My friend has a little zebra finch (a 6 year old female I believe, though I may be wrong on age. She's old!). Something happened some time ago (I don't have specifics, I'm sorry) that left the finch laying on its side at the bottom of the aviary with the left leg nonfunctional. Up to this point in time, the femur and above of the affected leg is functional. Anything below the knee cap is not, and a little stiff (there is blood flow so the leg is still alive). She also is unbalanced and seems to struggle using her left wing a bit.
She has trouble staying upright on a flat surface (or bottom grate of a cage) and tends to scoot herself around while using her wings to propel her a bit. She tries to fly across the floor but it seems very "lopsided" as she gets a bit of air initially then leans/falls sideways on the way down. She eats millet and finch seed mix still, and supposedly drinking water from a shallow bowl but I dont know how much she is managing or if she could be dehydrated.
At this point, due to her age and overall functionability (though limited) I'm not sure if veterinary intervention would help. My suspicions are that she had a stroke or something neurological happened because of the specific left side of her body having the issues.
I'm going to ask my friend if I can take her home for "hospice" care. She has been taking care of the finch but I know she has been overwhelmed lately and I think I could try setting up her caging situation to be more comfortable and adapted to her needs. Not that my friend has done a bad job, of course. But she has a sizable flock of small to small-medium parrots along with her smaller finch aviary/flock so this little girl may get put on the back burner sometimes, so to speak.
So I wanted to post here about her physical state and see if anyone has experience with birds who could not perch at all (she cannot sit upright without support of some kind, either. Like a blanket that she can grip) and if they have any tips or recommendations that might assist me with helping her live out the rest of her life comfortably
Thank you!
Updated to add some pictures of the wee girl:
She has trouble staying upright on a flat surface (or bottom grate of a cage) and tends to scoot herself around while using her wings to propel her a bit. She tries to fly across the floor but it seems very "lopsided" as she gets a bit of air initially then leans/falls sideways on the way down. She eats millet and finch seed mix still, and supposedly drinking water from a shallow bowl but I dont know how much she is managing or if she could be dehydrated.
At this point, due to her age and overall functionability (though limited) I'm not sure if veterinary intervention would help. My suspicions are that she had a stroke or something neurological happened because of the specific left side of her body having the issues.
I'm going to ask my friend if I can take her home for "hospice" care. She has been taking care of the finch but I know she has been overwhelmed lately and I think I could try setting up her caging situation to be more comfortable and adapted to her needs. Not that my friend has done a bad job, of course. But she has a sizable flock of small to small-medium parrots along with her smaller finch aviary/flock so this little girl may get put on the back burner sometimes, so to speak.
So I wanted to post here about her physical state and see if anyone has experience with birds who could not perch at all (she cannot sit upright without support of some kind, either. Like a blanket that she can grip) and if they have any tips or recommendations that might assist me with helping her live out the rest of her life comfortably
Thank you!
Updated to add some pictures of the wee girl:
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