healing vibes please, for my budgie Perwinkle...UPDATE! HE'S SINGING W/THE EAGLES!
Last edited Tue Apr 26, 2016, 10:22 AM - Edit history (2)
Last Friday, he was his normal ebullient, flirtatious self, playing with Sage, Violet and Dandelion, singing from daybreak on, zooming around, and humping his new favorite soft rope toy.
Saturday morning was eerily quiet. I hadn't slept well and attributed it to the dark cloudy morning when I headed out to morning chores. Saturday afternoon the sun was out, and he was sleeping beak tucked on top of a curtain rod. Totally not Peri.
Sunday he was slightly better, followed me into the kitchen and sang quietly for about 2 seconds while I fixed breakfast. Then spent the day in their cage grooming a lot, napping but mostly not beak tucked. He sang a little last night and flirted with Dandy, for maybe a minute.
He's eating well and his weight is the same as 2 months ago when I took a baseline. He let me catch him entirely too easily. I should have separated him out right then to observe his poops, but didn't and now I regret that. And they got out this morning before I could catch him to separate and observe him. Or I'd have called the vet already. He is staying out, hanging out on Jerry's cage, so slightly better than yesterday. But still quiet and inactive. Violet tried to approach him and he backed away. 
They usually head in between 9:30 and 10:30 for their mid-morning breakfast. Hopefully they'll stick to that routine. I don't like the way Dandelion is looking right now either, although he came with fatty liver syndrome and a lipoma, so has some subdued days.
I'm kicking my butt now for failing to separate him and keep him in when I had the chance. A mistake like that can be deadly. I don't want to call the vet for an appointment until I can pack him in the car and take him. I don't want to waste his energy trying to catch him while he's loose. I haven't slept well all week thanks to full moon. 
He's obviously fighting something and so far winning, but birds go down fast when they go down, so there's no time to waste. I hope they go in soon to eat so I can get him with minimal fuss and call the vet asap.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I thought Maine was in New England, not the real thing! 
Violet and Sage were both visiting him and for the first time since Friday, he was welcoming their attention.
I considered canceling the appointment, but was afraid I'd find him tomorrow headed back downhill, so went on ahead. Everything is fine. He handled the trip well, weighed in at 29.75 grams (I had him at 30 grams on my kitchen scale -- close enough!), lungs clear, heart good. His poops looked fine, but I had him do a gram stain anyway jic. Came back perfect, with a good mix of nearly 100% gram+ and no yeast, which is what you want for budgies.
So vet said to just keep him in, quiet and extra warmth until he's rattling the bars to get out again.
My guess is that he got exposed to something while rooting around on the floor, which he and Sage kept doing last week. Dog saliva contains reeeeally bad bacteria for birds and Jake drools everywhere. So I'm thinking he got exposed and his immune system was working overtime to stop an infection. If so, he'll be immune in the future & just needs some recoup time.
That's the good news.
The bad news is the bill was ridiculous. While we were there, I had the vet remove his leg band since they can potentially cause problems. Every other vet has either done band removal as a courtesy or, at most, charged a nominal fee, say $5. This guy charged $20 for that alone!!!
Then pushed me to switching to a pelleted diet and sure enough, as I'm paying the bill, they're selling me pellets. I bought a pound to get the eff out of there. $12/pound!!!!!!
With the exam and the gram stain on top of it, the visit ended up costing nearly double what I expected.
As if that wasn't bad enough, my appointment was for 5:40. I arrived half an hour early and they ushered me right in. I then waited, and waited, and waited. I spent a bucketload of time waiting for...the vet....the gram stain....the vet....the bill... I didn't get out of there until 7pm. I was ravenous so drove through a McD's in desperation. Ordered a buttermilk crust fried chicken sandwich as comfort food and waited....and waited....and waited. Got so frustrated I nearly drove off, but was too hongry. Then they gave me the grilled chicken instead of the crispy buttermilk crust, but I was too starving and exhausted to return it.
Bottom line, I didn't get home until 9pm (I'd expected 7:30, 8 latest), broke & worn out.
But Peri should be ok. I realized on the drive down that I was reliving my budgies Kiwi and Mango. I lost Kiwi ~20 years ago. I loved that little bird and his mate, Mango, who I lost just 2 weeks later. That whole experience was just so sad and traumatic...
If I hadn't taken Peri to the vet, he probably would have gotten better faster because the drive down & back were tiring and will be a setback for him. But if he'd turned out to be sick, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself.
( drink the tea )
Please let us know how he's doing...
And he started singing away!!!!
Thank you all for the good vibes! My beautiful little boy is back
