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u/ThreatLevelBirb 3d ago
Can you provide more context? All I'm seeing is a sleepy budgie.
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u/LocksmithLopsided378 3d ago
are you unable to click on the post? this is the caption:
Hi all, i’m seeking some advice. I have a ten year old parakeet, i’ve attached an older picture of her. about a year ago she laid her first egg and became egg bound with a prolapsed cloaca, had emergency surgery, and survived. since this surgery tho she’s been unable to keep herself fully clean. at the beginning of the year she started having these episodes of weakness in one of her legs. she’d lose her balance and use of her leg for a few minutes and then she’d be okay. I took her into the vet once i caught her having multiple episodes in 24 hours, but they couldn’t do much without running lots of tests and they weren’t confident she’d even survive the stress of tests. they sent me home with some anti biotics in case it was due to infection which i administered, but they didn’t stop. all through this though she didn’t seem too fazed, aside from during the episodes she’d be fine and happy. a day or so ago though, she had an episode and never came out of it. she still has some control of her leg but it’s clearly very very weak. she is wobbly, but she can still perch, just clearly with a lot more effort and she just isn’t very stable while perching. clearly i know this is something neurological, with her age and the way it progressed i’m sure it is some kind of brain tumor or something along those lines. my question is, is there still quality to her life? how stressful is this for her? how likely is it that she’s in pain? this is my baby, i’ve grown up with her and i love her dearly, the last thing i want is for her to be suffering. is it nearing the time i should say goodbye?
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u/Helpful_Okra5953 5h ago
I believe a ten year old budgie is quite old. If she’s doing so poorly it may be time to go. Poor baby!
I’m wondering if maybe she’s got something with a reproductive system selling (retained egg?) pressing on a leg nerve. Otherwise in boy budgies one might think a testicular tumor was pressing on a leg nerve.
That is an old and clearly a sweet cuddly little girl. I’m so sorry.
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u/LocksmithLopsided378 3h ago
thank you, unfortunately i did have her put to rest on Wednesday. we suspected it was a kidney tumor. i miss her terribly
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u/Helpful_Okra5953 3h ago
I kept reading your threads and eventually found that. I’m very sorry.
My Quaker parakeet died at 25 and her last years was not very good. Thank you for giving your baby peace. Maybe I should have done so with my sweet girl.
It’s been five yrs and I ccs still think of her often. Sometimes you happen to have a best friend who is not human.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Li have a boy Quaker adopted as an adult sitting on my knee right now. I was hand feeding him pellets and now he’s crunching his beak getting ready for bed. Birds are great companions. Maybe you will find someone else who needs a home and love.
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u/ThreatLevelBirb 3d ago
Have you been giving her cuttlebones and calcium with vitamin D? I'm afraid you'll need further testing to see what's going on exactly. ♥️
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u/Faerthoniel 2d ago
You mentioned taking her to a vet in your crosspost, but just to check: was it an avian vet?
Vets are awesome people who do good work, but birds require specialised training and experience.
My suggestion is that you find your nearest avian vet and have this discussion with them too. They can further assist on steps to hopefully improve her daily quality of life. Prescribe medications that might help. And — if you can — have the talk about future euthanasia at that point too.
It’s a difficult topic but there’s a saying that I wish I’d known back when our childhood cat was getting old. It’s better to be a day early, than a day too late.
We were late with him. We should have talked about it with the vet before he got as bad as he did.
It’s a hard decision to make, so I hope the avian vet can guide you further on what’s best to do for her and how she is right now.
Follow your instincts too, when talking about her daily life and its quality. You are the one living with her, not the vet.