization for Budge, talk to the vet and explain your situation. From my experience with people, most of them would have abandoned poor Budge since they are not very costly -and just get another one. I am sure the vet doesn't see many Budgies because they are inexpensive. He may be more sympathetic and impressed with you care to work our a payment plan with you - it doesn't hurt to ask. The worse he could say is no, and then you keep doing what you're doing.

Good luck - prayers are with Budge!

Jo

That is good to know that the antibiotics can sometimes take a while. This antibiotic Budge is on is called Baytril and he's supposed to take it twice daily for 7 days. It's been a rough day, but this afternoon things got more hopeful. Budge ate a lot of one of the millet sprays and after spending quite a bit of time on the floor of the cage rolling in the millet and then desperately trying to groom himself and scratch his face, only to roll and fall into it again, he made it back onto his perch. When my daughter came home, she successfully managed to get a little bit of watery baby oatmeal mixed with half pedialyte and half water down him using the syringe. I cleaned up his cage and gave him more millet (he still has his bowl of other seed and nutriberries and pellets, but isn't touching that). This evening he had eaten most of another spray of millet! I was so excited. I dare not be too hopeful, but this evening when we gave him his second dose of antibiotics, it seemed that he was stronger in his struggling and his feet were gripping our fingers better. Both my daughter and I noticed it, so I'm thinking perhaps things are turning around now!!! I hope so!!!! Aside from the antibiotics, it is clear that all of the wonderful suggestions that I've received on this forum for caring for him are having a very positive impact. I am so glad I came and asked questions because the vet really gave me little advice for caring for him. Moving him to a quiet room, keeping him warm and all these things are helping so much. So, on that note, I will say good night and I'll post an update tomorrow.

I forgot to add or rather ask -- can anyone recommend a reasonably priced and reliable weighing scale for both my birdies (cockatiel and budgie)? I'm thinking that if I had been able to weigh Budgie, then I would have seen that he was losing weight and got him to the vet more quickly. Thanks!

I use a simple kitchen scale for portioning by Cuisinart. I think they sell for $30.00 or so - of course make sure the scale is measured in grams. A postal scale will also work if it has grams on it. Those 2 are the most economical, there are also electronic digital scales. Look in the kitchen-wares department.

Jo

I actually found that I do have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams, but it is not digital and weighs in increments of 200 grams, so it will probably be too difficult to get an exact weight. I will look for a better one next time I'm anywhere near a kitchen store.

Today, I was even more hopeful when we woke Budge up because he was on his perch which is only about 1 inch off the ground and he jumped off, landed okay and started munching on the millet and even attempted to eat some of his bowl of food, but then seemed to be exhausted. Since then he hasn't seemed well again, so I don't know what to think. It really gives me a stomach ache. I think we only got about half of the antibiotic in him this morning. He's on his perch now, sleeping. I guess its a good sign that he is still perching.

Reading this is breaking my heart. But the fact that he was stronger when you gave him his med and that he "jumped off" his perch this morning is good news. I really hope that he gets better, hopefully he was feeling better but since it's still soon he just got tired quickly.

I bought a digital scale at a store where they sell tools and stuff for like $20.00 and it works really good.

Good luck. If I can't get all of Rosie's meds into her the first time I will try to get a bit more of the med into the syringe and try again so that she can get as much of the full dose as possible.

What's happened? I am itching to know how your baby is doing

Yes, my heart is breaking too. I just wish he was a cuddly bird, because I want to just hold him and comfort him. I feel like he is all alone. I have taken Raisin in to visit him a couple of times, but I don't want to expose her anymore than I have too. Sometimes when we go in the room and he hears her, he will let out a feeble little chirp in response to her. He loves her, but she really doesn't care about him. She just wants to be with us. I really think that they should hand raise budgies just like they do with cockatiels because its not fair for them to have difficulty bonding with humans if they are bought in a pet store and aren't going to have a companion bird. I know that he is more comfortable now, but I'm sure he doesn't know why we keep holding him and squeezing nasty meds into his little beak.

So today, I do think that he is stronger and that he is eating more. He is also getting on and off his perch quite well. He does like to stay on the bottom of the cage for a while now, but I'm quite sure it is because he is soaking up the warmth of the heating pad. I don't see a miraculous improvement, but at least he is not rolling around on the floor and losing balance like he was before. He ate more out of his food dish yesterday than he has this whole time and we did get some more oatmeal and pedialyte down him yesterday. Otherwise, he stays on his perch and sleeps. I hope the antibiotics are working. I wonder if part of the problem is that he needs time to build up his weight and strength again by eating well. I am hoping to talk to someone at the vets office again today. They said they would be calling to check on him.

Thanks for your concern and for asking about him!

It sounds like he is improving. And yes, it will likely take time for Budgie to build up strength.

One thing you might ask the vet about is the pedialyte. My question would be - is giving him pedialyte once a day (from your writing, I get the impression that it is once a day) enough? TO BE CLEAR, I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong.
I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES A DAY YOU SHOULD HYDRATE A SICK BIRD. And I don't know if Budgie is drinking from his water dish by himself. So...what I'm wondering is.. should you be giving him pedialyte more frequently or maybe plain water by syringe throughout the day or maybe what you are doing is just the right thing.

Just a question worth asking...

I had a canary called Jack. When he was about a year old, he had, what the vet thought was a stroke. i couldn't get him to any vet straight away, as it was 8 at nite. So I phoned all the emergency numbers I could find and the avain vet told me to keep him warm and hydrated with electrolite solution, all the time. He was very weak, so it was easy to get the solution into him. The next day I was at the vet first thing. He checked him out and told me to keep him hydrated and warm for as long as I can. The thing is, Jack lived for another 6years!!!!! Albeit not being able to fly and leaning to the one side. He even started singing again after 6 month or so. Just hold on and keep going with your boy. Don't give up. If Pesto's accident at the beginning of this year tought me anything is that birds are a lot stronger than we give them credit and because they are so small we might want to give up. The other day I was driving with Pesto from the vet and I thought that if had given up when I really felt like I wanted to, he would be dead for no good reason.

With Pesto's ordeal, the vet said that I should put honey in his water. The vet uses honey for all his hospital birds. It makes the water sweet, so they like drinking it and it gives them energy, which in turns helps with the appetite and that in turn again helps with strengthening their bodies. I am not sure how a budgie would take to it. Pesto likes it.

About the weighing. I also asked the vet to weigh Pesto and he said that he never weighs birds unless he needs to administer very precise medication. Each bird has its own build and bone structure. he recommends looking at the breast (keel) bone. If it is rounded and well covered with flesh, then the bird is in good condition. The worries come in when the bone sticks out and is pointy.

Thanks for the wonderful stories about Jack and Pesto. I think you posted about Pesto's ordeal, so I will have to go and read about that. That is very encouraging. I won't give up on Budgie as long as he keeps going! I do think that perhaps it is going to be a longer haul than I thought. With a 7 day antibiotic course, I thought it would be a few days and he would be much better. When I go back to the office to work I hope he will be okay on his own if left with plenty of food and water. Thanks also to both of you for the advice on keeping him hydrated and the weight. This is a good point. Pesto, when you say all the time, about how often did you give him the electrolyte solution?

We have only been doing the electrolytes once per day and I have caught Budgie two or three times next to his water bowl, so I am hoping that he is drinking the water. I hope the probios powder doesn't give it a bad taste. The vet is supposed to be calling me back. I told them he was doing better and asked if his progress sounded good for this point and also if I should maybe continue the antibiotics for longer than 7 days since I think there will be some left over. I will also ask them about the pedialyte and the honey in the water. Maybe honey is better than the probios or can be used in conjunction with it.