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Camy the metal poisoning budgie (lmao) has been home for the past 3 days and he’s been recovering well!! The first 2 days he was pretty sleepy and lethargic from his hospital stay. He’s been gradually becoming more of his vocal, playful self. He’s also gained weight from 31g to 33g since being discharged. Not at his usual weight yet but at least he isn’t losing any weight.

Medication time has been going well also, I’ve definitely found it’s a lot easier when there’s two people. One person to focus on holding him and holding his beak open slightly, while the other focuses on giving the meds with the syringe.

I may have found the possible reason for the metal exposure? I’m not exactly sure but i saw him repeatedly trying to chew the cage bars on his door today. No matter how much I tried to discourage it, he would keep trying to chew it. Luckily the powder coating hasn’t come off yet. He literally has so many toys and better things to chew.

Could it be boredom since he’s cage bound while he’s being treated or something else? How do I safely discourage him from chewing the bars? While I’m at home I can keep a closer eye on him and maybe play with him to distract him, but I’m worried that he will do it while no one is at home.

TLDR: my budgie has been hospitalised today for suspected metal poisoning and I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with this.

So this has officially been the worst year of my life. My budgie son Camy (8 years old) has gone through 2 crop infections and a month after the second one, he’s now been diagnosed with suspected metal poisoning.

I first booked the vet appointment just for peace of mind, since he is otherwise completely healthy, active, eating and pooping normally. The symptoms I was suspicious of were: occasional coughing fits and a weird swallowing motion when eating pellets, both occurring around every 2 days. At first I thought it would have been a simple fix, like changing his pellets to another brand or soaking them. Especially since he has never shown any evidence or signs of metal poisoning.

After his consult yesterday they wanted us to bring him back for an x ray today. So we dropped him off this morning and by the afternoon the vet rang me to tell me what they found. They found: evidence of many metal particles in his GI tract, along with high AST (liver enzymes) and CK in his bloodwork. Both of these suggested metal poisoning.

I went back to discuss treatment options and after much back and forth i decided to hospitalise him there for 3 days as they treat it. I didn’t want to bring him home and treat him myself, in the case that his situation worsened (couldn’t eat, etc) and the vet staff would be able to crop feed him if needed. I even briefly considered euthanasia at one point but the vet talked me down from it because he said he still appeared alert and his quality of life was good.

I am just so exhausted from all of these health problems. I have no idea how this even happened since he doesn’t have any metal parts on his toys and he doesn’t show signs of chewing his cage bars etc. I can’t help but blame myself for all of this. What worries me is that the vet said that he may not even pass all of the metal out of his system and this could be a chronic problem.

I just wanted to hear if anyone has any experience with something like this? Did your bird make a full recovery? Does anyone have any advice?

the link to the original post^

it’s been a week since camy’s last vet visit where he was cleared and he hasn’t vomited again since (so far anyway). he’s chirping and screaming and being a regular budgie.

the only thing that hasn’t gotten better is my mental health sadly. i’m still so so anxious and scared that he’s going to get sick again, to the point where im breaking down in tears everyday out of fear. my parents and friends have tried to comfort me by telling me that i’ve done everything i could, and that im lucky he’s lived such a long life when his sibling lived only 3 years.

im not sure if anyone even cares for these posts but i just needed somewhere to vent and let my feelings out.

hi guys, anxious paranoid budgie parent here. maybe it’s because i’ve been watching my budgie more closely lately (due to other health issues) but i realised he sneezes 1-2 times a few times a day? as for coughing, sometimes he coughs 1-2 times maybe every 2 days? he does the cough sometimes when he’s chewing on his sola ball or drinking water. after that he just goes back to his normal chirping self. he is also preening a lot more cause he’s molting so could it be the dust from that?

otherwise, he is active, eating, drinking and there’s no discharge coming out. i’m just really paranoid that it’s something serious, especially since the coughing sound is so scary to hear. does anyone else experience this with their bird?

i do have a vet visit scheduled for this week (for another health issue) so should i bring it up to them?

hi everyone! i’ve seen so many parrot parents share their negative experiences about vets (avian or not) and it’s honestly really disheartening and worrying to read about.

so i was wondering if anyone has any good stories about their amazing vets/vet teams?

my budgie has just been diagnosed with his second crop infection this month, barely a week after we cleared his first one. the vet and i agreed that the most likely cause was that i had been feeding him pellets that were improperly stored and had gotten spoiled. he’s receiving treatment now but i just feel so rotten that this happened and that it is my fault. (more details in my previous post).

i feel so helpless knowing that i’ve already done all that i could and it is just up to him to recover now. he‘s been sleeping and resting most of the day but he does eat and drink water. i just keep watching him like a hawk while im at home and worrying about him constantly.

i guess i just need to vent and have some emotional support. he‘s grown up alongside me and i can’t bear the thought of him being in pain.

Hi everyone,

My budgie Camy (8y/M) started vomiting a few weeks ago and we brought him to the avian vet where they performed a physical exam. crop cytology and a bacterial culture. He was found to have a bacterial crop infection. After 2 weeks of antibiotics, the crop cytology came back clear on Sunday.

However, a few days later he vomited again. The only probable cause I can think of now is the current bag of Zupreem Fruitblend pellets that I started giving him a month before the vomiting. He has been eating Zupreem for the majority of his life without any issues. I have contacted the vet and gotten another appointment for this Sunday. In the meantime, I removed the pellets from his cage and I am just giving him seeds and veggies.

I feel so worried and upset that this is happening. Has anyone else experienced this? Could there be another cause?

https://preview.redd.it/15gnpwpcp5fh1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc5f78fd0762969a28f9cbc2b72724f55b7d0be1