Post by criswell on Jul 17, 2019 15:28:14 GMT
Sorry in advance of such a long post.
Yesterday was so stressful for me and the budgies. I woke the boys up at around 10.30 am and they were all very quiet and no one chirped hello. Dean Stockwell still sleeps in his own cage but I'd put the cover over both cages. Everyone seemed fine and came out to play. A little later I noticed Dexter's overnight droppings were all wrong - just water and urates with no obvious faeces. He was a bit quiet too. So were the others. By now Dean Stockwell was in the big cage with Randolph Carter and Dexter was out with his peacock.
Dexter was still very quiet and looked very tired but didn't want to go back in his cage. He sat with me for a little while and ate some food but I was getting more worried about him. I caught Dean Stockwell and put him home and put Dexter back in the cage but Randolph Carter was being a bit of a pest so I caught him and put him in with Dean Stockwell for a while. That was a bit of a surprise for them both but they didn't mind too much. That gave Dexter and chance to rest a little bit but Randolph Carter was getting fretful so I had to put him back home but left Dean Stockwell shut in.
I popped out of the room to look up the number for the vets and when I came back in Dexter was sitting on top of the cage with his eyes shut. His droppings were still wrong too. I called the vet but they were useless and offered me and appointment on Friday morning. When I said I couldn't wait that long the receptionist said she would get a vet to call me back but they didn't . We are very poorly served for avian vets here in Cardiff. None of the practices have their own exotic vet but there is one that visits but for only three 2 hour surgeries a week. In an emergency they will try to help over the phone giving instructions to a regular vet!
So I took Dean Stockwell out of the room, shut the curtains, turned the lights off and the TV down. I covered the cage but left the front uncovered and left Dexter to rest. All the time I was pacing up and down and shaking and quietly checked in on him to see how he was doing. I was so relieved when he started to look better. I left him covered while I was teaching my first student and when I went back in he was looking much more like his usual self and preening etc. His droppings were still mostly urates and water though. After my next student had gone Dexter was looking mostly like himself. He was scratching at his butt and did have a few poops stuck to him and I was relieved to see some faeces.
I kept them covered but opened the curtains and turned the TV up a bit and they both started getting on with their budgie business. About half an hour later Dexter did a huge dropping with lots of faeces that were quite green and seemed back to his normal self. By 9pm he tucking in to his food and asking to come out and he was totally fine. We let them stay up an extra hour as they were both very full of beans after the quiet afternoon and evening they'd had and Dexter spent the rest of the evening chirping his head off and beak bashing with Randolph Carter and eating lots of food.
Dean Stockwell spent the evening upstairs in our bedroom watching TV so he didn't seem to mind the change of scene. He went back in the guestroom over night.
I was anxious about waking Dexter up this morning but they were both fine. Dexter had pooped a lot in the night. His droppings were on the big side and the faeces were greener than usual but he's been his happy little self all day. Randolph Carter called for Dean Stockwell quite a bit this morning but has settled down now and is chattering away with Dexter. Dexter's poops are getting back to normal as the day goes on.
I'm now trying to figure out what went on. Dexter's had a lot of changes in the past few days - Dean Stockwell coming downstairs, my OH working flat out on his exam marking and not spending time in the lounge, Randolph Carter being a bossy jerk. And also he ate a whole lot of millet spray on Sunday and Monday. He hasn't had any for at least 6 months so was quite excited. I put a little piece on top of the cage a couple of times and he ate all of that but then he ate a whole lot more that I left on the table so I wonder if that upset his digestion and made him a bit constipated.
Dean Stockwell has been upstairs all day. He is looking more relaxed than he has been downstairs so I think it's been a bit full on for everyone. We've talked about whether it would be better to find him a different home but we're not sure yet. Before Dexter's bad turn yesterday they were getting on really nicely and all 3 were quite happily preening in the cage together and I thought they were getting on well but I'm not so sure now. I don't want to make Dexter ill again. The exam marking has now finished and it's almost the end of term so we'll both be able to spend lots of time with him now.
Advice and suggestions appreciated.
