2 7 y/o budgies - one passed away, recommendations for the other boy?

[birdmom123]

Hi there, I have 3, 7 year old budgies, well had 3 budgies. 2 males, 1 female. They were all housed together until the female had egg binding and were separated as per the avian veterinarian's recommendation. The 2 boys were in 1 flight cage, the female sits across the room in another flight cage. Anyways, one of the two boys was found passed this morning, which was completely unexpected. He was declared healthy at his last appointment 6 months ago, so he is getting necropsied to see if there was a definitive cause to his passing.

I inherited the 3 from my grandmother about 2 years ago and have been making attempts to tame them, but after the egg binding 6 months ago and separating them, they immediately distrusted me again and I am back at square one. My question is, there is now one boy in one cage and the female in the other cage. Is there anything I can do to help them with the one boy passing? Toys, treats, shoot, another male budgie? I am so worried that the depression and stress will get to them. Thank you in advance.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Wow... thanks for sharing your story. Birds are all so different... I don't really know how to advise you EXCEPT to say... you love them all so much, and are such a caring parront... I bet you'll know what to do. Follow your heart and instincts.
Great luck to you!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

So sorry one of your boys died. They can get sick and die before you even knew there was anything wrong, they're so fragile.
Another male companion for your lone male would be a good idea. Male budgies in particular are very social and need companionship. Females tend to be more independent.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I just noticed that your budgie was 7 years old when he died. That age isn't that old because some budgies do live longer. I had one make it to 13, but he suffered from kidney failure for a couple years before it killed him. He also had old age cataracts and could probably barely see. But 7 is a pretty normal age for budgies to succumb to various chronic illnesses. In fact, I wish all my budgies would live to see their seventh year but in reality most don't. Tumors are very common in budgies, especially after 5 years old. I do hope they qqqq the cause of yo7rvllllllĺlļ¹

 

[birdmom123]

I just noticed that your budgie was 7 years old when he died. That age isn't that old because some budgies do live longer. I had one make it to 13, but he suffered from kidney failure for a couple years before it killed him. He also had old age cataracts and could probably barely see. But 7 is a pretty normal age for budgies to succumb to various chronic illnesses. In fact, I wish all my budgies would live to see their seventh year but in reality most don't. Tumors are very common in budgies, especially after 5 years old. I do hope they qqqq the cause of yo7rvllllllĺlļ¹

Hi there, I totally forgot about this post, a lot has happened since then unfortunately ( I actually got in touch with the original owner and found out they're all closer to 9!

Anyways, the university got back to me to tell me he had a very specific GI cancer, the pathologists and avian specialists agreed that due to its location there's no way they could have detected it while he (Pepito) was still alive. A couple days later, I ended up taking the female, Lola, to the ER, they think the stress caused her to get sick. Pepito was her "mate" before they got separated. When she recovered they did X-rays due to her age and history of egg binding - they found a mass on her reproductive tract, took a sample with a little needle, and found cancer on her, too

Because of Lola's age, the avian vets said she likely wouldn't survive mass removal surgery, so I did all the treatments they recommended to keep her quality of life in check. She ended up passing away just a little over a month ago the staff was absolutely incredible and supportive during the whole process, one of the technicians even drew her portrait it was so kind.

Surprisingly in Lola's last month or so, we actually bonded quite a bit, she went from flying away when I got near her cage, to cuddling on my chest and eating treats after medicine time :')

But unfortunately, now I just have the one boy, his name is Panchito. The avian veterinarians gave a few recommendations before bringing home another budgie which was super helpful. I have an old tablet and every day I play a video of other budgies. After I uncover Panchito's cage, I "uncover" the tablet. At night, I cover the tablet with a little blanket, and Panchito goes to his sleeping perch, stretches, and gets ready to sleep before I cover his cage, too. He talks to them and copies them when they play, and a few other things, the vet thinks that he thinks their his real buddies I spoiled him a ton that first week, I even learned how to make bird bread so the transition was smoother for him. I do still feel bad it's just him, but at the moment the vet said he seems really happy.

Anyways that is the update on life as of recent. I've been trying to slowly bond with Panchito again, and now he doesn't fly away when I approach the flight cage. Maybe one day we will be able to bond with one another like Lola did. I truly hope he has many years to come of good health but regular checkups for him and lots of love are in store for little Panchito