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Avatar universal

Is my budgie sick??

Hi, my blue yellow face budgie is call cookie. (I guess she is about 6 months old because she just finished her first molt recently). She lives in the same cage with two other budgies. She is tail bobbing for months now even when she sleeps, which makes me bit worried. It is very hot summer here in Australia. Bit cooler at night time. When she sleeps, she is bit fluffed up and her body is very close to the perch. (Almost horizontal).She does not sneeze, does not have watery discharge, droppings looks normal. At the daytime she is a very social bird, very active, always plays with her toys. Actually she is more active than other birds. The other birds live with her for months do not show any signs at all.
Is my budgie sick or is it normal?? What can I do at home to help her? I already de worm them and treat for the mites using Ivermactine( just incase if they got any from the wild pigeons hanging around in the garden).
I would really appreciate your help.

11 Responses
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Avatar universal
My blue budgie ,who showed symptoms before looks pretty ok to me now.today is 4th day of treatment(Metronidazole).
She is not tail bobing faster like it is used to be. I was watching her while she was sleeping.There is a little bit of tail movement may be every 2mins. I'm so happy for the progress so far. Is it ok to treat her only 5days???

I bought another white budgie with her at the same time.The white one never showed any symptoms but I let her drink the medication too because they spend so much time together.After the medication she start to scrach her self and acting crazy like the blue one used to be. She is bit off the mood now, looking at the cage bottom, bending her head down.Do I need to continue treating her??

The yellow budgie i bought recently , i didnt treat him. I put him in seperate cage.He looks healthy but i will treat him if all the other birds get better soon  
Helpful - 0
187666 tn?1331173345
One last note: you realize that even if you give the bird Metronidazole, it may not fix the problem. At this stage you don't know if it has giardia or trich. It's just a guess and it may delay treatment of some other problem going on. Is it difficult to find a vet in your area to do some basic tests on your bird?
Helpful - 0
187666 tn?1331173345
Yes, according to the formulary a normal dose for a bird would range from 10 mg to 50 mg for 1,000 grams of weight (Kg). Ha, that was a good guess on my part about the weight of a budgie. So if we take a middle dose, say 30 mg per Kg and cut it down: say 3 mg per 100 grams, then you would end up with about 1 mg of med for your bird. See how I got that?

Sorry, I'm not familiar with Ronivet-S. at least not by that name. Hope your bird gets better soon.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
you are exactly right the budgie is 35g.
10-50 mg/Kg ??
Is this mean that 10-50mg of medicine for the 1Kg of body weight??
Let me know.
I found something else too. Ronivet-S works well for birds which I can buy online.  
But I have to waite another 2weeks then.
Thank you so much for all your responses
Helpful - 0
187666 tn?1331173345
Well, I'm home today from surgery I had yesterday but. . . .I did call into my work. We have a vet on staff and she checked our exotics formulary. The 400mg tabs are really meant for say, a 40-50 lb dog. It would be way too difficult to chop into a small enough piece for the bird. Typically for birds the dose would run 10-50 mg/Kg. I don't know how much your budgie weighs. I'm guessing about the same as a chubby Fox Sparrow, maybe 35 grams. So roughly the bird would get about 1 mg of medicine (a medium dose). There are injectible forms that can be given orally; perhaps there's a pharmacist that could make up a compound for you; last but not least, perhaps the pet store carries something for birds that can be mixed into the water. It's amazing the stuff you can buy there without a prescription for small animals. But don't try to cut up the pill into 400 tiny pieces. Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi, I finally manage to get some Metronidazole tablets 400mg (Flagyl).
But I’m not sure about the dosage for budgies.Is anyone know the dosage??
I only know the dosage for pigeons
thankx
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you so much all. I will treat her first and get back to you
Helpful - 0
234713 tn?1283526659
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The parasite listed by Ireneo (Trichomonia g) and Giardia (and several parasites) can be treated succesfully using Metronidazole, which is available by prescription from a vet.  I am sorry but I do not know of any over the counter cures.

I don't think it can hurt to treat, and after treatment if she still has the symptoms please post again and we will try and sort it out.

Hyperactivity and tail bobbing can be due to behavioral, parasitic, hormonal or other problems.

The fact that your budgie is exposed to pidgeon's and their droppings complicates the diagnostic picture greatly.  So it is best to treat for one possible condition at a time unless you can bring her to a vet where a fecal analysis and fecal culture, cloacal culture and mouth and crop culture and sensitivity can be performed.
Helpful - 0
187666 tn?1331173345
Another thought, something I see often in pigeons is trichomoniasis. It will cause a plaque build up in the mouth and throat that eventually interferes with their ability to eat and even breathe.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi,
Thank you for reply
I forgot to mention this previously when I post. I noticed her tail bobbing since last year November, after I changed their environment as below.

1) I put sand on cage bottom. I thought it would be easy to clean. The budgies can not touch sand it’s under the floor wire but on the tray. The sand is from a building site

2) I started to give them veggies and fruit. But I used to put them in the seed tray with seeds.Didn't remove it for a day. I guess it could develop fungus.

3) It can be some thing to do with wild pigeons in the garden

She is one of my first budgies .Due to poor knowledge about them I did make mistake. As soon as I notice her tail bobbing I change these conditions above.

I have to tell you her behavior is not abnormal to me. She is just playful, active and lovely. Infact all other budgies seeks her attention.  

She eats well put on 1gram actually.  

She does not look sick apart from continues tail bobbing. And I feel like there is a breathing problem.  

I have to tell you the condition does not seem spread to others.
I notice this yesterday. She acts like she is vomiting (tying to get stuff out) but nothing came out from her mouth

If you still think it is Giardia, Please let me know what is the best medication to be used. Thank you so much.
Helpful - 0
234713 tn?1283526659
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Have you treated her for a Giardia infection?  You may see unusual behaviors with Giardiasis, not just abnormal stools.

Try treating for that and if the problem does not resolve please post again.
Helpful - 0

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