krazy kat's korner

We lost our second oldest budgie, Daffy, on Thursday :(

He was my sister's, rinkle, bird and was 6.5 years old. As she's living in Canberra I coordinated the vet care. I took him to an avian vet on Monday as he was very fluffy, not doing much, and I found him sitting on the bottom of the cage (really bad sign). He was very weak, hadn't been eating and wasn't producing any poop. Vet didn't know if he was going to make it. She was doing tests, making sure it was nothing that could spread through the flock. He stayed there from Monday to give him a better chance with heat/fluids/forced feeding/antibiotics. Really impressed with her. Explained everything, what tests for and costs.

Got a call from her Tuesday saying, much to her surprise and ours, Daffy made it through the night and was eating on his own, and perching instead of lying on the floor. He did have a bacterial infection but the treatments seemed to be working. Went down and visited him and he looked so much better. She wanted to keep him there until Thursday to keep up with the treatments to give him a better chance. Call from other vet on Wednesday saying he was still doing well.

Then the call we weren't expecting. The vets were very surprised to find him dead when they came in Thursday morning. He'd been doing so well, had a full crop, poo normal, was whistling late Wednesday. The treatments were working for the secondary bacterial infection. She thinks it may have been a brain tumour and he had a seizure. Which fits in with the wobbliness she saw (and thought might have been heavy metal toxicity which she was also treating for) and the weird way he'd been acting late last week. He'd been flying around the cage and couldn't seem to land until I intervened. Then he was lying down along the perch.

I was worried that I'd done something wrong, didn't pick up he was ill soon enough. But she doesn't think it would have made any difference. I was talking to her about the birds we've lost and how my brother has had 2 long living budgies (one died ~10 years, the other is still going at ~12 years). She said with budgies it's all about the genetic lottery. And with older budgies it's usually tumours.

He was a beautiful bird, a yellow face albino. Also very sexy in the budgie world. 2 of our younger boys (Kensi and Deeks) fought each other over him. After bloody eye & sore wing, we couldn't risk more serious injuries and had to give Kensi to the pet shop.

( photo )

My Danny bird died tonight :(

He hasn't been well the last ~6 months. He stopped whistling & chatting around March, sleeping a lot, breathing heavily. Yet he was still flying like a nut, having such a great time, and not breathing any heavier after. Since he kept going, knew it wasn't an infection. Was probably a tumour, but there's not much you can do with tiny birds. Danny was also difficult because he's had gut/crop issues his whole life. He'd regularly throw up seed and look absolutely miserable, but then be back to normal. The past few weeks I've thought he was getting worse, but it was so hard to tell. I decided to leave him as long as he seemed reasonable and wasn't struggling to breathe etc. (Now I worry that I left him too long.) He stopped flying on Tuesday.

I initially thought it was just the normal weekend throw-up. But today he was looking more miserable and later realised he wasn't eating. The other birds were bothering him and Deeks kept trying to climb on his back. Decided to move him to the smaller cage. I was stroking him and he wasn't reacting, so knew it was bad (in the last few years he's become a bitey thing). Decided that we'd take him up the vet in the morning to be put down, there was no more quality of life. I knelt down in front of the small cage and he was suddenly the brightest he'd been all weekend and was looking at me and leaning forward like he was going to jump onto the front of the cage. He then climbed around so he could be near me. It broke my heart, he was lonely.

Within an hour he was on the floor of the cage and it took another hour or so till he was gone. He was 7 years old (and 2 months). We'd had him 6 days short of 7 years.

He'd become a cranky old man in recent years, but he was a gorgeous bird (even vets had commented how beautiful he was). He had a great range of whistles and was a bit of a comedian. He developed this long whistle (always slightly different) that he'd use when something happened, usually when one of the other birds fell off the perch. And he went crazy over being sprayed with water, adored his showers and ended up looking like a drowned rat.

We still have his brother, Snoopy. Will so miss my Danny bird :(

( my beautiful birdie )

I wish I didn't get attached to the little buggers.

Sniffles has been sick on and off the last two weeks. On Sunday he was all fluffy and sleepy and breathing hard again (after a few days of seeming back to normal), and it was only then I realised how much weight he'd lost.

Took him to the vet yesterday. About all he could tell me was that he was extremely sick, he seemed most worried about the weight loss. Seemed surprised he was still alive. He said the only way he might be diagnosed was to take him to a 24 hour vet clinic (problem with being New Years Eve) and leave him there so he could be watched and tested. But the one he was suggesting was over 30 minutes away, and that kind of treatment would be costly (birds are notoriously difficult to diagnose). The other option was assume he had a bacterial infection and treat him with antibiotics.

Due to the cost and I really didn't want to stress him any further, decided to go the antibiotics route. Two needles, one antibiotics and the other vitamins/minerals. We've got antibiotic drops as well. Still all up was nearly $120.

He's still alive today, and seems a little brighter. Moving around a bit more and whistling a little. But I don't think we're going to be out of the woods for a while yet, and if he does recover he needs to put on some weight.

I've been meaning to give an update on the birdies since last week, but I've been emotional and tired. I can now think about Woody without getting teary (mostly). Thinking about him is more making me smile. Still miss him.

On the Tuesday (the day after) we washed and disinfected the cages/bits & pieces/covers to be on the safe side. Took the birdies to the vet in the afternoon. Told her about what happened with Woody, she thought too that it was most likely something to do with him rather than anything contagious. I told her about how his legs never worked properly and he waddled and didn't fly well. She said it sounded like he didn't get enough calcium early in his life which would have weakened him structurally. (We've also noticed that they're going through a lot less seed and there's a lot less poops - he may've had more problems than we guessed)

She gave Danny, Snoopy and CJ a complete check over - wings, chest, crop, stomach etc and then clipped their nails. She said they are in fabulous condition.

She said if they came down sick to bring them back and she'd do a test of their crop, but that's basically all they can do with budgies. They can't do blood or urine tests, or anything surgery-like, and once they start showing they're sick, it basically already too late. I still feel a little guilty about Woody, maybe if I'd taken them to the vet the week before to get their nails clipped...but he wasn't showing he was sick...basically diagnosis (beyond the simple of mites/lice/some digestive upsets etc) is impossible.

They were quiet Tuesday, with being grabbed and moved multiple times. Wednesday Danny started calling at the top of his lungs for hours. Continued the next few days but less. Then he started grabbing the mirror and thumping it against the side of the cage for a couple of days. I got teary talking to him, explaining (pointlessly) that we were sorry and we knew that he was lonely, but Woody wasn't coming back. He's been calmer since the start of this week, and CJ and Snoopy have been spending some time with him. They all seem healthy.

On 21/9/05, we brought home 3 new little budgies, Danny, Snoopy, and Woodstock, to join CJ.

Tonight, we lost Woodstock. He was around 2 years and 2 months old.



Woody hadn't been feeling very well yesterday, he'd been pretty quiet most of the day and sleeping, which is very unusual for him. We'd been through similar with Danny and Snoopy a month or two ago, so I thought he'd just eaten too much grass.

He wasn't any better this morning. He'd been sitting on the perch looking incredibly fluffy and depressed, had barely struggled when I grabbed hold of him to look him over, just made a pathetic complaining sound. He didn't seem interested in food, which is very unWoody-like.

I had to go to work, but apparently as the day went on, he seemed to have trouble walking and had to put his wings out to balance and was breathing very heavily.

From my sister:
"When we got the other birds out for their fly, CJ attacked my finger when I tried to get him on my finger - I don't know whether he realised that Woody was very sick and didn't want to leave him alone. We were going to put Woody on top of the cage, but he couldn't balance when I got him on my finger, so I just ended up holding him and stroking his head. We ended up putting him in a separate cage, as he just seemed so sick, and he hopped on the floor not long after we put him in there. This is never a very good sign for a bird. About an hour later, he died."

Mum said he moved around the bottom of the cage from corner to corner, I guess trying to feel safe and like he was in a nest. He was pretty much lying on the floor, his wings out, breathing a struggle. Mum kept an eye on him, but tried not to disturb him. He died around 7pm, about 10 minutes before I got home from work. I held and patted him and cried, he'd already gone stiff.

Again from my sister:
"Woody was possibly one of the most loving, enthusiastic and weirdest budgies I've ever met. He loved everyone, fed everyone, and loved to play - nobody pulled the rings along the perch like he did. He had the weirdest body shape - not the streamlined shape of the normal budgie, but a bulk to his front that always reminded me of Rodney McKay, and this might be the reason that he died. He always had trouble keeping up with the others with flying and waddled like a duck as his legs just didn't seem to straighten properly."

He was my sister's bird, but we all adored him. He was everyone's bird. His personality was bigger than he was. He had this loud whistle that sounded like he was broken, never again will we yell "shut up, Woody". He particularly loved my hand, courting (with his little wings vibrating) and feeding it, and every so often trying to make love to it. As soon as I put my hand in the cage, he'd pounce. They'd be out for a fly, and as the others whizzed by, he'd be trying to feed my hand.

We're not sure what it was, hoping it wasn't contagious, but we don't think so. He was a weird body shape, didn't fly at all well, and got easily puffed. Maybe his heart and lungs weren't formed right.

( little birdy )

My sister has been reading Little Women and said that Woody was like Beth - loving and giving to all, and taken too soon.

Poor little Danny bird was sick all weekend. He would just sleep, sit all fluffed up like a ball, and try to throw up. He looked so pathetic. I thought I might lose him.

But today he seems to have recovered. He's active and whistling and playing.

Billy Thorpe's death was a bit of a shock. Same age as my dad. While Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy) is probably the one that gets stuck in your head, I have a soft spot for his cover of Somewhere over the rainbow.

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Danny bird had a sore eye this morning, kept it closed. Took him out to have a look at it, dripped some water into it just in case there was something caught, he really appreciated that. He's better tonight, but I think it's still bothering him. He might have scratched it.

If it continues I'll need to get him an eye patch and a pirate.

I have a motto for the water board help section and their total inability to say when they'll arrive (even approximately)..."At Sydney Water, time is fluid".

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My brother stayed up here the last two nights. As he was coming straight from work on Friday, he couldn't bring the cockatiel with him, so Wee Jock went to his friend's house to stay. When M put the bird in the car, Wee Jock started making budgie noises (he did that a few weeks ago when M came up for the night - even though he'd only been here once before). The friend lives only a short distance away and when M got there, Wee Jock was most unhappy and started hissing at him. He was at the wrong house! Hopefully Wee Jock got some amusement out of glaring at their Samoyed, Tosca. He did that when M was dogsitting and freaked poor Tosca out.

Didn't go to work today (after having had a pretty good week in many ways including almost nonexistent anxiety), arthritis flare which even dad's strong painkillers hasn't really helped :( I called work to say that I was going to still try to make it in, but be possibly an hour or so late, had to wait to see if the painkillers kicked in, but they didn't so had to pull out totally. So lost a day's pay, and we're busy as hell, and I still worry about losing my job.

But a little baby visited today (my brother's best friend's 2 month old, mum had sent them a present but we missed seeing him at my sister-in-law's baby shower (since we were sick)), and he was so cute, and had this sticking up hair, and he was smiling at mum. Though his crying freaked out little budgie Woodstock. Woody better get over it since my sil is due next month, and my best friend will be out at Chrissie with her bub.

It's weird, the other budgies didn't seem to be worried. And the other week dad had to clean the ceiling (exploding can of tomatoes) and was standing up high next to the cage. Woody started panting and was all skinny (we say, "he looks like Nan!", because it's the same look our grandmother had near the end), thought he was hot but his wings weren't out. Once dad got down he was okay. That's when we realised he was freaked. Again the others didn't seem to care. Wonder whether Woody's smallness and his legs that seem to be a little malformed (they don't seem to stretch, he's very low to the ground and waddles) might have an impact.

My brother is staying at the moment (he's not been well), and so his cockatiel, Wee Jock, came too. He did surprisingly well on a 90 odd minute car ride, wasn't even covered up (though he was in our smaller budgie cage) - just fell off the perch a couple of times going round corners.

Wee Jock is so lovely. Surprisingly light (I thought he'd be much heavier than the budgies), really loves people and sitting on your hand/wandering up your arm. He's hilarious preening, shakes himself quite violently (mum says he looks like a pullet (teenage chicken) when he does that), and gets annoyed if you interrupt him (hisses or snorts). But he's a bit loud and one note (though he's developing new noises just being here). He and the budgies haven't shown a lot of interest in each other, and don't seem to talk.

But if we have Wee Jock out, Danny and Woody come and land on front of the cage to be near him (Danny was the first brave one on Sunday, Woody only found his courage today). We've let Wee Jock walk around on top of the budgie cage, they freaked each other out to start with, any little movement. But now the budgies don't seem to care. Woody and Danny get up on the swings to get closer, and have tried nibbling Wee Jock's toes (have to watch them carefully) or grabbing his tail.

This arvo after the budgies fly, we got Wee Jock out and put him on top of the cage with Woody. The size difference was amazing, especially since Woody is a small budgie. Woody was talking to Wee Jock, and trying to get close enough to go beak to beak, but Wee Jock really didn't know what to make of it and tended to run away. Kinda like a small yappy dog freaking a big dog.

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You'd think that once someone got to third year uni they'd know how to read the bloody question...yes, after a year's break, I'm marking again. N was desperate and I was the last resort ;)