Budgie died after 2 months

[aphillipsNP]

We purchased a budgie (Stan) from our local PetSmart in early August. Initially we were going to buy from a local breeder, however we stopped in to PetSmart and he was the only bird left, of course my son fell in love so we got him.

We took him to an Avian vet after we had him for a few weeks and everything seemed to check out fine. He got tons of attention and love, well balanced diet, water etc. We followed the vet's instructions and my son was so careful to tell everyone about anything that could be harmful to our budgie Stan.

Sadly when we woke up Wednesday morning, my son found him dead at the bottom of his cage. We had him for exactly 2 months. The whole family is quite devastated as we all grew very attached to him in this short time.

We eventually want another budgie but are very worried about this happening again and wonder what we did wrong/should have done differently. I'm not sure if he was sick to begin with and this was inevitable, but it seems like he died very prematurely.

The only thing I can think of is that he did look "fluffed up" the day before he died. No other changes though, maybe a slight increase in appetite.

Any insight would be helpful. He definitely had a happy few months in our family.

I attached a picture taken the day before he died, now looking closer I can tell he was puffed up and likely not well. If only I would have gotten him to the vet on Tuesday, he may still be with us.

 

[wrench13]

Hi and welcome. I am so sorry that your son's parrakeet passed away, You son looks so happy with him, and a budgie that will perch on a finger is pretty happy too. its impossible to tell from a picture how the budgie is doing. Parrots ( and a budgie IS a parrot) are prey animals and will hide illness really well, so they dont stand out in a flock as an easy meal for preditors. Really well. So he may have been sick a long time, even before you got him. Or it may have been something sudden, maybe heart related, you can not tell unless you take the body to a vet for a necropsy, and even then you must have refridgerated the body immediately and the vet has to know what he is doing ( and Avian Certified Vet), and it aint cheap.

Please let your son greive for the poor baby. If he does want to try owning a parrakeet again, please try to go to a recognised breeder of the species, the quality of parrot should be much better. Pet shop chains are well known for mass produced/bred birds of questionable quality, and as you surmised, should be avoided. Can one get a good parrakeet there? Yours seemed to be pretty tame, but thats not the rule, and budgies are timid and flighty (mostly). A breeders birds should be more tame, if they are good breeders, and their health better too. Just remind your son that every parrot is an individual, and if he gets another budgie, it may or maynot act like his first one. Good luck and my kindest thoughts for your son.

 

[noodles123]

SO SORRY,,,did you use any teflon/ptfe.pfoa/pfcs in the same house?

 

[aphillipsNP]

Not that we are aware of.. He was upstairs away from the kitchen/cooking. My son made me ditch all my candles, air fresheners, febreeze, etc.

No recent painting or fumes.

He did get carrots that morning and now I’m wondering maybe they had gone bad or he had some bad veggies a few days prior. We typically gave him carrots, celery or a bit of lettuce in addition to his seeds.

 

[wrench13]

Celery leaves are fine, the stringy part that we humans usually eat are not good, the stringy fibers can ball up in their crops. I'm not sure how long it would take for that to become an issue. Suffice it to say you can consult several threads in our nutrition subforum to get lists of good and bad veggies, if and when you get another parrot.
Lettuce is empty material, mostly water, so its not a great thing to feed them, but not overtly harmfull. Carrots are very good for parrots a major source of Vit A.

Sounds like you guys did some research, on getting rid of aromatics. I'd let your son range free on the forum here, he'll pick up a wealth of info.

 

[noodles123]

Not that we are aware of.. He was upstairs away from the kitchen/cooking. My son made me ditch all my candles, air fresheners, febreeze, etc.

No recent painting or fumes.

He did get carrots that morning and now I’m wondering maybe they had gone bad or he had some bad veggies a few days prior. We typically gave him carrots, celery or a bit of lettuce in addition to his seeds.

Separate floors will not protect a bird from teflon use...I am not saying that is what happened, but it's possible. Same with self-cleaning function on the oven. If you still have him, you could have a necroscopy performed. Like Wrench said, celery can cause blockages and ice-berg lettuce can lead to malnutrition (also heard that it can interfere with calcium absorption, but haven't verified that second part).
Were you using standard cleaners nearby? Like bleach etc?

 

[aphillipsNP]

He was in an upstairs loft area so we only used dusting cloths in that room. No cleaning supplies anywhere near him.

We have mostly cast irons skillets, but a few others that I’m not sure about Teflon on. I will get rid of them before the next budgie comes to our home.

Thank you everyone for the advice. Can’t believe he’s been gone a week now, definitely miss hearing his happy chirps.

 

[noodles123]

I would get in touch with an avian vet and bring your next one in as soon as possible. IF your last bird had a disease (a possibility) you will really need to be on top of monitoring health. Birds can shed viruses with no symptoms and in certain diseases (not uncommon ones) those viral particles can remain viable for over a year in carpet, ventilation systems etc. Good call on getting rid of the Teflon. Also, do not season cast iron around a bird.

 

[aphillipsNP]

Yes to the vet part. Our avian vet has a 24 hour emergency line. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I wish we would have thought to call him last Tuesday night

We cleaned the cage and we’re planning to use it for the next bird, but since we really don’t know what happened to Stan, I think we will start fresh with everything.

 

[noodles123]

That is probably smart (even if cautious)- I know it stinks, as it is more money, but certain circoviruses are really hard to kill and bleach doesn't kill everything (amazingly, lower concentrations can actually have a bigger impact on certain viruses, but again, to clean, you have to know what you're fighting).

Always watch their poop and eating like crazy- the second they show symptoms, get them in or at least inform the vet for consult. They hide illness, unlike most animals that we are used to keeping in our homes.

Also, get them in BEFORE they have anything wrong so that you are an established patient and they are willing to work with you.

 

[Scott]

My deepest condolences for your sudden, untimely loss of Stan. May you, your son, and family be comforted by his bright memories and genial manner.

Superb advice given above! Stan was likely unwell a reasonable period before displaying abnormal signs. Strictly conjecture whether a vet visit day before would have made a difference.

I second the motion allowing your son free-range forum access to increase his knowledge base for whenever the time is right.