broken toe? not beak grinding?

[skeetkeet]

Hi there,

I got a budgie eight days ago. Named him bullseye, hes at least six months old as he has the black spots on his neck (light blue, grey an striped little dude) and had pin feathers all over his head, so maybe even older.. I dont think the breeder I was reccomended was telling the truth.

He went through the usual afraid-of-big-human stage then became very realxed quite quickly, grinding his beak as I sung him to sleep and generally being very sweet on me (wagging tail when he sees me side to side, lots of blinks etc). When he started becoming more energetic about four days in he was climbing onto the bars and I noticed his toe was INSIDE his leg ring, as in the whole back toe was inside it and poking out the other end running against his leg.
He was enjoying head rubs from me, which was either him being well introduced to cuddles from humans before (got him from a breeder) or just being friendly to hide the pain, I tried to move the ring up and slip his toe out myself but it wouldnt budge, so I called the breeder and of course he tells me just to do it myself with a tooth pick and said he couldnt help me, after some exasperation from me telling him hes either ringed bullseye wrong or the ring is too big I gave up on help from him and called the vet. They took the ring off but didnt check him, and the toe is quite clearly broken/dead/somethings wrong as he doesnt bend it at all and it just sort of sits backwards.
He was chirping in the box home and I felt very guilty about having to put him in and out of this box and hold him at the vets while they prodded him and cut his nail to take bloods at the same time ( instead of me coming back for his first check up). And when we got home he seemed perfectly content, although pulling his foot up a little sometimes as if he was going to one-foot perch then putting it down again,
Now, he still sings, still eats, still comes to the cage door and has started eating anything that I show him to eat (romaine lettuce, gem lettuce, cucumber, millet and apple) and he doesnt seem to wince or be in pain with his foot although will pull it away if I touch it (which he doesnt do with the other foot), but he is sleepy as hell most of the day and WONT GRIND HIS BEAK. AT ALL. He seems to enjoy my company and when I gently stroke his cheeks he'll bow his head and does the *scratch behind my ear bit please* thing, closing his eyes as I stroke him, but still NO grinding like before. Not a peep. I find this really worrying, he has grinded very slightly once today and thats it, he used to grind his beak all night as I sung and spoke to him.
Also he is very sleepy most of the day with random outspurts of energy (singing, climbing around, shredding through his foraging toys/veggies) and he ONLY SLEEPS ON BOTH LEGS, he never perches on one foot.
The toe doesnt move at all, he doesnt curl it, it isnt discoloured either although his ankle looks a little black I feel thats probably the idodine the vets put on his nail.
What should I do? Another vet trip could push him over the edge, theres a specialist avian vet the only one in my country (scotland) not far away but from what Ive read there wouldnt be anything they could do but give him pain killers?

 

[SailBoat]

First of all, Deep slow breaths in and out. Relax, your Budgie is going to be better.

You're likely correct that the Breeder has miss-lead you and the proof is not providing simple directions that would have helped. Very possible that the ring may have been a size to large.


There is very little that a non-surgical 'non-small bird' Vet would be able to beyond freeing the toe. At present, the toe needs to heal and the swelling needs to reduce before any movement could return. There is no question that your budgie is felling pain and will not want anyone to touch that toe.


Pain medication is problematic with Birds in general and most non Avian Vets will avoid them and even Certified Avian Vets will greatly limit their use.


It is not surprising that your Budgie is not beak grinding. Beak grinding is commonly a statement of; I am happy with my World. At present, your budgie is not crazy happy with its World. With time, the beak grinding will return, because the pain is gone and life is wonderful again.


Life will get better!

 

[skeetkeet]

THANK YOU SO MICH
I needed to hear this this morning

His beak grinding is back! He seems a lot happier today and I’m taking him to Bush Campus Avian Vets on Wednesday (scotland) the only avian vets I’ve seen recommended in my country is a mere 15 min drive away. I did take him to a normal vet across the street to remove the toe from the ring but was prepared to make the stressful car journey and an emergency appointment if he needed it (the normal vets Work with bush to refer birds there so it was advised by them to come to them first to minimize stress/heat as they are two minutes walk from me)

Today he adventured a bit and had strawberries, he now has a face painted *blood of my enemies* style. He has two large foraging “stations” on both closest corners of the cage, lots of shredded paper disguising honey rings and millet with an assortment of fruit and veg all around, he’s have to hanker through the healthy stuff to get to the goods you gotta *work for dat millet boi* a small amount t of seeed in his basketball toy (mirror removed) that he’s have to remove the ball to get to.

I had an African grey for years that I made a fatal mistake with; I trusted my brother to watch him for a weekend and the horrible man that he is left him unsupervised for the whole weekend OUT OF HIS CAGE he got into my marker pen supply and my brother hid all evidence, he died 8 hours after I got home very suddenly, I made an emergency appointment when I realised he wasn’t himself that morning but it was too late and he passed at the avian hospital during intensive care, I didn’t go through with it for an autoposy I was too grief stricken and just buried him. So I’m rwally glad you replied as I honestly could not go through that again and have issues with panic attacks.

 

[SailBoat]

Happy to hear that your budgie is much better today and very happy that you will be visiting an Avian Vet.

Regarding travel stress. Understanding that Birds tie closing to our emotions and in many cases mirror us. If you maintain a low level of stress, it will help your Budgie. Exposure to short travels by starting with the getting ready and then working out to loading into the car and then a few short trips will do wonders for everyone's comfort level. So, break it up into small segments and practice at the level of comfort your bird is happy.

 

[skeetkeet]

Thank you for your advice, he’s even perkier tonight and had a chattering phase for longer than I’ve heard him before, grinding his beak while in my hand so shouldn’t be too long til he’s on his feet again (;
Thanks again your messege really helped this morning