Our Little Miracle

A couple weeks ago we noticed that Lera was not doing well. Usually she is very active – climbing all over the place (usually upside down), playing with toys, asserting her alpha status and zipping around the room.l2

Lera was very still, just sitting on the grapevine perch with her eyes shut. We weren’t too alarmed at first, because she was still eating and drinking and wasn’t fluffed up. We put the divider in the cage, so she and her boyfriend Godie could have some undisturbed quiet time. Then she began having balance issues. She could barely move without looking like she was going to fall off the perch, so off to the vet we went. We took Gordie, too, for moral support.l1Our vet examined her (she was a trooper) and thought maybe she had been traumatized in some way. Perhaps by another budgie? We hadn’t noticed anything like that happen, but then again, we’re not with the budgies 24/7. Because she was eating and drinking, her droppings looked normal and she wasn’t fluffed up or vomiting, he recommended that we just keep her quiet and bring her back in if things got worse.

The next couple days were difficult. We moved Lera and Gordie to the quarantine cage. We kept it covered on three sides and lowered the perches and food and water dishes. I kept some millet on the bottom of the cage so she wouldn’t have to climb to eat. I also added a drop of apple cider vinegar to her water. Lera stayed at the bottom of the cage, she still had balance issues (it was really alarming) and was “stargazing” (head tilted back and looking up). Harry and I spent a lot of time on the internet looking up her symptoms to see what could possibly be wrong. We thought that perhaps she had an ear infection, as it seemed to fit her symptoms. Meanwhile, Gordie was being a wonderful boyfriend, feeding and grooming Lera and snuggling up with her on the bottom of the cage.
lcAfter a couple days, Lera started to recover. She climbed up to the bottom perch and was more active. She continually improved and was soon playing with the paper on the bottom of the cage and climbing the cage bars. She was still a little “dizzy” so we kept her separate until her balance returned.

Lera seems to have recovered completely from her mystery illness. It really is amazing – she looked like she was at death’s door. After scaring the crap out of us, she’s back with the other birds, flying around the room and playing with the toys. l3We’re so lucky that we had a positive outcome. I’m hoping for only healthiness and happiness for our budgies (and yours) from here on out!

14 thoughts on “Our Little Miracle

  1. I’m so happy she got better !
    Maybe she was dizzy and had small headaches? I feel like that too, I think its bad for budgies, though .
    Gordie you little charmer you! Lol

    Michelle do you think one of the couples will have eggs?
    If so which one? Or do you have a specific reason ?

    I’m making this sound like a school/homework question lol!!!!

    • Though some of the budgies mate, none of them are laying eggs. Thank goodness! I would worry too much about the females being egg bound, or something happening to the babies. We don’t give them nest boxes or areas to make a nest, so I think that helps.

      Our couples are: 1. Gordie and Lera and 2. Ozzie and Emmy. Emmy is his little love, but Ozzie will also mate with Sunny.

  2. What a trooper you are Lera!!

    I’ve never heard of a budgie ear infection! Sounds awful, if it’s anything like human ear infections. Yuk. I hope she stays happy and healthy. But again, thanks for posting so now we other budgie owners can be better informed of what symptoms might mean!

    • Well, we’re not sure that’s what it was. But it seemed to fit. We were about to take her back to the vet, but she started improving. I don’t know if he would have given her antibiotics (I’ve read they may or may not help, depending on what’s causing the infection). It may have been trauma, as he thought. Who knows? We’re just lucky we dodged a bullet!

  3. Oh my goodness!! You really had me scared there for a bit! I’m sooo glad she recovered, that must have been so scary 😯

    Gordie, you are so sweet <3 taking care of your poor lil Lera 🙂

  4. Holy crap! The first few paragraphs scared me!
    I’m so happy she is recovered and is back to her normal self again. 🙂
    Lera is a tough little budgie

    • Oops! I should have started the post with, “Don’t worry – she’s fine now!”.
      Thanks – she’s tiny, but she’s scrappy : ).

  5. Oh, thank God little Lera is all right! What a terrible scare for everyone…I love to hear how Gordie took care of her – What a guy!
    Seems like my budgie girl goes through a death scare like Lera’s about once a year or so – it usually lasts between 2 and 3 days, and then she slowly goes back to normal (at least so far…) (Of course I Never want to say Good Bye; but I Do know that one day it will be so – Hopefully Many years from now) But what I Have loved during those times is that my 2 budgie boys have been little guardian angels over her – instead of chasing her around all day (the usual dynamic), they have sat in quiet and respectful vigil a short distance from her the whole time. In fact, how I know she’s recovered, is that they commence courting her mercilessly once again!

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