Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat ---Help, I need help--- please

Hi,

(Vet is not an option)

I have no clue if anyone remembers me, but I had to make a new account because I have no idea what my password is and I the email I used is no longer working!

Anyways I am using my old avatar picture just Incase someone does remember me!

So the bird in my avie is who I need help with. Last year it looking like she was egg bound, but I realized it was a tumor and since she was not suffering and she is 7 I didn't want to cause any discomfort and poke at it. Now the tumor looks like it has divided and two bumps are on her bum area. They are definitely on the skin. Earlier in the year I saw a video about tying a rubber band around these tumors and they should fall off in a few days. I am wondering if anyone has done this and has had success. I really think we are at the rubber band point because I could get one around them. Peepers is still eating and flying and pecking at mirrors, she is her normal self I am just wondering if I can buy her some extra time. She is a petco bird and I understand their life span, but man this is really brutal. She has moved to 5 different house with me and relocated with me from Maine to Georgia. Any ways she's my buddy and I want to take that extra step for her.
(Vet is not an option)

http://talkbudgies.com/showthread.php?t=128370
I am going to try baking soda!

Oh and what about apple cider vineger? I was thinking of applying this just Incase for an antic epic if things get sketchy? I want to make her as comfortable as possible and seriously not an exersizing issue cause my birds are out from the time the wake up till the time they go to bed. She is going to be turning 8 soon! Let's hope this works. I will keep everyone up todate.

Generally speaking, since I can't see Peepers to make a better judgment, when budgies develop tumors they tend to get intertwined with the blood vessels near the vent and legs.

I have never heard of anyone "rubber banding" a tumor on a budgie, because I don't know how you would ever get the band around the whole tumor. I also never heard of the remedies in that thread on TalkBudgies; if you had access to an avian vet (which I gather you don't) that would be a good question for him/her.

Realistically, as someone who has lost more than one budgie over the years to tumors ... once it becomes obvious that the tumor exists, the odds for survival go downward very quickly. If she has shown symptoms for a year, I'm amazed she's still alive.

If it is indeed a tumor and she has been showing symptoms this long there is probably little an avian vet could do at this point anyway. (I had one budgie who didn't show any symptoms until it was too late; even though I took him to the vet right away when he showed, there was little she could do and he passed away on the way home.)

Good luck with your Peepers. I'm truly sorry I can't give better advice or be more optimistic.

(BTW, it appears that I'm the "everyone" around here now.)

Ok I am bumping this up. Peepers is still alive. She still has the tumors and I put baking soda on them if they seem to be jutting out more then usual. What I have noticed is the more air time she gets (which is alday) the tumors shrink. She has no feeling in her leg still. What I have noticed is she is more set in her ways? She screams alot. it is not because she is in pain, it is more like she is yelling do to disatification. Like if I let her she would live on me and I just cant do that. Certain music also ticks her off. She just seems like a grouchy old lady. lol I am not complaining, but she has turned in to a flying holy terror...well she always was, but it is times 10 now.

Budgies can live for a while with tumors, but it is borrowed time.

The fact that she is getting more dissatisfied is not a good sign. I have lost two budgies to tumors in the past several years and in both cases their personalities turned sour. Both Tiki in 2010 and Mieli earlier this year had been very sweet little guys but by the time I finally decided not to let them suffer further they had started biting ... even reaching out to my hand to give me a nip.

I'm sorry that there is no vet option, because (I'm sad to say) it sounds like Peepers is approaching the point where putting her down would be the best thing for her, and you need a vet for that. Absent that option, I think you had best prepare for her to become increasingly difficult and for your heart to be badly broken when the end comes ... not so much because she will succumb but that you'll have to watch her go downhill.

I have no advice for you, Lindsey. There isn't any to give.

oh she has always been like this. Like she reminds me of an old lady. She is mad at me because her other two friends had to have their wings clipped because they weren't listening and now shes punishing me. Same goes with not having outside cage time when she wants it. Its just her likes and dislikes are becoming stronger. Shes officially had the tumors for 2 years now. I know she is old, but I know she is still happy. Like shes still harasses the cat. She loves riding on Lua and pulling at her whiskers, she is just demanding and squawky and its driving me nuts. I was debating on having a cage change this week...but since she is out all the time i don't think it will help. We moved to a new house 3 months ago and it helped, but I think the novelty has worn off? Oh and if her cage is not covered by 7 on the dot she is always angry....i think my bird controls me....its not just her though the other two are like that every now and then (note the recent clipped wings). Anyways everyone is hanging out in the windows right now, they were out side for the first half of the day though. I alternate between indoors and outdoors. Anyways I hate to say this, but I have thought I lost her 5 times now and she just keeps kicking. She is literally the grumpiest, clingiest bird in the world. When she was younger she ripped all the keys off my key board and she ate a mirror.....made the cat bald on her back....like I leave the birds out all the time 7-7 unless i move the cage outside then they are in that. I might leave for play dates and stuff, but they are still out....do you think it is the outside time? lol Have I created this monster because I feel bad keeping her in her cage?

...i think i fixed it...i just put a big mirror in her cage. like a 9x12...they are in a parrot cage. she cant sit on any of the mirrors in the house cause there is nothing to cling on and she just attacked that like a fly on a turd

Mirrors can often be a calming influence on an angry budgie.

I don't think leaving birds out of the cage when no one is home to watch them is a good idea, though. There are so many unfortunate possibilities for them to get into dangerous situations and with no one available to rescue them, they can be seriously hurt, even to the point of death if they struggle to get out of a dilemma and injure themselves worse.

You might want to rethink that, especially as budgies do sometimes feel "entitled" to unlimited out-of-cage time if they are given too much of it by their person.