One of my little birds recently was ill.  It’s the kind of illness that I knew was not going to end well.  She wasn’t able to keep her head straight and kept falling off her lower perch.  She would then turn her head side to side every minute or so.  And it appeared that she lost her sight.   Unfortunately I have seen this before with another little white parakeet that loved me so purely..  I had adopted Jackie and her partner Pancake from a budgie rescue in Long Island for the precise reason that she looked exactly like Sparkle.  And who could resist a little yellow budgie with the name of Pancake?

But it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped.  First of all, even in the tiniest of creatures, no two are the same.  They all have their distinct little personalities.  Though I got them as babies, these two were a bonded pair.  Though Jackie shows me some signs of appreciation.  On one vet visit, I stopped on the way back to get lunch and ate it in the car.  She proceeded to try to eat the paper towel lining of the carrier I had put down for them in order to dine with me.   Another time, after I put them to live at my mothers, (another story, for another time) when I was visiting, she came over to my side and started chatting with me.  She was happy to see me!  I am afraid I ruined this bond by clipping her nails.  Both of them seemed to dread me after that. But they were both still in love.

For a while, she was doing well with her mate over there.  I made sure they had the largest cage and plenty of toys.  But one day, I noticed she looked exceptionally large.  Her belly was huge.  I thought for sure she must be egg bound and took her to the vet right away.  Well she wasn’t bound, just fat. I don’t like judging her but very fat.  And like most human obesity, this is definitely something that was not her fault.  I had ignored my instinct to try to get them on pellets and instead followed the budgie rescue lady’s advice.  But I am not sure that would have mattered.  Her weight was supposed to be around 30 grams and she was approaching 60 grams.   I then took her to the best vet I know on Long Island who also happens to be reasonably priced and most importantly honest.  So instead of running a battery of tests on this little bird which would probably be useless as well as expensive,  he used his wisdom and experience and put her on a thyroid medicine.  And for a while, this really seemed to be working.  So much so that I brought her back to my mothers so she could have some limited contact with her Pancake.  Due to having to put the thyroid tablet in the water, they were not able to live in the same cage full time.

I was there every week checking on her.  I remember thinking she was looking good.  Then she started to look a little fat again. Then I got a call from my mother.  Jackie was sick.  I knew she must be bad because my mother usually likes to play vet.   Jackie was on the ground and then turning her head side to side.  Occasionally she would go up to her food  bowl but then turn her head side to side and then just freeze like she forgot what she was doing there.  I knew it was probably some kind of stroke or neurological thing but I still took her to the vet.  I probably shouldn’t have put her through that but if there was anything that could help her, I wanted to do that.  They gave her some sort of antibiotic injection. I should have just put her down.

Though I sometimes see birds that recover.  Maybe I should have had more faith.  But the same thing happened to Sparkle.  Sometimes these poor little birds are cross-bred which then in turn gives them issues such as these where they suffer for being so beautiful. This is such an injustice to any animal and it has to stop.  Once awareness is obtained then change must follow.

Though it is great to feel one is rescuing a bird, it is also hard because you don’t know the origins of where it came from.  And this can be stressful as well as expensive.  I paid fifty bucks to adopt the pair as a fee but I must have spent close to a thousand on all the vet visits.

I put her back in her old cage and to my amazement, she started to climb to her highest level perch. And she succeeded!  Despite now being blind and neurologically challenged. I let her have that moment for a moment but unfortunately it was not safe for her. I had to remove the perch and put her on the floor of the cage.  She died later that night.  That last vet visit was pointless.

But I would do it again to give her a chance of a happy life.