Coincidence? Same symptoms before death

[starling]

Maya died 3 months back, aged 5. She started to look ill a few days earlier - fluffed up, couldn't fly properly, falling off the perch, falling on the floor and unable to get back up.

Her mate, Pebbles (also aged 5), died this morning. Exactly the same thing happened. He started to look ill on Monday and was dead today.

I wasn't surprised when she died as she was an English budgie and always had difficulties flying and breathing. However, Pebbles was a fit and healthy (or so I thought) American budgie. He had definitely quietened down in the last couple of years but, I thought he'd have another couple left in him, at least. I certainly wasn't expecting him to be falling off perches??!

Thinking about it, Ruby, who died two years ago (aged 3), also had similar symptoms. She lost all feeling in one leg, couldn't fly and was lying horizontally on the perch. I took Ruby to be put to sleep.

Does anyone have any idea what these symptoms could mean as a cause of death? Is is just old age? A little while ago I posted about how my parents had left my birds in a room that had been painted with oil-based paints. I was worried that the fumes had harmed them. It was shortly after that (a month?) that Ruby died. I'm hoping that these symptoms aren't the delayed effects of the fumes, as I still have one budgie and a cockatiel who were also exposed.

[ffiscool]

Dusty, who I had for 7 years also went downhill in a few days from being fine. I had recently painted but had kept him in another room but I always blamed myself. When I was looking for Bailey, I told one exhibition breeder I saw, I thought I had caused Dusty's death. He said there was no way and it probably was a slow growing tumour, which budgies are inclined towards.

I do believe he wasn't just saying it. I just think whatever is wrong with them as in something serious, sadly for us, it is very quick.

[tinksmum]

Im so sorry to hear about Pebbles you must be heart broken, sending you big hugs.

Those symptoms sound the same as my Tink who passed away recently, i took him to an avian vet who quickly diagnosed a tumour, which are apparently very common in budgies, especially those fed solely on a seed based diet.
With Tink he lost feeling in 1 leg, which was down to the tumour pressing against the nerve, which was what the vet told me, his tumour was aggresive/fast growing & was the size of say knuckle to thumb, must have been heavy too for a little budgie. (RIP)
Im no expert & I'm not saying this is definatley the cause of death of your birds but the symptoms are strikingly similar. I would have imagined paint fumes may have caused respiratory problems? Tumours can also cause respiratory probs because as it grows it can press against the air sacs, i only learnt of this through my own budgie having become victim to a tumour.

The only sensible advice i can give is to get your Budgie & Cockatiel checked by a vet.

[Hezz]

My feeling is that fumes from paint would be a sudden death, not a drawn out, months later, seemingly fine in the meantime sort of thing.

What is the birds' diet like, Starling? Are they happy to eat their greens or are they seed-fiends? I have almost completely changed the diet of my guys once Blue was diagnosed with a tumour ....... albeit too late for him, I have hopes it will save the others from the same fate. Five years of age is not so old for a budgie, especially a pet-type.

Edit: Off the cuff thought - they couldn't be getting any heavy-metal poisoning? Rust, or metals that aren't stainless steel???

[mick may]

Aug 16, 2013 1:05:01 GMT Hezz said:

My feeling is that fumes from paint would be a sudden death, not a drawn out, months later, seemingly fine in the meantime sort of thing.

What is the birds' diet like, Starling? Are they happy to eat their greens or are they seed-fiends? I have almost completely changed the diet of my guys once Blue was diagnosed with a tumour ....... albeit too late for him, I have hopes it will save the others from the same fate. Five years of age is not so old for a budgie, especially a pet-type.

Edit: Off the cuff thought - they couldn't be getting any heavy-metal poisoning? Rust, or metals that aren't stainless steel???

great post hezz i think your totaly on the button ...

[starling]

Thanks for the replies.

Couldn't the paint fumes have caused a tumour to develop? I'm wondering if this is why they died around the same time and in the same way?

My birds are fed mainly a seed diet and given veggies frequently, alongside those. My childhood budgie was fed nothing but seed and lived for 13 years - maybe she was a rarity!

I'll have to get my parents to check the cage, Hezz, as they are looking after them at the moment. The cage is a few years old now.

[Hezz]

Remember to get them to check toys, bells as well, starling.

It seems there are many people on here who had a childhood budgie that lived well into its teens; we don't seem to hear of this happening too much any more, unfortunately.

To be honest, I don't think you will ever know the answer, unless you get an autopsy done on Pebbles and that still won't tell you whether the paint was the culprit. Sorry.

[nat]

Sorry to hear about your budgies Starling
I remember someone a few years back losing some budgies that were exposed to fresh paint fumes, but I think the deaths were closer to the time of exposure to the fumes.
Certainly heavy metal poisoning from rust would cause these sypmtoms as Hezz says, and the onset and severity of symptoms would only depend on how zinc much each individual budgie had consumed and over what time scale. I lost a couple of young hens some years ago due to heavy metal poisoning after building a new indoor aviary and not realising that 'unweathered' galvanised aviary wire was poisonous. The 2 young hens were much more prone to chewing on things than the others which I suppose gave them a greater degree of poisoning than the other birds got over a period of a few months.