Post by justwigglin on Oct 7, 2019 5:05:18 GMT
Hello all! I am a bit worried that my lone female, Lemon, may be egg bound. It is a bit of a long story, so I apologize.
Lemon's info:
Lemon is a female budgie that I found outside almost exactly a year ago (Oct. 10th, 2018), and decided to keep after I could not locate her owners. Because I am not her first owner, I am not sure about her exact age. The avian vet said she was between 1-4 years old. She was of a mature age when I found her as she was in breeding condition (though she does still have her baby bands on her head, as she is a recessive pied). She is our only bird.
I have tried my absolute best to discourage her from developing eggs. She has pretty much been in breeding condition since I found her, except for a couple weeks here or there that she has shed her cere. I do not give her mirrors or anything that could be viewed as a nest. She does love to shred anything and everything though, and I could never deprive her of this joy, but do try to redirect her shred-drive to appropriate mediums, such as balsa wood toys, and not my important paperwork!
I also give her a very varied diet of Dr.Harvey's parakeet diet (supplemented with various seeds and grains from the organic food store, as well as some crushed cuttlebone), Harrison's bird bread (recommended by my avian vet to make sure she gets all of the supplements she needs), and a whole slew of fresh foods such as greens, sprouts, other veggies that I can get her to eat, and occasionally some cooked eggs with the shell crushed up in it. She also had a manu mineral block, a zoo med mineral block, and a cuttlebone in her cage, which she does use. I try my very best to make sure that she is getting everything she needs.
Now to the egg binding suspicion:
It all started two days ago (Friday, it is now Sun where I am), when I was multi-tasking in the kitchen. I was getting ready to cook dinner, while also getting Lemon some food. Most of the time, Lemon has full run of the house while I am home, but as a precaution, I close her up when I cook. I was getting her some food ready to give her while she is put up, which in this case was some bird bread that I have made, and then frozen in individual portions. I was pulling the bird bread out of the microwave, and lemon flew off my shoulder towards the bird bread, but bounced off of the microwave door and fell in a shallow bowl of vegetable oil that I had on the counter, under the microwave (I had it ready and set aside for the food I was about to cook. Just throwing it out there, the stove was NOT on yet, and nothing was hot). To shorten the story a bit, I discovered that Lemon has a bit of a bulge under her cloaca area.
I have never noticed this before, though this was the first time that I have washed her so throughly. Normally, I just take her in the shower with me and let the water rain down on her, so it is not all that hands on. I am not sure if this bulge is normal, and I am just being a helicopter mom, or if she really might have something going on. She is acting mostly normal, though she has been a bit subdued since. It could easily be due to her going through the ordeal of being covered in oil, then having to be washed down with dawn. She is not one who like to be pet or touched, though she is throughly hand trained and is a bit of a velcro bird. She also is not a big bath fan to start with, but puts up with them. So, putting the oil, the bath, all of the handling, and the soap together, it was definitely an ordeal for her. She is still doing all her normal things like eating, pooping, flying, shredding, playing and everything. She is just being a bit more subdued and a bit less sassy than her normal self.
I would have already brought her into the vet, but it was the weekend, and I have also moved to a new area, and have not found her a vet yet. I probably will bring her into a new vet tomorrow. I just wanted to see what you guys thought about it. I will add some photos below. I apologize, as it is a bit hard get a good pic of her underside! That and I had to have someone else take the pics of her when I was washing her. Also, she is still just a bit oily on her underside, it is just the vegetable oil. I wanted to give her a couple days before I try to bathe her again. Also, I am sorry you have to look at my poor wet gremlin bird!
Thank you guys so much! I really, really appreciate it!!
Casey
Lemon's info:
Lemon is a female budgie that I found outside almost exactly a year ago (Oct. 10th, 2018), and decided to keep after I could not locate her owners. Because I am not her first owner, I am not sure about her exact age. The avian vet said she was between 1-4 years old. She was of a mature age when I found her as she was in breeding condition (though she does still have her baby bands on her head, as she is a recessive pied). She is our only bird.
I have tried my absolute best to discourage her from developing eggs. She has pretty much been in breeding condition since I found her, except for a couple weeks here or there that she has shed her cere. I do not give her mirrors or anything that could be viewed as a nest. She does love to shred anything and everything though, and I could never deprive her of this joy, but do try to redirect her shred-drive to appropriate mediums, such as balsa wood toys, and not my important paperwork!
I also give her a very varied diet of Dr.Harvey's parakeet diet (supplemented with various seeds and grains from the organic food store, as well as some crushed cuttlebone), Harrison's bird bread (recommended by my avian vet to make sure she gets all of the supplements she needs), and a whole slew of fresh foods such as greens, sprouts, other veggies that I can get her to eat, and occasionally some cooked eggs with the shell crushed up in it. She also had a manu mineral block, a zoo med mineral block, and a cuttlebone in her cage, which she does use. I try my very best to make sure that she is getting everything she needs.
Now to the egg binding suspicion:
It all started two days ago (Friday, it is now Sun where I am), when I was multi-tasking in the kitchen. I was getting ready to cook dinner, while also getting Lemon some food. Most of the time, Lemon has full run of the house while I am home, but as a precaution, I close her up when I cook. I was getting her some food ready to give her while she is put up, which in this case was some bird bread that I have made, and then frozen in individual portions. I was pulling the bird bread out of the microwave, and lemon flew off my shoulder towards the bird bread, but bounced off of the microwave door and fell in a shallow bowl of vegetable oil that I had on the counter, under the microwave (I had it ready and set aside for the food I was about to cook. Just throwing it out there, the stove was NOT on yet, and nothing was hot). To shorten the story a bit, I discovered that Lemon has a bit of a bulge under her cloaca area.
I have never noticed this before, though this was the first time that I have washed her so throughly. Normally, I just take her in the shower with me and let the water rain down on her, so it is not all that hands on. I am not sure if this bulge is normal, and I am just being a helicopter mom, or if she really might have something going on. She is acting mostly normal, though she has been a bit subdued since. It could easily be due to her going through the ordeal of being covered in oil, then having to be washed down with dawn. She is not one who like to be pet or touched, though she is throughly hand trained and is a bit of a velcro bird. She also is not a big bath fan to start with, but puts up with them. So, putting the oil, the bath, all of the handling, and the soap together, it was definitely an ordeal for her. She is still doing all her normal things like eating, pooping, flying, shredding, playing and everything. She is just being a bit more subdued and a bit less sassy than her normal self.
I would have already brought her into the vet, but it was the weekend, and I have also moved to a new area, and have not found her a vet yet. I probably will bring her into a new vet tomorrow. I just wanted to see what you guys thought about it. I will add some photos below. I apologize, as it is a bit hard get a good pic of her underside! That and I had to have someone else take the pics of her when I was washing her. Also, she is still just a bit oily on her underside, it is just the vegetable oil. I wanted to give her a couple days before I try to bathe her again. Also, I am sorry you have to look at my poor wet gremlin bird!
Thank you guys so much! I really, really appreciate it!!
Casey
