While looking through Kijiji ads one day, I stumbled across an ad for a budgie who was being given away. The ad said that the owner had died and he desperately needed a home. There were a couple of blurry pictures of a blue budgie in a filthy round cage, and I immediately emailed them.
We had to drive about 40 minutes, and we got more of the story once we got there. The owner had committed suicide, and it was a week before he was found, leaving multiple animals behind who had been without food.
The man we were talking to was a friend who was taking care of the estate.
We walked into the house, and I have never seen anything like the cage that the budgie was in. It was tiny and round, and the poop on the bottom was at least 5 inches deep, and was covering the one dowel perch in places. He said he didn't know what happened to the other budgie, that there had been two, but soon we saw a wing poking out from under the poop. We could also see part of the body, and it was bones and had been dead for quite awhile. The man told us that he had not had a chance to get food for the budgie for 3 days after he was found, but that he was eating from the bottom so should be okay. The water dish was slimy with mould, and had a skim of green covering the top.
We could see the bones through his skin, and he was so weak that when my husband reached in to pick him up, he simply fell off the perch and laid in the waste.
We didn’t take the cage, and just transferred him to the cage we had brought with us. We had to place him on a perch in there, and he held on for dear life.
On the way home, we hit a small bump and he fell off the low perch and just laid on his side on the bottom of the cage. I told my husband he could name him, and he chose the name Russell, from the show Survivor. Seemed fitting.
It was a holiday weekend, and we could not get him in to see a vet, so we took him home and I called a couple of women from my bird club for advice. Following that advice, we bought some Pedialite and used in place of his water, and fed him millet and steel cut oats as well as his seed. We had to keep the perch in his cage low so he wouldn’t hurt himself if he fell, and we had the water and food right in front of the perch.
I expected to find he had passed every time I looked in the cage…but he survived.
We called the vet on Monday, and she suggested waiting a couple of days to let him get stronger before bringing him in. When we took him in, we weighed him, and he weighed 17 grams. Only thing wrong was long term starvation.
Russell did survive, and slowly gained weight. We were thrilled with every small step…the first time he switched perches, the first time he ate veggies, the first time he flew.
After he had regained some of his health, we added a friend for him, and almost lost him again. I noticed he seemed to be losing weight again, and realized she was keeping him from his food dish. That was the last time I ever had two birds in a cage without having two food and water dishes on opposite sides of the cage.
Russell lived for a year and a half, and I believe it was a good year and a half. The day he passed was a Saturday, and he started having seizures, one right after the next. I called the vet and was waiting for a call back, and he had one last seizure and crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
I will never forget Russell, and I feel so lucky to have had him in our lives. He taught us so much about survival, true strength, and what a will to live can do. He will be forever missed, and forever in our hearts.
We had to drive about 40 minutes, and we got more of the story once we got there. The owner had committed suicide, and it was a week before he was found, leaving multiple animals behind who had been without food.
The man we were talking to was a friend who was taking care of the estate.
We walked into the house, and I have never seen anything like the cage that the budgie was in. It was tiny and round, and the poop on the bottom was at least 5 inches deep, and was covering the one dowel perch in places. He said he didn't know what happened to the other budgie, that there had been two, but soon we saw a wing poking out from under the poop. We could also see part of the body, and it was bones and had been dead for quite awhile. The man told us that he had not had a chance to get food for the budgie for 3 days after he was found, but that he was eating from the bottom so should be okay. The water dish was slimy with mould, and had a skim of green covering the top.
We could see the bones through his skin, and he was so weak that when my husband reached in to pick him up, he simply fell off the perch and laid in the waste.
We didn’t take the cage, and just transferred him to the cage we had brought with us. We had to place him on a perch in there, and he held on for dear life.
On the way home, we hit a small bump and he fell off the low perch and just laid on his side on the bottom of the cage. I told my husband he could name him, and he chose the name Russell, from the show Survivor. Seemed fitting.
It was a holiday weekend, and we could not get him in to see a vet, so we took him home and I called a couple of women from my bird club for advice. Following that advice, we bought some Pedialite and used in place of his water, and fed him millet and steel cut oats as well as his seed. We had to keep the perch in his cage low so he wouldn’t hurt himself if he fell, and we had the water and food right in front of the perch.
I expected to find he had passed every time I looked in the cage…but he survived.
We called the vet on Monday, and she suggested waiting a couple of days to let him get stronger before bringing him in. When we took him in, we weighed him, and he weighed 17 grams. Only thing wrong was long term starvation.
Russell did survive, and slowly gained weight. We were thrilled with every small step…the first time he switched perches, the first time he ate veggies, the first time he flew.
After he had regained some of his health, we added a friend for him, and almost lost him again. I noticed he seemed to be losing weight again, and realized she was keeping him from his food dish. That was the last time I ever had two birds in a cage without having two food and water dishes on opposite sides of the cage.
Russell lived for a year and a half, and I believe it was a good year and a half. The day he passed was a Saturday, and he started having seizures, one right after the next. I called the vet and was waiting for a call back, and he had one last seizure and crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
I will never forget Russell, and I feel so lucky to have had him in our lives. He taught us so much about survival, true strength, and what a will to live can do. He will be forever missed, and forever in our hearts.
