Pictures Sick budgie

[aido]

Hey guys. My little girl that is just over a year old has had a very sick life. She couldnt fly very well since the day I got her, a year ago. Afew months later and she cant fly at all, just plummets to the ground. She has been to 4 different vets. All gave a different diagnoses, she got medicine for all of the diagnoseses though nothing healed her. It started as aspergillus then calcium deficiency then liver problems..She has been recieving medication through a syringe most of her life and has been traumitized. She is scared constantly and not being able to fly has really killed her confidence i think

Although her weight is fine she has problems in balance. She falls off perches alot and has difficulty keeping balance on my finger, she is wobbly. When she shrugs it throws her off balance alot but she usually manages to hold on. I notice it especially when she is walking on the floor. When walking a bit fast, she tips over and falls on her back. What could be causing this type of balance loss? I feel frustrated because the symptom is very characteristic but no professional has been able to do anything to help.. I have afew videos where i could demonstrate her balance issue. Although i cant seem to be able to upload . Any input in appreciated i am quite sad and hopeless now..

Ps- at the moment i am putting afew drops of thistle milk in her water since i heard its good for her liver, and i also bought an uvb/uva light and am exposing her to the rays everyday for an hour.

Ps2- she had been taking prescribed vit d3 drops in her water recently and it made her feathers quite oily and that got it very dirty and it hasnt been able to get completely clean since then. First photo was right after her treatment was finished (2week treatment, vet said that since she didnt show improvement in 2 weeks we could rule out cAlcium/vit d3 deficiency)Second photo was heR feathers before the treatment Third photo was a month or so after the forst photo. Its been a month since then and her feathers are more or less the same

Thank you..

 

[Ziekenzie]

Hi, I wish I could help, but I don’t have too much experience with budgies. I hope someone else will come a,omg and offer you advice.

 

[Zara]

@Hankmacaw @enigma731 @iamwhoiam @finchly

 

[enigma731]

I need to know a lot more about what testing and treatment she's had, and the results of each. Can you post some or all of her vet records, with your personal info removed?

 

[Lady Jane]

This is very sad. Was she tested for metal toxicity?

 

[finchly]

Something’s not right, that’s for sure. This could be a systemic thing that we can’t help you with. Do you have an avian vet that you trust? As enigma said, share the records if you can and we’Llc try to guide you.
I’ve re-read your post... It sounds a little bit like the vet is grasping at straws. Anyway —

What do you feed her, and how much?

The milk thistle is good. The light, depends on what type. Some of the uva/b lights can actually burn a bird’s eyes.

In order to post a video you have to upload it to YT and post the link.

 

[Hankmacaw]

I wish you well with your budgie. Enigma and finchly are much more familiar with budgies than I am. Hopefully they can give you some help. The heavy metal toxicity does sound like a possibility.

 

[aido]

Hey. Wow I wasnt expecting this much attention, I cant express my gratitude. Thank you so much.

I have mailed the clinic and will get the results asap. Untill then i will try to explain as best i can.

The first vet just said its congenital and nothing could be done. Second vet did a fecal test and an xray. her feces showed bacteria and yeast. Apparently she is a carrier of avian gastric yeast, its not active. The xray showed she had an obviously splayed leg. Also, some sacs(granulomas) could be seen in her lungs. The vet said that most of her lungs had been taken over by aspergillosis. We started antibiotics and fluktanazole.

Come 1-2 months later and she didnt improve. I took her in to the same vet. Another fecal test was done and showed she had cleared the bacteria. This time, the vet suspected low calcium and the splayed leg supported this theory. We started calcium therapy but yet again no improvement in 1-2 months.I started to lose trust in this vet which was an avian only vet.

I took her to another vet across town. This vet interpretted the xray quite differently. She said that the lungs were fine though the liver was enlarged. She said the balance issues could be due to a renal tumor pressing on the nerves(seemed to me like a far stretch). For the liver she gave some kind of homeopathic therapy she made herself that had some natural essences in it. Additionally she gave 3 different probiotics. 2 months later and no improvement so i dropped it.

I had just about given up but decided to call the breeder i got her from. He said that it was obviously vit d deficiency so we started vit d3. 1 month and no improvement yet again left me hopeless..

no blood counts were done, as the bird is so small and the tests arent sensitive enough its not done Here in istanbul i believe.

she wasnt tested for heavy metal toxicity as far as i know.

she eats mostly seeds that my breeder confirmed to be high quality. Ill give her carrots, parsley or cucumber nearly every day. I tried giving her spinach, oatmeal and much more but she is kind of picky.

i have 2 other budgies and they are healthy, so that rules out environmental factors such as heavy metal toxicity i would think?

The light bulb i got is from a pet store. Its a terrarium light for reptiles that gives uva and uvb rays.

again thank you so much. I will post the xray here when i get it. Ill upload a video on youtube and link it asap too

 

[aido]

Here is the link to when she was bathing the other day :

Can send more or film new ones if anyone requests.

 

[enigma731]

Do you know if she's had these symptoms since birth?

 

[aido]

More or less. She had always been quiet and not very interested in her surroundings or toys but she is female so i was told it was normal. When i first got her she could fly fine. She had a little problem in coordination, she had trouble landing and slowing down so she would grab on the curtains. Her ability to fly worsened and worsened and within 3 months she couldnt fly. I hadnt realized the balance issue before she lost the ability to fly but come to think of it she didnt realy move around in her cage alot and her cage was pretty small back then.

 

[enigma731]

Interesting. So probably NOT a congenital problem then. And it was definitely a gradual decline, not a steeper one following a collision or anything?

 

[Lady Jane]

Makes me wonder about the other budgies this breeder has. Of curse he will not let you in on that. Did you see any of his other budgies?

 

[aido]

Actually im not too sure, maybe it was a sudden decline. But she was never %100 healthy so i guess even if it was caused by trauma she was susceptible to the decline

Actually my other budgie, the yellow one in the video, is from the same breeder and he is although a bit hyperactive quite healthy.


i should add that my yellow budgie started harassing my sick budgie about a month after i got them. Trying to mount her, picking at her etc., she got quite stressed so i had to seperate them

 

[aido]

Hello guys i hope you are all having a fine day. I found the xrays, albeit in a low quality. Hope its enough:

 

[aido]

Hi. I should also add she cant jump from perch to perch. She has to hold the perch with her beak and pull herself there or climb to the perch from the cage bars. So i can say her main issue is loss of balance/coordination

 

[Lady Min]

@aido

Hi,I know this is probably a bit old,and my condolences on not getting a proper answer on what is plaguing your budgie,and not being able to get tests done. I can totally relate. Did you adjust the cage so she can get around more easily?

There are ways to put together cages for budgies who have difficulties getting around.

Here is some advice I found online:

-Because they aren't good fliers, I'd suggest padding the bottom of their cage. I did this by getting ratty old clothes and folding them inside the newspaper that lined the bottom of the cage and would change these with the newspaper. It makes it less of a blow if they fall (which I found happened a lot with no flight budgies).You might need to get wider perches/a platform for him to stand on as balance is an issue. I even saw people making a small bed for their bird to rest in. However,that may trigger hormonal issues.

-Lots of perches in a larger then average cage to compensate for the lost flying time, but make sure all of the perches are hopping distance for them. More toys, again to make up for the lost exercise.

-I would also suggest a cage with lots of horizontal bars for climbing