r/pidgeypower

Hi! I am looking for advise. My sweet Boy Libelle is being treated for months.

In May the analysis of his blood showed high fat and his metabolism is not looking good. He pees a lot. Like really a lot. The liver is not able to detox well so ammonia has caused some neurological issues too.

He got Vitamin B, Laxatract and Sylimarin to stabilise the metabolism. But it cannot cure his condition.

At the beginning of August he got a check up and lost a lot of weight from low fat diet. So the vet ordered to get back to his normal diet.

Tomorrow he has an other appointment. The exotic vet suggested for an other blood test "to know where he is standing". I am kinda unsure. He has become very tired and stress makes him twitch. I am already scared for the transport of a non-tame bird that cannot stand on his perch from neuro-issues. I feel like taking more blood will only weaken him more or worse.

Am I overreacting? What if he gained weight/stayed the same or reduced more? Keeping the palliative care?

Thx for your tips!

( WARNING : may be upsetting for some )
A year ago I adopted an IRN whose previous owner basically didn’t want her anymore due to an incident that left her as a ‘defective bird’, so I ended up adopting her for around $145 usd of my local currency.

She was in really bad condition coming in, not only did she have a toe missing … but there was also this bloody burnt spot on her rear that left heavily damaged feathers follicles. Took her to the vet and they told me she was also emaciated with poor nutrition.

I assumed she had quite the rough life with the previous owner, being fed an improper diet and being kept in a small dirty cage with no toys (based on the images and videos he showed me of her previous living conditions).

Now a year later after going on a diet of veggie chops, pellets, nuts and seeds she’s made a recovery; The injury is all covered with new feathers and the tail I never expected her to grow back started to come back (albeit still damaged) slowly. Her tail feathers sometimes still break off or fall out (very weak) but I still love her very much regardless.

To everyone out there taking care of second chance birds, don’t give up.

Hello everyone. My Julsie has cataracts. I was looking for some advice from people who have taken care of cockatiels with cataracts before. I have had her for 14 years now, not 100% on her age as I rescued her from a terrible home. For those 14 years she has been healthy and the most snuggly bird ever. I knew something like this would come up eventually, so now I want to prepare and give her the most help I can.
I have had a vet confirm it is cataracts but they didn’t really tell me much else in terms of care plans.

I mostly just want some tips of how to keep her from injuring herself. I have been making some noise before I come and get her, so I don’t spook her, as it’s her left eye, and it’s the eye she has facing me 9 times out of 10. Is there any adjustments to cages I should do? I.e remove any types of toys, make ledges closer to ground incase of falls. Give more ladders, as she has never been one to fly, should I keep her wings fully grown, or is it better to slightly clip them, enough to glide, but not enough to shoot off.

Her boyfriend is taking good care of her, but I still have to preen her occasionally as she has some tough to reach spots and unfortunately doesn’t have opposable thumbs.

I have avoided moving things around in her play area. Is there anything else I should be doing? Any help is appreciated.

Thank you :)

Hi everyone! I’m new here and wanted to introduce Habibi, my little starling, and hopefully get some ideas from people who have experience adapting things for one-legged birds.

I found Habibi half-hatched on a sidewalk, and I’ve hand-raised him ever since. His leg had been broken in two separate places from the fall. The higher break, in his femur, healed at almost a 90° angle, while the lower break healed bowed and turned.

Because he was so tiny when it happened, he has essentially never known life with two functional legs. He grew up learning to move, balance, climb and get around with that leg already badly deformed.

We spent quite a while trying to save it. He eventually had surgery with an avian vet to straighten the leg and had a surgical pin placed, but unfortunately it just wasn’t going to become a comfortable, functional leg for him. A week ago, it was ultimately amputated.

He’s doing really well and is now a week post-op, which means he can finally move out of his little recovery cage and go back into his big cage. ❤️

Because he has always functioned almost entirely on one leg, I’m actually not very concerned about him learning to get around or falling. He’s incredibly adapted already. His regular cage has lots of different levels, flat surfaces, baskets/nests and places where he can sit or lie down instead of constantly having to perch.

What I’m thinking about most now is long-term protection of his good foot. I want him to have plenty of opportunities to grip and use his foot normally, while also giving him ways to take his weight off it so that his one good foot isn’t under pressure 24/7.

One idea I’ve been thinking about is making some sort of modified perch with a little padded bolster/support beside him. Basically, his good foot could grip the perch normally, while the bolster on the side where his leg is missing would give his body something to lean against. He could still grip and perch naturally, but wouldn’t necessarily have to support his entire body weight on that one foot the whole time.

Has anyone made anything like this for a one-legged bird? I’d LOVE to see photos of your cage setups, homemade perches, platforms, resting spots, or anything else that has worked well.

I’m especially interested in things that help protect the remaining foot and prevent pressure problems long-term, rather than adaptations aimed mainly at preventing falls.

Habibi has been figuring out how to do things his own way literally his entire life, so I’d really like to build his environment around how he already moves rather than treating him like a bird who suddenly lost a leg and needs to relearn everything. ❤️

My cockatiel was vomitting mucus, so I consulted an online vet since the vet near me isn't available atm, he prescribed this and said that it might be a crop infection, I'm having problem arranging fitgut probiotics if anyone have any idea please tell me what can I substitute it with as the vet isn't replying atm and I'm scared

Hello everyone, this is my first ever post. These are my beautiful budgies, the green one is Finny, the blue one is Nephy(siblings around two years old).

I rescued them from my Aunt that had 12 birds (two cockatiels and 10 budgies) in a small cage. She somehow did not figure out that if you give birds a nesting box that they will breed and thus these two were born. They have severely splayed legs, to the point Finny cannot fly as the left one catches on his wing(Nephy can fly okay). We took them to the vet and thankfully he said that with accomodations they can live comfortable lives.

Now here comes my problem. I have no idea how to gain the trust of these two. They are my first birds ever. They have been under my care for 4 months and in my house for less than a year. They are terrified of me and I want them to feel safe in my room. I had been doing a horrible mistake of picking them up and putting them on top of the cage to force them to go out of their shell and get exercise(I had watched a video that said that the longer they stay in the cage the harder it will be to get them to open up). I don't do that anymore, but the damage had been done and they avoid me like the plague. Even if I want to not pick them up, they sometimes struggle to preen each other(which I do myself in that case) and if Finny glides too far from the cage I have to carry him back(if he falls close enough he has a ladder that he climbs to get to/on top of the cage himself).

I have been doing a ton of mistakes and I really want to become a good bird owner but because of their disabilities some things just don't seem as obvious to do. Please help me. : (

Look at her🥹

Winnie is my lovely cockatiel rescue who came to me about a year ago at the age of 7. She had been fed on exclusively seeds and consequently, developed two benign xanthomas on her wing tips. Unfortunately, these have grown rather quickly with time despite her being on a low-fat pellet diet. Her xanthomas are at risk of bleeding and have once (see photo two), which is doubly bad given her night frights. I’ve taken her to two avian vets at the same clinic, both of whom are confident it is not cancerous and both of whom claim removal would require amputation at the metacarpal. I’m really on the fence here as to what to do and would appreciate any insight! I know surgery is scary in and of itself in parrots.

Aww … he wants to cuddles with me and laying down with my phone. This is a perfect moment. I am so happy he wants to cuddled and melt my heart 🥰

Data: 10/08/2026

Finalmente uma boa notícia em algum tempo, sobre o budgie especial que eu havia encontrado.

Consegui finalmente trazê-lo para casa!

Ele já está acomodado em sua gaiola e estamos começando a tomar os cuidados veterinários com ele :)!

(Ele literalmente chegou ontem aqui em casa, depois de uma longa viagem de 5 horas).

I've posted about Garfield here before, and he's doing very good! For those that don't know, he has some sort of deformity that prevents him from fully extending his wings, walking properly, or gripping things with his feet. He does a little shuffle-walk and sometimes a little scoot(!) to get around and with cage adaptations is able to get where he needs to go. He's been really happy lately.

One thing I've been concerned about, though, is that he can't right himself if he falls on his back. We haven't had issues with this yet since he's typically either with me or in his cage, but he doesn't have great balance. I'm concerned that he might tip over or fall off of something (he doesn't have access to anything high enough to injure him, just a couple low platforms), land or roll on his back, and get stuck like that.

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways I could begin teaching him how to roll himself over? Physical therapy we could do? I've done PT with him before. Before anyone asks, I do plan on talking to my avian vet, we just haven't had the opportunity yet.

Thank you from me and Garfield!

my cockatiels are both rescues but one came from a hoarder. him and all of the other cockatiels lived in separate cages. he’s fearful of hands. these two haven’t been together for long (a little less than a year) but for the first time sue (the confident one) preened gerald (the fearful one). i just about started crying. he was making the happiest noises.

sue was also preening him through the cage 😭😭rescuing birds is the best thing i have ever done