fajrdrako | Seeing the vet... (Reply)

I mentioned earlier that I was taking Pryde, the white and pale blue budgie, to the vet. I don't know how Pryde felt about it, but I was scared stiff.

I decided not to go through the process of grabbing her and putting her in a shoebox, which would make a difficult event even more difficult for her. So I let Kaylee (Pryde's cage-mate) fly free for a while, wrapped up the cage in a blanket, and took cage and bird together to the vet. Luckily it was a little warmer today than it's been all week - temperatures actually above freezing. Still too cold for a little budgie, though.

When the vet opened the cage to reach for her, she slithered under his hand and out the cage door and tried to escape by flying. Sadly, her condition at the moment doesn't allow for soaring and graceful flight, and she landed without much dignity on the floor, where he covered her with a towel and picked her up and checked her over, asking various questions about her disposition and her diet.

It was obviously pretty easy for him to see what was wrong.

She's fat.

See, he explained, when a bird eats mostly seeds, they can get deposits of fat on the chest that can interfere with their breathing and their balance. If it gets bad enough, it can kill them. He said Pryde was a healthy bird, but I should feed her nutritional pellets rather than seed, because seeds are too heavy on carbohydrates.

So my bird, like me, is now on a low-carb diet.

Who'd have guessed? I feed them other things beside seeds - millet and lettuce and organic baby bok choy and the occasional bit of spinach. But the bulk of their diet is birdseed. How was I to know Pryde was eating too much? She eats... like a bird.

So tomorrow they'll get a suprise when breakfast isn't their usual seed, but little coloured nutritional pellets. I think I'll have a revolt on my hands.

I am so relieved that there is nothing seriously wrong with Pryde. Nothing that a careful diet and some budgie exercise can't cure. I'm on a diet and exercising daily - now Pryde just has to do the same.