Is my budgie sick?

[olivia13]

Hello Vet!

I have a question regarding my budgie, Dexter. There are a few behaviours that make me think he is ill, but he seems very happy and playful. The first is his squeeking. He squeeks when he eats. This doesn't happen all the time. We mostly notice it when he gets to eat birdseed (he is on a pelleted diet). He also squeeks when he sneezes and sometimes when I hold him.

Another thing is that he'll kick his bum with his feet maybe a couple of times a day. None of my other budgies (I have 6 in total) do this.He'll also air out his wings. They'll be lifted just slightly away from his body. This is occasionally associated with heavier breathing.

He also has very warm feet. Sometimes when I ask him to "step up" I can feel that his feet are very warm, other times they are normal in temperature. The last thing is his weight. He is 50 grams. My other budgies are all around 30-38 grams.

Dexter is 1 1/2 now and these behaviours have only been going on for a couple of months. I'm wondering if you recognize any of these things and if so, what the cause is.

Thank you!

[olivia13]

Thanks for the input!

I did some research and Trichomoniasis doesn't seem to have the same symptoms that Dexter is showing. He's not vomitting or having diarrhoea and his weight isn't dropping. He's been a heavier budgie for a couple of months now. He seems happy and is even picking up a few words from my one talking budgie.

I'm going to try and get him to the vet soon. However, my vet is in another city and tends to be quite costly. If there are any other ideas, I'd be happy to hear them!

[ireneo]

I'm not the doctor but I work with birds at my job. I'd recommend taking him to the vet. He'll probably need a fecal done to check for any parasites and they may want to do a throat swab to check for trich. Trichomoniasis causes whitish plaques in the mouth and throat, often spreading to the air sacs. It will cause breathing difficulties like wheezing and heavier breathing as it progresses. If the plaques block the throat, the bird can no longer eat. It's quite common in pigeons but I've seen in it many other types of birds as well. They may check him for psittacosis to be on the safe side but the symptoms are different.  Just my thoughts here.