Lady Lulu
Checking out the neighborhood
- Joined
- 8/24/15
- Messages
- 1
Good morning!
I was just going to ask a feeding question initially, but I feel like the whole story might be useful to someone answering. He's also far too cute for me NOT to gush about- so here we are.
I have a little budgie who's about two years old now (the fellow in my avatar), and his parents, who I rescued from a backyard breeder after he and his wife had a domestic incident and she put all his birds out by the side of the road. Passersby took them all, but the little family of budgies were in a homemade wooden box that had fallen over sideways (in the dead of winter!) so I think nobody else realised that there were even birds in it to take in.
In retrospect, the fact that only one of the five eggs hatched probably should have tipped me off that something would be awry, but I assumed that they'd all come good with some TLC, a clean cage that wasn't waterlogged wood and mould and life with someone that'd look after them. I knew exactly nothing about birds and had never even considered getting one as a pet before, so I had to very hastily research what to do, ack. I'm relatively sure I did it mostly correctly, except for the feeding- more grocery-store seeds than might have been optimal, for what turned out to be a little bird with particular dietary needs.
As it turned out, the parents probably- I say probably because I've been told there's no definitive test to prove it?- had both polyomavirus and horrendous liver genes, which would explain both the single egg hatching and the fact that my poor little Mr. Noot-Noot (his name is popular at the vet's!) has pretty severe liver deterioration. The bruise on his beak, as you can see in his avatar, is what tipped me off, and thank heavens I was paranoid enough to rush him in while doing cartoonish fountain tears because I was told he was at the end of the wick despite being very chatty and happy-seeming still.
I've been told that I can't be given a definitive prognosis yet, and that there's probably only around a 50/50 chance for him, even though I caught it at a time it can potentially be turned around- since it's so bad and he's still so young, it's hard to get any idea of his odds. He's improved marginally over the last few months of treatment, but it isn't much.
I've been assured that it couldn't possibly have been something I did to cause or worsen it (my first response *might* have been hysterical guilt sobbing...), but I still want to do everything in my power to give the little guy a real chance. After all, I raised him from the egg, and that pretty much makes him my son, doesn't it?
I've been trying to switch him to pellets, but he's very stubborn about them- and almost all novel foods. Bewilderingly, his parents- who I'm assuming by their completely empty seed dish, miles-long claws, utter terror of human beings and the fact that they still hide in the cage corner two whole years later- weren't fed a wide variety, eat anything. Anything! They're like feathered goats! I've tried to use them as an example, but clearly Mr. Noot-Noot just doesn't see the virtue of anything other than seeds, iceberg lettuce, millet sprigs and celery leaves.
What do I do with him, feeding-wise? I've been offering him various bush leaves and weeds (I'm Australian, so it would be his native fare), but he's not interested in those either. I can't tell if he's actually eating the pellets or just nibbling them into powder. I have caught him this morning grabbing pellets, and doing the drill-head so it goes flying off into the stratosphere. So far phasing his food slowly doesn't seem to be working- and I've been warned that he might be too fragile to do it cold-turkey.
He even has the temerity to ASK me for his unhealthy seeds if his mix has more pellet in it than he would like- and I'm pretty sure that's what he's doing, because even though he is tame to the point that the vet can draw his blood and he straight away wants to kiss their fingers, he doesn't like to be patted much. If he wants me to give him his seeds, it's a different story- flies across the whole house to wherever I am, sits in my hands and fluffs up and snuggles against my fingers as if to say 'Pat me, mama!' ...ONLY until he gets more seeds, mind you, then I'm yesterdays news.
As for his cage setup- he has what I consider to be a pretty big cage, given that he's 'free range' and only sleeps in it. Maybe a metre wide? His parents' is double that size. They all have a wide variety of toys and enrichment but seem to have limited interest in any of them. Mr. Noot-Noot is more interested in chatting, and his father exclusively loves his jingle-bell disco ball. I know which toys his mother likes, because she decimates them slowly... hens. When I'm not home, he spends time with his parents, in his playgym on top of their cage (never in their cage- I took him out once he started getting bossy, at around 5 weeks old). I figured this was the best way to keep the parent birds happily homed and to make sure Noot gets his social needs met as well, even though his parents are far too skittish to finger-tame.
For the time being, I'm keeping him in front of a heater at night, so there isn't any time where he's in abject cold (it just keeps the room at warm-room-temperature, not stuffy). He gets a drop of Dupha Milk every morning and every night.
Is there anything I could be doing better? As I said- he's only improved marginally, even with several months of (astonishingly expensive!) treatment. Really, I don't care how much I end up spending on him if it gives him better odds. Realistically, I know I probably won't have him the whole 15 years he might have survived, and if it gets to the point that it's clear he's miserable I won't keep him going just for my benefit, but it wouldn't be fair not to give this spunky little featherball the best possible chance.
I included a few pictures of him. ...And of me, by proxy. He's usually hanging out with me. I'll put them in spoiler tags so they don't discombobulate the page.
I was just going to ask a feeding question initially, but I feel like the whole story might be useful to someone answering. He's also far too cute for me NOT to gush about- so here we are.
I have a little budgie who's about two years old now (the fellow in my avatar), and his parents, who I rescued from a backyard breeder after he and his wife had a domestic incident and she put all his birds out by the side of the road. Passersby took them all, but the little family of budgies were in a homemade wooden box that had fallen over sideways (in the dead of winter!) so I think nobody else realised that there were even birds in it to take in.
In retrospect, the fact that only one of the five eggs hatched probably should have tipped me off that something would be awry, but I assumed that they'd all come good with some TLC, a clean cage that wasn't waterlogged wood and mould and life with someone that'd look after them. I knew exactly nothing about birds and had never even considered getting one as a pet before, so I had to very hastily research what to do, ack. I'm relatively sure I did it mostly correctly, except for the feeding- more grocery-store seeds than might have been optimal, for what turned out to be a little bird with particular dietary needs.
As it turned out, the parents probably- I say probably because I've been told there's no definitive test to prove it?- had both polyomavirus and horrendous liver genes, which would explain both the single egg hatching and the fact that my poor little Mr. Noot-Noot (his name is popular at the vet's!) has pretty severe liver deterioration. The bruise on his beak, as you can see in his avatar, is what tipped me off, and thank heavens I was paranoid enough to rush him in while doing cartoonish fountain tears because I was told he was at the end of the wick despite being very chatty and happy-seeming still.
I've been told that I can't be given a definitive prognosis yet, and that there's probably only around a 50/50 chance for him, even though I caught it at a time it can potentially be turned around- since it's so bad and he's still so young, it's hard to get any idea of his odds. He's improved marginally over the last few months of treatment, but it isn't much.
I've been assured that it couldn't possibly have been something I did to cause or worsen it (my first response *might* have been hysterical guilt sobbing...), but I still want to do everything in my power to give the little guy a real chance. After all, I raised him from the egg, and that pretty much makes him my son, doesn't it?
I've been trying to switch him to pellets, but he's very stubborn about them- and almost all novel foods. Bewilderingly, his parents- who I'm assuming by their completely empty seed dish, miles-long claws, utter terror of human beings and the fact that they still hide in the cage corner two whole years later- weren't fed a wide variety, eat anything. Anything! They're like feathered goats! I've tried to use them as an example, but clearly Mr. Noot-Noot just doesn't see the virtue of anything other than seeds, iceberg lettuce, millet sprigs and celery leaves.
What do I do with him, feeding-wise? I've been offering him various bush leaves and weeds (I'm Australian, so it would be his native fare), but he's not interested in those either. I can't tell if he's actually eating the pellets or just nibbling them into powder. I have caught him this morning grabbing pellets, and doing the drill-head so it goes flying off into the stratosphere. So far phasing his food slowly doesn't seem to be working- and I've been warned that he might be too fragile to do it cold-turkey.
He even has the temerity to ASK me for his unhealthy seeds if his mix has more pellet in it than he would like- and I'm pretty sure that's what he's doing, because even though he is tame to the point that the vet can draw his blood and he straight away wants to kiss their fingers, he doesn't like to be patted much. If he wants me to give him his seeds, it's a different story- flies across the whole house to wherever I am, sits in my hands and fluffs up and snuggles against my fingers as if to say 'Pat me, mama!' ...ONLY until he gets more seeds, mind you, then I'm yesterdays news.
As for his cage setup- he has what I consider to be a pretty big cage, given that he's 'free range' and only sleeps in it. Maybe a metre wide? His parents' is double that size. They all have a wide variety of toys and enrichment but seem to have limited interest in any of them. Mr. Noot-Noot is more interested in chatting, and his father exclusively loves his jingle-bell disco ball. I know which toys his mother likes, because she decimates them slowly... hens. When I'm not home, he spends time with his parents, in his playgym on top of their cage (never in their cage- I took him out once he started getting bossy, at around 5 weeks old). I figured this was the best way to keep the parent birds happily homed and to make sure Noot gets his social needs met as well, even though his parents are far too skittish to finger-tame.
For the time being, I'm keeping him in front of a heater at night, so there isn't any time where he's in abject cold (it just keeps the room at warm-room-temperature, not stuffy). He gets a drop of Dupha Milk every morning and every night.
Is there anything I could be doing better? As I said- he's only improved marginally, even with several months of (astonishingly expensive!) treatment. Really, I don't care how much I end up spending on him if it gives him better odds. Realistically, I know I probably won't have him the whole 15 years he might have survived, and if it gets to the point that it's clear he's miserable I won't keep him going just for my benefit, but it wouldn't be fair not to give this spunky little featherball the best possible chance.
I included a few pictures of him. ...And of me, by proxy. He's usually hanging out with me. I'll put them in spoiler tags so they don't discombobulate the page.
