We have comprehensive Nationwide insurance for our birds since birth. The only things that are excluded from coverage are pre-existing conditions. One of our birds hurt his foot in what we thought was a routine fight with another bird. After doing diagnostic work at the vet, it turns out that that was probably the triggering event for the foot injury, but that the bird also has an abnormality in the spine.

These two things may or may not be related according to the vet, but the spinal injury was uncovered because we wanted to do our due diligence at the vet's suggestion and get the X rays.

Vet office said they will list all of the possibilities as to what caused this, but even they are not sure what exactly the cause is. Does anyone know from direct experience how Nationwide would consider this type of injury? Do they look for any little thing to disqualify you? So if there is a possibility, one of many, that the injury was related to a pre-existing condition that was just uncovered, they would deny coverage, or do they look at it more holistically and if there was no sign of it before and it may or may not be related, they would be likely to cover?

Little boy went to the vet, is in great health, and has received antibiotics and anti inflammatory medication :)

So I have two budgies. One is male and one is female.

I want to note that there is a critical lack of avian care in my town, we're doing the best we can for the birds, but my town is not advanced enough to care about small pets like budgies and nobody seems to care enough... No toys, no medication, the closest to an avian vet we found is just a general vet that just seems to wing it. Budgies are mostly considered decoration in this country, istg.

Male budgie

We got him knowing he had seizures from time to time. Utilizing the knowledge we had from our previous budgie who also had seizures, we give him some olive oil after the morning of seizure and he's fine for a very long time. We used to put a single drop of vitamin in the water bottle but it didn't seem to do much. His tail is droopy but it's been like that for such a long time I think it's just how he is. He's a very big budgie too. He's very active, he likes to scream and sing and dance, I also open the cage for him to enjoy himself outside. He takes off on the occasion to fly around the room. His droppings are green and there's quite some liquid in there.

Female budgie

She's very skittish. She can get used to me but it really feels like she chooses not to, lmao. She screams in the morning sometimes and likes to quietly hang out with her cagemate. She especially likes it when he's outside the bars for some reason. She eats really quickly and the moment I turn off the lights at night to go to sleep, she throws up. She throws up very often, her face is covered in vomit when she does it. I can't seem to figure out why, maybe she eats too quickly or she's afraid of the dark. She's quite skinny too. And we've had her for a long time. She also sometimes flaps her wings in place and I never understood why. It's not frequent, but it's confusing.

Food

They usually eat store-bought budgie food, aka seeds. It's mostly pellets with some other grains mixed into them. We like to give them some salad leaves (not lettuce), and sometimes a little plate of shredded carrots, zucchini and maybe other veggies. Sometimes some boiled egg, and very rarely fruit treats like banana or strawberry. They have a cuttlebone to nibble on as well. We always check if the foods are good for them on the Internet.

State of the cage

It's quite big unlike most cages I see on the market. It's big enough for them to flap their wings, basically it has two stories of space. It has two water bottles and two seed feeders, a plastic swing with plastic bells, plastic perches along with tree branches I stuck in there to act as better perches. I sometimes put tissue for them to rip for fun.

My bad habits (that I'm working on)

I tend to clean the cage very late and I don't like that I do that. I also don't feed them enough greens if I have to do it on the regular, it's only occasional. I'm also trying to find a job so that I can pay for an avian vet online, since my parents find that to be a waste of money. I am not financially independent.

Im so worried about my baby. I didn’t think we had much of a mouse problem until the other day we found droppings all over our pots and pans under the stove. Then I noticed the droppings in our silverware drawers, now I’m finding them all over the bird room and even on his cage next to his food bowl, and I’m positive I found them IN his food bowl. I’m so disgusted, I have no idea how long they have been in there. That bowl is strictly his pellet dinner bowl and it’s at least 5ft up in his enclosure so I just toss his pellets in there around his dinner time and he usually eats them all. Well I started to notice leftover pellets in the bowl and then I noticed a lot of food on the actual spout of his water bottle (he has the macaw version of a hamster bottle, not a water dish) which he has never done this the entire 11 years of his life. I’m SO concerned because he is definitely sick with the way he’s been stretching his food out, and I’m so upset that the landlord doesn’t think mice in our house is an issue when they’re literally shitting everywhere. I have no idea what kind of sicknesses/ diseases they can spread from mouse to bird but I have a feeling it isn’t good. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this and are they treatable? Is my baby going to be okay??? I’m spiraling and I can’t call a vet until the morning 😭

Edit: obviously we are trying to trap and get rid of them and obviously I’m cleaning his food dish and water bottle and NOW I’m taking them away at night so that the mice can’t get to them. Obviously his food is stored in an airtight metal container where they can’t get to it. That’s not the point of the post. By the time I initially found the droppings I’m worried it’s too late and my bird is already sick. Does anyone have experience w their birds getting sick from mice droppings and the bird getting better? I’m calling the vet in the morning but I’m just trying to gauge how bad this is going to be and hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel. All google is telling me is that my bird is going to die and that’s not very comforting.

He's a green cheek conure and is urates are usually white but for some reason it's also got a murky greenish yellow going on. Any ideas?

My budgie vanillabean is one of the most energetic and happy budgies I've ever had, but today he just randomly started acting really wierd and I do not think he is ok. First he just is not moving, or chirping and seems uninterested it us, and food, and water, he occasionally makes a chirp when he kisses his son aqua. For some reason he is also holding his wings up like in the way that birds do when they are very hot. He has also thrown up a couple seeds, and keeps on closing his eyes. I am taking his to a vet in 3 hours but if anyone knows what's happening or how I can help please let me know. I really hope he is ok.

Please I hope someone out there knows about these birds. I can't really post on the big parrot subs because he's not a bloody parrot is he. He's an Indian or Common Mynah.

What the f- is he doing!?

He's lively, healthy appetite, and starting to talk! I would really prefer not to drive 4 hours to the avian vet (again) because of this bird's nonsense. If I were genuinely concerned about his health I would but, it seems like he's just playing?

He's got bits of fruit that he's bringing up, with perfect ease, flipping it around in his beak, then gobbling it down again. And doing it again. The fruit in question is plums. He has previously eaten plums with gusto, and without doing this.

I just gave him a fresh piece and he ate it. (for now)

It's my first time having a bird like this and they're seemingly very rarely kept as pets so it's hard to find information about his weird behaviour.

Now he's chasing a piece of plum around the table, flicking it with his beak and running after it like a football.

Wtf??

Hello all,
Please see my previous post here

https://www.reddit.com/r/BirdHealth/comments/1g5i55f/bird_health_deteriorating_conure_two_vet_visits/
After another vet visit last time nothing was solved but Gir seemed to have been restored to a functioning state.

last time they checked for heavy metals (none found). They wanted to do an X-ray for broken bones but I said no as he would need to be sedated. I had them do a swap which came back negative so they just kept him on metacam and after a week everything seemed to be improving.
He got to a point where he was flying and playing again and everything seemed normal just weak. I figured the weakness just needed time.
about a week ago he had a strange issue and i monitored him and he bounced back after 10 minutes so i figured her just bonked his head but tonight it happened again and didn't stop happening.

he started convulsing
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ms5aUk73AR1tf4ed7

I obviously will be taking him to the vet in the morning when they reopen. I have in in a box heated, and with a shallow food and water dish.

Anything else i can do or should do until tomorrow?

Thank you,

I hate that my parents budgie (was given to them as a single bird,and he is older) is sleeping and weak, the feathers on his chest/keel show he is definitely losing weight. I go to my parents house 1-2x per week and I feel really worried about him. I can’t afford to take him myself as I am disabled with a single income and have a limited income and my own two birds’ bills to worry about.

Which feels suuuuper selfish but my animals are my priority and I won’t risk not having funds for them if kiwi or star have issues unexpectedly.

I was told by my mom today “we aren’t going to pay to take a bird to the vet.” It honestly breaks my heart but the only thing she is willing to to is try another food. (Because that will fix it sarcasm)

Probably not, but is there anything I can do to help her bird? Other than a vet visit as apparently birds aren’t worthy of a vet visit?? Note: their bird will hop up on your finger but is flighty and not hardly tame. So I cant really get a closer look at him either.

Hello everyone For some context 3 years ago I bought a pair of lovebirds for my grandfather, he took care of them and I helped as I could and they were pretty healthy and happy until suddenly out of the blue one of them started falling asleep very often and looking weak. Unfortunately that lovebird passed away and we kept buying a lil partner for the male one so he wouldn’t stay alone and happy. Unfortunately the same persisted for 3 more birds with no hope in finding out what has happened because there is no avian vet in the area other than 5 hours away.

Small pet stores have recommended many things to no luck, their cage is cleaned every two days, cages are relatively big and their diet properly mixed with veggies and bird food

This year someone gifted him a couple of budgies and the story is now repeating, I really wish I can help but it’s making me so sad seeing the lil guys go

Some other info They’ve been outside and inside the house, we cover them during the night so they don’t get cold There is no teflon items in the house and we don’t use scented candles or the sort They’re farrrr away from the kitchen and we live in a pretty empty area so no car fumes and stuff

I found an injured pigeon yesterday. It’s head was tilted to the side and it was moving its mouth as if gasping for air. It was still able to move, there were feathers scattered around where I found it.

I picked it up to take it to the vet, it didn’t have any open wounds. Unfortunately, about three minutes after I picked it up, it died.

I’m very worried now that I caused it more pain by picking it up. I carried it on its back at first and turned it, cause I thought it would be more comfortable.

Do you know what exactly might have happened? When I first saw it I thought it was barely alive, but after I picked it up I really had some hope for a second. I feel so bad because maybe I could have helped if I had picked it up differently💔💔

Hello, I am super upset and I'm sure not just me, but every normal rational thinking human being who has seen this post by "throwawayoatmeals"

Can we do something? This kid is sick in the head, he is going to be a psycho, I cannot wrap my head around this, I love animals, and I especially love birds and I'm sure you all guys do, so isn't there anything we can do to stop this guy??

He's literally on about animal cruelty showing no remorse, can we at least ban him off the platform?? Where are the mods looking?? This is literally animal abuse and cruelty in it's worst form!

Can we somehow call the police on him?? Or at least mods have to get this psycho off the platform once again! This is outrageous!

My budgie has a swollen leg as you can see on the left. What can I do or use to help him get back to normal?