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Urgent Bleeding From Vent 911

anne0102

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My 2 year old female budgie in the aviary with a second female who is 4 months, is suddenly bleeding from the vent area!

I picked her up in a towel, had a closer look & her bottom area seems to be somewhat bulging? I don't know if that's normal as usually it's covered with feathers.

She's still flying around, just eaten and drank water, however has now gone into a nest box I recently put in. She seems to like it but no male in the aviary yet.

She's scratching her bottom with her feet which have blood on them too now, is she trying to lay an unfertilized egg?? Why? Is bleeding normal?? What should I do? Bb
 

Brittany0208

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My 2 year old female budgie in the aviary with a second female who is 4 months, is suddenly bleeding from the vent area!

I picked her up in a towel, had a closer look & her bottom area seems to be somewhat bulging? I don't know if that's normal as usually it's covered with feathers.

She's still flying around, just eaten and drank water, however has now gone into a nest box I recently put in. She seems to like it but no male in the aviary yet.

She's scratching her bottom with her feet which have blood on them too now, is she trying to lay an unfertilized egg?? Why? Is bleeding normal?? What should I do? Bb
Take her to the vet
 

taxidermynerd

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Get her to an avian vet ASAP!

As far as I know, It is NOT normal for a budgie to bleed while trying to lay an egg, even if it's unfertilized. Bleeding means something is seriously, horrendously wrong. She needs to see an avian vet NOW.

I'll tag some folks with budgie experience- @PoukieBear @Lady Jane
 

rocky'smom

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AVIAN VET ASAP
 

Brittany0208

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YIKES!!! Take her to the vet!!!
 

JosienBB

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Hi Anne. Your budgie looks to be in very bad condition. You need to take her to a vet now. This is an emergency, time is of the essence.
 

Mizzely

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So is the area bulging? Or something sticking out of her vent?

It could be the nest box encouraged her to lay an egg and either she burst a blood vessel trying to push an egg out, the egg got stuck, or she has a prolapse. Is there an egg in the nest box?

Regardless, bleeding from the vent almost always warrants a vet visit.
 

PoukieBear

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As mentioned above, she needs to see a vet ASAP ! Any loss of blood for a budgie can be deadly, since they are so small.

Bleeding from a vent is big trouble and needs professional care. It could be that she's eggbound, which is extremely dangerous for your bird.

Keep us posted on her condition and what the vet says! Good luck!
 

anne0102

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Yes it looks like it's bulging slightly. She is also having very watery poop now.

All the vets here had just closed for the day, it's night time in the UK. So I spoke to the breeder instead. He said it sounds like she has a prolapse from wanting to lay an egg due to having access to a nest box.

He said the vets can't do anything for it as they won't operate on small birds due to the anaesthetic. He thinks they will suggest euthanasia. So advised I take her in as emergency in the morning if she's still alive by then, warned me it could look worse & she probably won't survive :sad11:

For now I've caged her apart from the other bird, brought her inside to be warmer overnight & layed a towel on the cage floor if she needs to go down there.
 

PoukieBear

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Oh no, I'm so incredibly sorry to hear this !! The best you can do right now is to make her as comfortable as possible. Cover her cage on three sides with a towel or blanket, and if you have a heating pad, you can put it underneath half of the cage (On LOW) so she doesn't waste energy regulating her body temp.


Unfortunately this is a lesson learned the hard way, not just for you but for other bird owners as well. A nest box is NOT needed at all, unless you know all the details about breeding. Lots of research and dedication is needed before introducing a nest box to any species, big or small.

Again, please keep us posted through the night and tomorrow morning when you get her to the vet. Best of luck to you guys!
 

Tiel Feathers

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I hope your little bird will be okay!
 

Birdbabe

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The best you can do now is keep her comfortable, I've had birds lay eggs with a little blood smears on them, but never seen this. I pray shes ok.:hug8:
 

anne0102

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Thank you for the support. Yes I agree it is a lesson not to have a nest box. As I said I don't have any male birds, so I didn't get it for breeding but for them to keep warm in at night when the temperatures have got colder. I was noticing she went in & out of it a lot during the day, but always threw out any type of shredded paper I put inside to keep them warm. As she was doing that I thought no chance she would try to lay eggs, not on bare wood nest box with no nesting material first.

Have just checked on her last time before bed, I was afraid to look but she seems ok. There doesn't seem to be as much blood now, maybe being in a dark room helped her go to sleep so she wasn't scratching at it.

Wondering if it might heal over night, probably too optimistic. I've found some liquid calcium drops for birds, which says helps the prolapse area muscles & effective in emergency cases. Need to measure the dosage correctly & it goes in water not straight into their beak which is disappointing.

Also just read you can push the prolapse back in yourself, but I dare not do that for fear of making it worse.
 

iamwhoiam

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Hope your budgie will be OK. If she gets worse then contact an emergency vet. Sending positive thoughts for her recovery.
 

Alien J

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Thinking of you and your bird. Please keep us posted.
 

Karen

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Please try to find an emergency vet tonight.
 

Lady Jane

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Hoping for the best outcome. As @PoukieBear so wrote a lesson for All budgie and other small bird people please no nest boxes in the cage unless you are an experienced breeder. Keep her quiet and calm if you can. I would keep her separated from your other budgie unless it stresses her more.
 

anne0102

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Thank you all, we are going to the vets in a few more hours. Phoned the nearest vets places & got told they don't see birds! So have found one further away & got an emergency appointment this afternoon.

She has laid an egg! Found it this morning but it must have been laid yesterday & that's what caused the bleeding etc.

Wasn't sure she would survive the night but she has & is still bright alert flying around eating & drinking. No more bleeding but the area looks all red & sore still bulging but nothing actually hanging out, so it's not an actual prolapse from looking at pics online?

Could it be a second egg stuck inside? She has only laid one. Could it just be sore & swollen from the egg laying process?

What would you expect from the vet? Antibiotics? I hope they don't suggest euthanasia as she is ok in herself & might recover, I want to give her a chance but she is irritated by it, keeps scratching with her foot so it might end up bleeding again. Also some diarrhea right now but poop was normal overnight.
Here's a photo of her egg, could there be more ?
IMG_20180928_112434.jpg
 

PoukieBear

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I'm glad to hear that she is feeling better, but you still need to take her to a vet. With the difficulty she had laying that egg, she will still likely have issues if there is another one to follow.

Budgies lay eggs every second day. I assume this one was laid yesterday, so the next one (If there is one) may be layed tomorrow. Hopefully with the move to a different cage and different surroundings will have kicked her out of the laying process.

If you haven't already done so, please remove the nest box. It is NOT needed to keep warm at night, and only encourages this unwanted nesting behaviour.
 
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