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Pictures Blind budgie with the best of friends

Gribouille

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Hi
I got my budgies 2 years ago. A white one I called Merlin, and a blue one who is named Tikki. I bought them from a lady who had bought them in a shop 3 weeks before and regretted it since she found out she didn't have much time to take care of them. The shop had sold them to her as 2 babies under 8 weeks old but I realised later on that Merlin was already an adult by then, and that made it impossible to tame them as he would not allow Tikki to be friend with us, although he was himself quite harsh on the little fella and they argued most of the time.
During that Winter I tried and bought a new, yellow baby, keeping him isolated to tame him. It didn't work at all and it was a complete chaos, so I sold the baby to a good home and was left with the 2 wild guys again.

Last Summer I moved, Tikki and Merlin were enjoying sun and fresh air outside when the new parasol fell on their cage. The cage opened and they flew. I was so lucky to find them both after 3 and 4 days! Merlin was then 32g, but although hungry he was just fine. Tikki on the other hand was 30g, exhausted and in such a state that I barely recognized him when I got him back. They were both checked for parasites and such at the vet, and they were fine. They were themselves again pretty quick after that. However, I was really tired of their never ending noise and dust while having them for decorating purpose only since they didn't want anything to do with us, and I had been considering selling them for a while, but never found anyone filling my criterias for a good home for them.

Then the lady I had bought the yellow baby from showed interest, but told me they were too fat. I had never considered such a thing and had to weigh them. Merlin was a healthy 42g, but Tikki was definitely too fat with 58g. I changed their diet and tried to make him fly more often but he kept getting bigger and bigger. Flying was getting difficult and at one point I felt I was bullying him more than helping. Now he is losing feather regularily (still looking nice but the cage is full of them) and for the last 4-5 days I have been watching him change behavior as I think he is blind. He just sits there with his head up, the iris of his eyes is gone, they are completely black as when he was a baby, and he doesn't see if I approach him, panicks when I touch him. I remember when he was a baby and we joked that he needed glasses because he didn't see too well back then either. So then, I am thinking my little Tikki is not going to live long now, but the nice thing is to see how nice Merlin is to him.

Remember when they came here, Merlin was harsh on him, but now he helps and protects him. The other day they were outside and Merlin was drinking. I saw him climb along the branch to reach Tikki, talk soflty to him and walk down again to the fountain, trying to have Tikki follow him. Tikki followed but took the wrong branch and went up instead. Merlin walked up again, a little confused when he saw Tikki ending up in their "bedroom".
Then yesterday was shower-day, and Merlin is not fond of that, while Tikki loves it. But this time when I started the shower, Merlin was agitated and put himself in front of the spray and stopped fussing only when he was the only one under the water. When I moved it ti Tikki, Merlin moved to protect his friend, and when he couldn't avoid it, he just kept his beak against Tikki's jaw to give him leverage and stabilize him while talking softly to him. Now they are outside again and Tikki couldn't climb in the little cage I use to move them from the cage inside to the one outside so I had to catch him and put him in their "bedroom". He hasn't moved from there since, and Merlin is sitting at the door, talking to him and keeping him company.
Could you think of a better friend?


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faislaq

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They do seem so fond of each other. :) Merlin is quite the protector! It sounds like you've come to enjoy your pair even though you're not able to handle them the way you'd hoped. It must be fun to watch them interact and so nice that Merlin is nice to Tiki now! :heart:

You may want to consider taking Tiki to the vet to see if his condition can be corrected. Two years would be a very short lifespan for a budgie, indeed & imagine how lost poor Merlin would be without his friend. :( Besides, if Merlin was much older than Tiki when you got them, it's only fair that Tiki is around to care for Merlin in his old age in return. ;)

It's possible Tiki may have a condition that is causing his weight to stay so high & could be affecting his sight somehow:

Shortly after our green cheek, Harley came to life with us, we noticed she behaved a bit differently from the others and we soon realized she could not see well, especially out of one eye. She had been a chronic egg layer for months before she was given to us & the first time she started laying at our house it was so hard on her she could barley stand. She was so weak we worried she was going to die. :sad1: (Thankfully she managed to pass her egg by the following morning.)

She was already on a decent pellet diet, so she was still getting more nutrients and less fat than a seed based diet, so we started supplementing with calcium, fresh foods and vitamin drops in her water. Not only did she get stronger & was able to pass her eggs more easily, she even started to be able to see better. :pinklol3: We never thought her vision could improve! She was able to get around so much easier & not just in familiar spots -she actually began exploring the entire end of the room where we kept their cages!

Hopefully Tiki will live many more years to keep his buddy company! And so you can continue sharing stories (and pics!) of their silly antics. :D
 
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Gribouille

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hi faislaq, and thanks for your answer.
I already took Tikki to the vet, that is when we changed their diet to veterinarian pellets but it didn't help. They refuse to eat fresh food, except for salat and apple but even that they don't eat anymore. I think Tikki has bad genes actually. He las been missing feathers at a much higher rate than Merlin. I thought it was because he was younger and was changing to adult feathers but he continued after he was adult too. His feathers were getting wet in the shower too, while Merlin's never were, and when we had the yellow baby he was never wet either. And his eyes were never good.
But I agree that he is young and should live many more years, however I don't know how to improve that since the vet didn't find anything wrong with him in form of bacteria/virus and she had never seen poos like his. More serious investigations would cost too much with no guarantee to find anything. What vitamines are you giving your lady bird?
I am going to try new fresh food and see if they eat it. As he now moves so little he will have to eat the closest food and maybe he'll be less difficult...
 
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faislaq

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Mine are little (and big) brats when it comes to most healthy or new foods. :shifty: Our other green cheek, Scott, is such a good eater but everyone else...
 

MommyBird

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"A friend in need is a friend indeed!"
Have you tried sprouts, especially sprouted oats? They get raves here.
And a stalk of raw broccolini, which mine like even better than broccoli.
Hang wet lettuce leaves and they like to take a bath in them.
 

Gribouille

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hi Mommybird, what is broccolini? My parrotlet loves broccoli, but the budgies refuse to even touch it. The lettuce they liked before, now they barely taste a bit and let the rest hang and dry.
I just cooked a mix of spinach, celery, red pepper, carrot, egg, broccoli, eggplant and some millet + vitamin. Gave them a spoon of it topped with millet, we'll see if they give it a try.. Last time I tried that they refused to touch it for over a week but at the end they tried a little. But of course in the meantime the rest was spoiled, which is the most frustrating when cooking or buying fresh food for birds.. :banghead:
 

MommyBird

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broccolini is a cross between Chinese kale (aka Chinese broccoli) and broccoli. The flower buds at the top are much larger and not as crowded than in broccoli so the budgies love that. The stems are longer, thinner and more tender than broccoli, so your parents might like cooking and eating that.
Broccoli rabe (aka rapini) is another thing entirely.
It is found is every grocery store's fresh produce section.
 

Gribouille

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never heard of that, I'll have to look it up in an Asian shop or something. I'm not in the US and we probably have different choices here.

Tikki is back inside and has been eating the vegetable mix though, his beak is full of it, so that's a good thing. He is now standing close to the dish and will probably help himself there next time he feels for a little food. Hopefully that will help!

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MommyBird

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never heard of that, I'll have to look it up in an Asian shop or something. I'm not in the US and we probably have different choices here.
You probably do have different choices where you are then.
I don't know that an Asian market would really be inclined to have it more than a regular grocery store.
Many outdoor farmer's markets may have it since you can get maybe 5 harvests from the same planting, unlike broccoli which you only get one harvest.
So it is good to plant and a good money-maker for the labor.
 

Gribouille

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I live in Norway so no outdoor farmer's market and vegetable choice is quite restricted, but we can find some different ones in Asian or Pakistani shops because they import directly from their countries.
 

Gribouille

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I should change the title of this thread, Tikki is not a fat budgie anymore, only a blind one. I just put him on the kitchen scale and he weighs only 46g. Which is a very nice weight for a budgie, but not when he was close to 70g a few weeks ago :(
 

Gribouille

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the title you mean? Doesn't matter that much but yeah, if you can do that it would be nice, thanks
 

Gribouille

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Tikki just got a seizure and ended up lying down in the cage, I really thought that was it, ready to help him to the afterworld, but then he got up again to eat... How difficult does it have to be
I put some Mozart on... Merlin is watching over him, singing along.

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webchirp

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Tikki just got a seizure and ended up lying down in the cage, I really thought that was it, ready to help him to the afterworld, but then he got up again to eat... How difficult does it have to be
I put some Mozart on... Merlin is watching over him, singing along.

View attachment 282020
:( He definitely has something going on...poor little guy.
 

Gribouille

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he had another big round a couple of hours later, but is still wobbling around and eating.

Basically, both Merlin and I are waiting for the last straw :(. Merlin refused to go outside today, clearly showing that he wanted to stay with his friend who was better off inside. Even the parrotlet must sense there is something up, he is much less of a plague to the budgies today than he usually is. Hasn't even tried to bully them, which says quite much!

Here goes another round... and Tikki is up again. :shrug3:
 
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Gribouille

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Tikki is still with us although I don't know how this is possible. He had 3 seizures yesterday afternoon, one so far tonight, and that's only those I know about, I am quite sure that happens when I am at work too... Then he gets up on his feet and eats like nothing happened:shrug3:

When I came home today he was so dirty -going blind makes a mess of things...- so I took him to the kitchen to wash. I was surprised to feel him so strong still, he was fighting and biting to try and come free and avoid the water. So I thought ok, maybe he isn't sick but reacts to some food. Started a search on the internet and this is what I found:
"We took our Pinch to the vet yesterday and had him put to sleep. The vet observed him having several seizures and said there was really nothing that could be done. It was most likely a brain lesion and Pinch would probably go on his own in the next week or so. He had lost a lot of weight and seemed to be blind"

Sounds awfully like Tikki's situation.
 

SandraK

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:sadhug2::sadhug2::sadhug2:I wish there was something helpful I could say to you.
 

Gribouille

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that's the thought that counts, thanks :greet14:.
At that point I just wish he could die easily and be done with it, it's the best that can happen now. I'll be very sorry for Merlin though... :sad4:
 

Gribouille

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So... Tikki is in the garden, six (bird) feet under.
He was having seizures every 5 minutes, at the end I just couldn't watch him suffering like that anymore.
Seems so strange to see Merlin on his own now, he's gonna be very lonely in the next few days poor fella. He has been such a wonderful companion these last weeks, I just hope he can come closer to the parrotlet now, that is, if the parrotlet lets him...
 
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