Our bird of 24 yrs has a grey film on one eye and a grey dot(cataract) on the other eye. She also has arthritis in both feet and walk not as smoothly as before but can walk. here feathers at the tail get damaged and at the side of her wings looke bare. Also, the little pajama feathers at her legs are no more. Any idea how I can go about this starting with cataracts? Would vitb6 pyridoxine help? i have already been to the vet and surgery is not recommended. Also any vitamins to prevent further damage and to live another 25 yrs?
Thanks yall
Damien
Dear Sylence: There are several causes either vitamins or metal poisoning. The bird may suffer from a vitamin B deficiency which relates to mostly pantothenic acid, inositol or choline barbitrate. If the skin is a problem that resulted in lost of feathers it might be niaicinamide. Usually bird seeds are quite nutritious, but exception does occur if the seed has been heated to a high temperature or overprocessed such that all vitamins are destroyed.
It is noted that the drinking container should be plastic and non metalic. The birds find metals quite toxic to their system. Certain birds might be sensitive to a vitamin deficiency differently so this may explain why one is o.k. and another is not. The other possibility is that one of the birds have been chewing on the cage and it is high in toxic metals. So the best way to deal with it is to let the bird stay in a cage free from metals and certain lead based or metal based paints.
Quite a puzzle I know but somebody out there might have a clue?
Cheers, Michael
Hey Michael,
I want a Kakapo! Gosh, what a handsome bird, and looks fun to know! My first thought was that this bird has a special diet, like the kaola or panda, and that happens to be the case. They love the rimu berries and most parts of the rimu bush. My second thought was that a specialized manufactured diet would help, and that seems like that is already in place.
So the only real way to help would be to continue to combat predators/non-native predator control, offer safe breeding grounds and chick rearing grounds, and offer supplemental feeding.
Fingers crossed the number of this magnificent creature can be increased!
Thanks, Theresa. You may have summed it up quite nicely thank you.
Let us hope the experts know what they are doing. They would seem to be doing their best with whatever they have available. Could no doubt do with an extra sponsor or two though!
Cheers, Michael
I have three parakeets. I noticed a mite on one of their beaks, it won't be long and they could all die... So I thought this remedy will either kill them or cure them! This is what I did: In a 2 oz. Spray bottle, add 2 to 4 drops Lavender essential oil. Clean the bottom tray of your cage, then line w/ paper towels and spray paper towels w/ Lavender-water! Yea!! It cured my one parakeet and the others did not get mites! I've been doing this now for 2 years... Happy healthy birds! And it allows slack time between cage cleaning... No smelly cage! Hope this helps other bird lovers! Tonzzi
The budgies are given clean water and fresh seed each day as well as some greens a few times a week. Their cage is cleaned regularly of any droppings etc.
Many thanks.
Maxome
The best natural wormer for budgies that I have found is food grade Diatamaceous Earth. I mix it into a small amount of water to get the consistancy of single cream. Then I paint it on some thing in their environment that they like to nibble on. It worms them really well with no trauma or bothersome chemicals.
