Budgie liver problem, please, help me

[ivan_Slovakia]

Hello. Can anybody tell me whether you have any experiences with liver problems at budgies? Another my beloved budgie has a liver problem by my vet. doctor. She told it by seeing the poops, lameness of the budgie, behaving like at the liver encefalopathy.... and saw the x rays picture, when the enlarged liver was seen like pressing on the heart which could cause the harder breathing during the last time. The air sacs were not visible on the x ray picture. She recommended me one amino acid adding into the water, also add there a little honey like a source of the sugar, and first three days adding there the powder against chlamydiosis ( in the case of this is the cause of the liver problem ). Despite my budgie was given it some recent time ago. She told me I can feed my beloved budgie what he likes, eggs, for example, if he likes that. My friend from this group recommended me also sylimarin powder or some light liver tea or canary seed. Do you have any experiences? Thank you.

[maxollie]

Hi, Ivan and welcome to the community. Here in America, we budgie owners are encouraged to give our birds a low fat diet, which includes fresh lettuce and fruits, other fresh veggies, except for the cabbage family veggies, including kale, broccoli, and parsley, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, all have a phyto chemical in them that can cause esophagal tumors. But other fresh veggies are fine. The fresh lettuce should be leaf lettuce. You can chop it, and add some of the chopped boiled egg, and some small pieces of whole wheat bread.

A seed only diet, can cause liver problems. I suggest you definitely listen to your vet. You could ask her if she would approve you trying to feed the items I just shared with you. Here, we also feed millet, but only for treats, because it too has high fat diet.

How old are the budgies that seem to get this disease? We will welcome your reply.

[ivan_Slovakia]

Hello, Maxollie. Thank you. I was here some time ago by my real name, I think, but I forgot the password... One my budgie died last year on 16. may on cholangiocarcinoma of the liver.
This male is not overbred type of the budgie, this is like a sudden accident.
Yes, I heard about the cabbage family veggies that they are not good for birds, despite I did not hear any connection with any tumor, maybe just with a hormonal problem,I can not remember. Well, where should I get lettuces in the winter? i do not grow it in the garden... almost every lettuce is marked by some chemicals ( touched by some chemicals ). But iceberg lettuce is not recommended. i heard it may be not beneficial to the guts. And does not have many nutritional substances.
I am from Slovakia, I do not feed my budgies pellets, I do not trust them very much. Yes, I feed mainly seeds, I was growing some millets on my balcony, I gave them to my budgies in the green early stage, but mostly they eat senegal millets, classic millets, and sometimes when I have chickweed, i give it to my budgies, or zelery green part, or carrots, apples. I use to buy the seeds from Germany, they are without any added oils or other substances.
One woman who is a specialist on feeding parrots from Czech, recommended me to feed :
fresh grass seeds daily
once time a week soaked grass seeds in the water
once in 10 days wild seeds
Nonstop chickweed feeding
Once in 10 days a little of dried ale yeasts, brewing yeasts ( beer yeasts )
Once in 7 days a little of humac black powder
once in 2 days a drop of vitamine D3 with bee pollen
Iodine stick
sometimes a little of carrots
grass, flowers ....

I was not recommended to give my budgies eggs, because it could be hard od kidneys. But my vet. doctor says it is ok, my budgie has to eat.

I have those yeasts, humac pro powder, grass seeds, but I am really SCARED of doing such radical change in the feeding. I do not want to starve my budgies. Yesterday, I started to give my budgies one amino acid into the water and doxycykline against chlamydiosis, but still without adding honey.... Maybe somebody would advise me how to convert on grass seeds from millets.
P:S: This my budgie is maybe 6 years and 8 months old, but maybe I bought him already like an adult budgie. He is handicaped with a little curved legs and broken wing, and my question on people here is : COULD THE LACK OF EXERCISE AND HIGHER INCOME OF MILLETS CAUSE THE ENLARGED LIVER? How should I force my budgie to some other diet? I can not make him more exercises. Liver problem is a very serious condition and I need a help. My vet. doctor did not mention me that it should be connected with higher income than exercises. Thank you so much for your replies.

[boomer girl]

Milk Thistle seeds are very good for a birds liver but you can only give them just a few seeds a day, with a budgie maybe only 3 or 4 seeds a day so its very important to get a vets advice about how many to feed them. If you do a search on this forum some of the older posts here talk about using milk thistle to help the liver and I remember a few of the birds here actually improved because of them. BUT it only takes a few seeds a day because they are very strong. PLEASE read up on it to see how many you should give, with a budgie it could be just 1 seed a day.

[maxollie]

It could be your budgie inherited the liver problem. He is not young or a baby, and liver disease does not happen over night. Do some research on line..googling. ...sprouting seeds for budgies\parakeets. Sprouting is not difficult, and is very nutricious, and good for any birds. Like you, I do not use pellets. I agree that head lettuce is not a good food, because it has mostly water in it, and will give your budgie very loose poops, and also does not have much nutrition.

I think your best direction is to listen to the vet, and incorporate all the meds and foods she recommended into the diet and daily routine.

[ivan_Slovakia]

Thank you, my friends, I appreciate a lot your advises. My beloved the best budgie Bilko died today, I hope he is having a good another life, despite he is staying with us forever. The autopsy showed massive hyperemia of the organs, which probably also caused the enlarged liver. If lipidosis, just a small one, no marks of cirrhossis or cancer. It looks like it was arrising from some cardiovascular problem.

[boomer girl]

I am so very sorry to read that he died. It is so hard to lose them but it is something that all of us here face when we own birds. Sending you a big hug. I found comfort from reading this poem when I lost my Boomer. I read it many times and each time it did make me cry but also helped me grieve.
http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/c...Lend-Me-a-Bird

Fly Free Bilko, you were loved...

[ivan_Slovakia]

Thank you, my friend. He will be loved forever and he is with us forever, I know that. I know that I was shouting on my younger budgies when it seemed to me they were limitating my Bilko or some other older budgies..., but I hope the stress did not cause this situation. Maybe you think I am cruel that I let the doctor to take samples on histology, but I am always such wonder what it will show, that I did that. Bilko is here and will be burried today in our garden, but is still with us anyway. Thank you for the link, i will see that later, maybe now. That is nice to read compassions here. It is worse for me than if you have some budgie and he suddenly dies during accident...

[ivan_Slovakia]

That is a little complicated text on that link, but does not matter.. ...I am not a native english speaker.

[Birdmanca]

Do follow the vets suggestions on caring for your bird with the liver problems. Sure, check this site out also for more knowledge and ideas to care for him. A lot of what a vet tells you , is correct. But a lot of people find their services pricey.

[ivan_Slovakia]

Thanks, my budgie died, although will still be with us..., but anyway, I did not understand your point with finding their services pricey....? what services?

[maxollie]

I am so sorry Bilko has passed! I admire you for taking him for necropsy. Getting the full extent of his medical condition, at least will give you some comfort that it wasn't anything you did to cause his demise.

Fly high and free sweet Bilko! Over the rainbow bridge.

[ivan_Slovakia]

Thank you, really. But, I says that he is staying with us forever. And I hope he has a good another life. Fly high sounds like... it is a little sad for me.
I use to do that : My vet. doctor does the autopsy and send the samples, takes from the body.... so I can know what was wrong. Somebody would say it is drastic. I understand such view, but I am addicted to know the truth. So, on one side I am angry on me that I let the doctor to manipulate with the body, but I would be very nervous if I would not know the truth.
Whether I caused that, I do not know.. My 13 years old beloved previous male budgie had a chronic intersticial nephritis. And, do I know whether I caused the kidney damage? No. There are many factors which can caused that. I just know that it was of infectious origin or hard water problem. It looked like the depreciation, or how to call it.

[ivan_Slovakia]

Of course, I mean "He" like our beloved Bilko.

[maxollie]

Here in America, and here on the forum, we say that a little bird that dies...his spirit flies to a beautiful garden with a big rainbow, a place where there are many beautiful trees and flowers, and a big pool of water. We believe that there are many beautiful bird spirits there. But it does not mean that your previous little budgie has left you. Since you believe he is there with you, then, that is where he is...with you.

Quite honestly, a budgie, in America, who lives in a cage for 13 years, is very good long life. I think most do not live longer than 5 years. So, I think you were a great caregiver to Bilko, for him to live a long 13 years life with you.