Please Help, I'm Worried :(

[fishing for info]

for the past couple of months, i've been feeding my budgie dandelion leaves attatched to a large paper clip so they don't fall on the ground. I apologies to budgie keepers I was oblivious at the time to the fact this was dangerous as i'd only ever seen her peck from the bottom of the leaf. just earlier she was flapping around and so i went to see if she was okay. I burst into tears and felt very sick and ashamed with my self to find that the paperclip had gone right though her bottom jaw/beak we managed to gently slide it out. there was a bit of blood but no more seems to be coming out and she seems to have settled down and acting normally. I'm still a bit shaken up and i just wondered if anyone could tell me what i should do with her now. do they already have a gap in the lower beak or is this a problem and should i get her checked at the vet or will that cause more stress? Thanks for any help, Fishing for info -x-

 

[Davo86]

It would be best to get her to a vet as you don't know if the paperclip pierced through anything else once it had past the beak

Did it pierce the beak or the body? As you say there was blood i'm guessing the body?

 

[fishing for info]

well it's hard to describe. my sister was the one who removed the paper clip and she has told me that it looked like the skin just behind the beak but it missed the tongue and the skin was quite thin and didn't continue to bleed. should i get it checked out? I've been manically calling friends and parents etc and, not that they're experts on the subject, but they say that if it's eating and drinking and playing which it is and not bleeding anymore than it'll probably recover? Many thanks for the reply Davo

 

[Davo86]

Its going to be a Judgement call really, but if you say shes eating normally then I'd say it probably hasn't done much damage past the initial piercing of the outer body, that said if she seems to be drinking more than usual something may be still irritating her.

If she is now acting normally then i'd probably just monitor closely until the morning and then if your still concerned then it would be best to get her checked over

 

[Curiosity101]

I'd take it to the vets anyways. They can give it a proper check over and probably a shot of anti-biotics to be on the safe side.

It should hopefully recover if it's ok now. Infection could be an issue n also...birds don't do well with shock. So, and I'm looking on the gloomy side here so try not too get to worried, but often they can be fine for up to 24hours and then just keel over.

 

[fishing for info]

oh... oh dear umm... it's chirping to the tv as usual and seems quite content. it's not drinking more than usual. for a moment before i thought i was going to be okay but now i think i'm more worried I'm surprised with how well it cope with it all, but i never considered it's life might be at risk even with how it is now. ohh god i don't know what to do :'(

 

[Curiosity101]

If it's acting normally now then it may not have been too shocked. But you never know with birds...they can be little ....ahems at times.

If it were me I'd wait till tomorrow, phone the vets and explain what happened, see if you can get them to ask the vet if it's worth you taking it down.

 

[fishing for info]

my local vet is out of hours until about 9 tomorrow morning i might call tomorrow. she still seems okay but i'm freaked out by the keeling over thing. i mean, it was good of you to tell me just so i can hear the worst but unfortunately i'm one of those people who tends to only imagine that the bad things happen i'll wait and see. she's playing but i'm soo scared for her. everyone warn people to make sure there's no risks or sharp objects AT ALL in the cages

 

[Davo86]

oh... oh dear umm... it's chirping to the tv as usual and seems quite content. it's not drinking more than usual. for a moment before i thought i was going to be okay but now i think i'm more worried I'm surprised with how well it cope with it all, but i never considered it's life might be at risk even with how it is now. ohh god i don't know what to do :'(

From my experience with birds, you can generally notice they are in shock, and if they are in shock catching them and taking them to the vet is the last thing you want to do, I would simply try to keep the bird calm and maybe even give her an early night so she can settle down, In the morning even if she acts normal it would be best to visit the vet

In these situations I realise how hard it can be for you to stay calm, but from what you've said I think she should be ok, At the moment we have a canary in the aviary who had its eye clawed out by a cat, and looked a real mess at the time, we didn't think it would make it but now about 10 months later its still alive and kicking and seemingly unaffected by the ideal,

 

[Curiosity101]

If she seems ok and is flying around, drinking and eating, perching properly and looks fine then she probably will BE fine. Really I wasn't trying to scare you.

I'd be more worried about the injury getting infected. But again this isn't to scare you, it's just logic. And open wound can get infected and little birds don't do so well with infections.

Having said all that I'm not a vet. Don't take my word as gospel and please don't worry. Phone them in the morning and see what they think.

 

[fishing for info]

okay. Thanks for all your help. I know it was all well intended. Thanks again both of you for the help

 

[Davo86]

no probs, Good Luck with her