Budgie won't put weight on foot...

[Scott]

Sounds like a good plan! Hopefully your Budgie will get some expert help!

 

[NightEule5]

Ya, I hope so!

 

[NightEule5]

So, we went to the vet today. He was very nice and gentle with him. Although he hadn't handled a budgie before, he did have a book with all the diseases birds can have.

He said, most commonly, it would be swelling in the kidneys that is pinching off the nerve. He also said, for swelling in that area, it could be cancer as this kind of cancer is common in budgies. I really hope it's not that, because he would only have a few days to live. That would suck.

He did give us some signs to watch for. If he doesn't lose a ton of wieght in the next little bit he probably doesn't have cancer. But it was impossible to tell for sure without an X-ray (which was $220).

 

[texsize]

If the bird is having kidney problems a blood test would be a good idea(in my opinion).

also his poop would be abnormal.

I do hope it's nothing serious.
feathered hugs.
texsize

 

[NightEule5]

His poop is green which says infection to me but I don't know how their poop is normally (don't look at it that much lol).

Thanks for being there though.

 

[Scott]

Great job taking him to see the vet, you probably got better advice than having visited a traditional one.

Haven't had a budgie, but parrot poop is green and white. Hopefully he'll do better over the next few days, especially if the leg was sprained.

 

[NightEule5]

I'm hoping he'll get better. His poop is probably normal looking at the healthy budgie's poop. He's been eating and drinking fine so I hope that means he'll get better. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Scott]

A pleasure, hope he recovers well. Please keep us updated, we're always here to help!!

 

[NightEule5]

I haven't updated you guys in a while... He's improving I think. He gets around easier now, puts more weight on that leg, and his foot is straight when he stands on it instead of curling under him. It still looks paralyzed, but it definitely looks like he can use it more than he could before. And the fact that he's standing on it more instead of hanging on the cage bars to take weight off of it is a good sign I think.

As far as the vet telling us to monitor his weight though, I don't know how we're supposed to do that. He doesn't exactly let us catch him, and he's more active now. We also don't have a kitchen scale anymore so we can't measure his weight anyway. But I'm not sure if that will be necessary, since he appears to be improving a lot.

 

[Scott]

Definitely good signs! It would be difficult to monitor even a cooperative budgie on a gram scale as the unite are already small! If you observe him eating and pooping things are looking up!

 

[NightEule5]

I sure hope so! He's definitely eating, so that's good!

 

[NightEule5]

I've been meaning to update you guys again, but our internet was out the last couple of days. He's still eating and drinking when he doesn't poop in his water (I have to change it a lot, lol). He uses his perch most of the time since I've lowered it. He is able to stand very well now, although I think he still doesn't have full use of the leg.

I was watching him though when he was scratching himself with his other leg. Then he tumbled on to the floor of his cage (not very far down, maybe an inch). He got up and looked at me like, "What just happened?" Lol

 

[Scott]

Thanks, glad you're seeing progress. Hard to know what the cause, but at least the trend is optimistic!!