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You mentioned Budgie isn't very cuddly - maybe it's a good time to have him with you for a few minutes several times a day. When Dino was sick he would stay under my chin and I could put a towel over him like a blanket and he didn't move! Your body is pretty warm and with a little hand cloth as a blanket he may not resist too much and settle down. Of course if he gets very anxious and upset then put him back in the cage. A good time might be after meds so he doesn't associate you with just meds - have some millet for him when he's on you to help build a good association with being held.

Jo

Jo, that is a good idea. When we give him the meds now, we wrap him up gently in some crunched up paper towels and he seems to just hold still that way, although I can feel his heart thumping out of his little body. If we have him out with a nice soft blanket for a while, that might work. I know my daughter can get him to stop for a minute and enjoy a few little scratches on his cheeks and head, but she has to be holding him enclosed in her hand or he is more interested in getting away or at least perching. Is Dino a budgie or a cockatiel? I have read about Stella, but not Dino.

I hope there is some definite clue in his behavior when he is really over the hump and feeling better. I just don't know what "normal" behavior Budgie will revert back to because it seemed to take him so long to get used to his new life with us and he definitely got more comfortable with us, but I don't know if it became such a habit that he will slip back into that. It seems like he may have been slowly getting sick for a while when I think back about it, unless it was just normal changes or growing up. He did get to the point where we would get him out each day with Raisin and if we got her out first, he would fly to the door of his cage to show us that he wanted to come too. Then he would just follow her everywhere and eat the veggies when she ate and if she was climbing on us, he would eventually follow her and climb up too. As long as we didn't try to mess with him, he was fine. But it seems like it has been a while since he's been like that, so I wonder how long he has really been sick. It seemed that he lost interest in coming out and in the last couple of months, his favorite thing to do was to go and sit in Raisin's cage on her top perch and play with the bell toy there. Then, lately he would just sit in her cage on the perch and not play. So really any changes of behavior since we got him have just been seen as normal settling in changes or just growing up. Although, I know Raisin has grown up a lot, but she is still the same little personality.

Anyway, he is still better than the first couple of days after the vet and doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but I don't know if he is eating enough or progressing in his "getting betterness!". I'm giving him a different brand of millet and he doesn't seem to like it as much. I tried giving him his favorite pasta and vegetables yesterday, but he didn't touch it.

This is just my oppinion, but I would not stress an already sick bird. They are delicate and if you are stressing him, it may hinder his progress in getting healthy.

Stella and Dino are the same bird, Stella turned out to be male, so hense the name change.

Stella/Dino was also handfed, which means he didn't have negative connotations about being handled, which your budgie seems to have.

I would wait until he is healthy, clip his flights, and start training in a room away from the tiel.

Yes, he has started hiding in the corner when we come in the room because I think he is getting warm, but also he wonders what we are going to do to him. I ran up to Petsmart and got some of the millet that he liked before and some Lafebers hand feeding formula. He is not eating much and it seems that even with the millet he is just pretending because the little millet seeds are all pulled off, but not broken into. Does that mean he is hungry, but doesn't have the strength to crack them open?? There are a few shells in his food dish, but not enough. I told my daughter, that even though it seems like we are doing a lot, we are not doing enough. This weekend we are going to have to hand feed him as much as possible and give him pedialyte regularly. I have been at home all week, but until yesterday, I thought he was doing okay with his water and millet. Which reminds me that I need to buy more pedialyte. It says to keep it for only 48 hours, so most of it is wasted. If we can't get him better over the weekend, I may have to have him back at the vets next week. My girls are itching to go on spring break next week. I hope we can get him better.

The pedialyte and hand feeding seem to be making him worse, or maybe he is just on the decline anyway. He seems to be getting wobbly again and is leaning to one side on his perch. Perhaps his stomach is so upset with all the stuff we're trying to put into it including the antibiotics. He's not eating the millet. He ate a tiny bit of seed. There was some brown watery stuff under his perch. I'm waiting to hear from the vet to see if I should continue the antibiotics. I know we've been getting them into him really well lately. I just don't think it is working. I am at work today and I can't leave. I've been at home all week. I'm having a big surprise party for my husband's milestone birthday tomorrow and I'm stressed out of my mind. I hope Budgie can make it until Monday because I don't think I can get back to the vet until then. I guess we should keep trying the pedialyte and baby bird feeding food, but it is so extremely stressful for him.

...just about to submit this and the doctor called.....they said to continue the antibiotic for 10 to 14 days....I don't know what to think about that either.

Poor little budgie. You should only handle him during meds because it is stressing him if you handle him too much. I understand what you are going through.. keep giving the meds as prescribed by the vet. This is the best option right now & keeping him warm...

Continue the antibiotic, he will not get well if you don't give him the medicine!

STOP HANDLING HIM SO MUCH! You are stressing him out since he is not used to handfeeding. Give him soft wheat bread, millet, pasta, anything he will eat, take the perches out and have the food and water on the floor of the cage with the heating pad.

How is Budgie doing today? I feel so bad for him it sounds like he is suffering so much .. I am keeping him in my thoughts and prayers..

You are all absolutely right about handling him too much. We thought we were helping by getting some food into him, but we were stressing him out of his mind. When I came home on Friday, he scared me to death because his poop was completely black with brown stains around it, I thought it might even be blood. I was going to take him to the vet Saturday morning, but fortunately his poop went back to normal and since we are leaving him alone, he seems to be eating more millet and some of his other seeds again. I am continuing the antibiotic and we are only handling him to give him the meds twice a day. Any other attention is just stress.

So, today, he is still in isolation with his covered cage, heating pad and his food is on the floor. I can say that he is better than he was on Friday, but other than that, I can't say. He is definitely hanging in there, he is eating and pooping and we are getting his antibiotic into him fairly easily. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for the continuing advice, thoughts and prayers.

How's Budgie doing? I keep checking back to see if you have posted any more news.
You asked me how often I gave Jack fluids. Well, he was in a very bad state. He couldn't move and didn't struggle at all. I actually moved him into a box with a baby blanket. So it was easy for me to give him fluids every 2 hours. If Budgie us drinking by himself, it is great and abetter idea than to handle him all the time.

Thanks for asking Pesto. Yes, Budgie seems to be better off without us trying to syringe things into him all the time. Although we don't catch him at the water dish, it seems that he is drinking and eating. I wish I could say there is some improvement. He seems stabilized in that he has been eating and pooping about the same amount for a few days now. But he is still in a very weak state. He is able to get off his low perch to eat and then get back onto it. We notice the weakness mainly when we get him out to give him the antibiotic. He just can't walk very well or run away from us! His little legs sort of splay open and he doesn't get very far. When he perches, he perches much lower than usual with his feet close to his body.

Today I just had to clean and sterilize his cage because it hadn't been done for fear of stressing him out. So we had him out for quite a while on the heating pad on the bed. He didn't move away from it much. He did allow my daughter to cup him in her hands and scratch his little head and neck. He looked as though he enjoyed that. He seems to be keeping warm and comfortable with the heating pad and blanket around the cage and he doesn't have the fluffed up look. It is so frustrating because we just don't know what is going on. It looks like I will be continuing the antibiotics for the full 14 days. If there is no change by then, I will have to get him back to the vet.

Just wondering how your little Budgie is doing now??? I have noticed you haven't posted in a day or so. Hope he is doing better! Please keep us posted!

Thanks for asking. I've been out of the loop this past week because of spring break. I did end up taking Budgie with us because I had no choice (other than not going) and he did fine on the trip because we kept him in his same cage with three sides covered and he was nice and warm all the time. He just got moved around a bit. At one point, he got some fresh warm mountain air in his room and it even seemed to perk him up a bit. But.....overall, I am baffled because, although he is still hanging in there, he is not really getting better, but seemingly not getting worse. He is still very weak and cannot move around well. He continues to wobble off his perch and eat and drink. I can't say if he is eating or drinking enough, but it is enough to keep him alive. Saturday was the 14th day of the antibiotic, so I have stopped giving it to him now. I am now getting worried again about what sort of disease he might have. I am hoping he will hang in there this week so I can wait to take him to the vet next Saturday. I have been reading stories about birds being continuously sick and a lot of them end up talking about psittacosis, so I'm trying not to be paranoid about that again! I hate to think he is suffering continuously. I really don't know what to do and I just hope Raisin is not in danger.

I seriously doubt he has pssitacosis. If he did he would be dead now. His poop would've been a lime green plop.
I hate to say it but it sounds more like he has a tumor but it is just a guess. I hope I am wrong and he recovers.

Thanks bostonbudgie! Any words against it being psittacosis are welcome words to me! Can you give me anymore info about why you think it might be a tumor? Have you had some experience with this? What sort of tests would the vet have to perform to discover that it is a tumor? I am just wondering what the vet might do next. I hate to think of putting Budgie through a lot of stress with expensive tests only to discover that he has something that cannot be cured. Would he be in a lot of pain with a tumor? Oh dear, it is just so sad. He is such a sweet bird.