Budgie can't fly

[sasha]

Hello Everyone! I am new here and hope someone could please help. My budgie - Krosha is feeling unwell. All of a sudden he started having difficulties flying, he is also struggling to poop.

A bit of description: I bought him when he was already over 1 year old, so I am not sure what was his exact age but he lives with me for 11 years, so I am guessing he is around 12 years old or more. He hasn't got companions. 
His diet: spinach, wild rocket and other salads; oranges, mandarins; budgie mix seed (canary seed, red millet seed, panicum millet seed, white millet seed. About 10g of seed mix daily); cuttlefish. I have tried giving him vegetables and budgie porridge and he is not interested at all. He also has vitamins during moulting Johnson's Vit-Min Drops. He is never locked in the cage and free to fly, so he always has regular exercise. Water is changed daily.

I understand he is quite old but he can't even fly a tiniest bit, only jumps from twig to twig on his cage. When trying to fly - falls on the floor   and isn't able to fly back up.  His wings are very weak as well. When pooping, he is wiggling his tail and struggling very much. His poop is twice as smaller as it used to be. He fluffs up into a ball and sleeps all day; sings and plays occasionally but for a very small time.  Although, his appetite is the same and he eats very well. He also sleeps on his belly often. 

I am extremely worried, please help. 

[tweetiepiesmom]

What a pretty budgie and good for you both that he's lived a long life. I don't know enough to really help you out. Can you buy celery at the market with leaves on it? I've read that celery leaves help with constipation so you might try it. You may need to have an avian vet look at him. Do you have one near-by?

[sasha]

Good evening, thank you so much for answering. Thank you for your advice, I will try to give him celery leaves.
Unfortunately, the closest one is over an hour away, I am a just bit worried that he might not go through the trip, as he is a extremely panicky and wouldn't even leave his cage playground. I don't know, maybe I should try and visit the avian ..

[tweetiepiesmom]

You could ask the avian vet if he or she can do a video consult so you wouldn't have to make the trip.

[sasha]

Oh true, that's a great tip, many thanks!!

[ffiscool]

Good luck, I hope you get answers. Beautiful colour he is

[Hezz]

I’m of the opinion that at 12 years of age, if you can’t do a video call with a vet, if you can’t feel anything that doesn’t feel right on his body and as he is inclined to panic, I would looking for ways to make him as comfortable as possible and be prepared for the possibility that he is coming to the end of his days. Celery, as TPM mentioned, has a high water and fibre content which might help some constipation, if that is part of his problem. Monitor him to make sure that he is still drinking a normal amount and perhaps be ready to give him some water by syringe if you feel he isn’t drinking enough.

Adding a probiotic to his water might be helpful, and including some of the naturally occurring anti-inflammatory agents in his diet may help. Things like turmeric, ginger, cayenne pepper powder are good for this. Even allow him to have some non-flavoured, natural set Greek yoghurt can help increase his gut flora. His problems could be any number of things, but do you really want to be subjecting him to multitude of tests to most likely not find anything helpful, or treatable??

[ladybird]

Lots of good advice for you. I also wouldn’t want to take the little guy to the vets , can be very stressful for them. Unless of course he seems to be in a lot of pain.
Keep him warm and maybe cover the part of the cage where he rests during the day. Good luck with the little guy, hope he feels better soon.

[sasha]

ffiscool - thank you very much

[sasha]

Hezz - thank you so much for all that advice! Long time ago a trip to a vet was extremely stressful for him, so yes, will be trying home remedies. I called the avian, they won't do a video appointment.
Thankfully, Krosha is eating and drinking very well and ate some celery leaves today too. Will keep monitoring him.

[sasha]

ladybird - can't explain how grateful I am for all the advice given! Yes, hopefully, constipation issue will go away after he had some celery leaves. He doesn't seem to be in pain, just unable to fly anymore, glad I am working from home, so can look after him 24/7.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Hopefully Krosha will perk up soon. I love watching my two fly around so I can understand how distressing it would be for me to not see them flying.

[sasha]

tweetiepiesmom - I really hope so! thank you

[Hezz]

Losing the ability to fly at a stage late in their life does seem to come up every so often. I think that, as with an older person, there may have been some seemingly little thing, you may not even be aware of it, which severely compromises their flying ability. Possibly a sprain to a wing, a bad landing, almost anything has the potential to hurt and as we age we don’t bounce back as quickly if at all, the we used to as youngsters. The same happens with our animals, only they don’t have the ability to tell us what the problem is.