Why are my budgies lethargic after a cage mate died and new bird?

Hi, Your bird may be mourning the loss of his cage mate. However, I am also worried that whatever caused the passing of the cage mate may have been infectious and could be affecting your remaining bird. An exam by your veterinarian would be the best course of action to be sure there isn’t an illness at play.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear you've lost two parakeets recently! There are many possible causes of sudden death, but if you've had this happen twice in a row, some sort of toxic exposure would be my biggest concern. Something infectious would be another possibility. If your parakeets have access to flying around your house, then there would be many possibilities - but if they stayed in their cages, I would be looking for a toxic exposure they could come in direct contact with. Newspaper lining the cage (the ink can be harmful if the birds chew on it), moldy food, unclean water, etc. I recommend carefully cleaning everything you can, replacing anything that can't be well cleaned, making sure you're using safe substances in the cage, and when in doubt, you could consult with either the pet store (about your habitat) or your vet. Hopefully you don't experience the loss of another bird - but if it were to happen again, I recommend promptly bringing the bird in to a veterinarian for a necropsy (the animal version of autopsy). By doing a visual exam, and potentially getting tissue samples of different organs for analysis, your vet may be able to determine the cause of death, which will hopefully help prevent any further issues! Again - I'm sorry you're dealing with this,and I hope this helps!

It's possible one or both birds may be ill, especially if they are not acting normal and seem very lethargic. Keeping them warm and eating and drinking can help, but it is best to bring them to your vet so they can be examined and any more serious issues such as illness or injury ruled out. If one seems very ill or injured, separating the two birds into hospital cages can help until you can get into your vet.

If your entire flock is experiencing illness and then death, it would be best to seek veterinary care in person ASAP to try and find the underlying cause and provide treatment. It would be best to remove any sick or sick looking birds from the flock and move them to isolated hospital cages to avoid spreading illness or disease among the remaining healthy birds and losing the rest of the flock. Once the underlying cause is found, you can then take measures to both treat and preventively avoid further illness.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss! It is very normal for birds to mourn the loss of their friend, just as people do, so spending a little extra time together or offering up a favorite treat may help. Birds are extremely good at hiding illness, and if you suspect your other bird was ill at all, thoroughly cleaning the cage/shared dishes/etc can help prevent the spread of illness. Signs of illness to watch out for include listless behavior, sleeping all the time, fluffed feathers, difficulty breathing, changes in weight, appetite changes, drinking changes, feather loss, etc. If you do see these signs, or suspect Cameron may have caught something from your other bird, seeking out an exam in person is always best. If you're having trouble coping with the loss of Barney, I highly recommend checking out some resources such as The Rainbow Bridge where you can talk to other owners and even make a virtual pet memorial.

I'm sorry to hear that Blue passed away. Unfortunately, the symptoms you mentioned are very vague signs of illness and can be caused by a number of things including infections, illness, malnutrition, respiratory diseases, injury and more. Without a necropsy (animal autopsy) to determine the cause of death, it would be impossible to tell what happened. If you have any other birds, thoroughly cleaning the cage and moving any sick birds to an isolated hospital cage can help prevent the spread of illness to other birds in your home. If you are having trouble coping with Blue's passing, checking out resources such as The Rainbow Bridge may help give you some peace of mind during your time of loss.

So sorry to hear this! I suspect that the bird has suffered from a nasty haemorrhagic infection or possibly traumatic injury. Either of these could have occured to the respiratory tract, leading to coughing up blood, or the gastrointestinal system, leading to passing blood. It is impossible to know exactly what caused this without having the bird postmortemed. However, in terms of your other bird, I would thoroughly clean and disinfect the cage in case there are any traces of infection. Hopefully it was a one off incident and the other will be fine. If you do notice illness contact a vet immediately. They have a duty of care to all animals so will help you. I think the regurgitated seeds were likely just brought up due to death as opposed to an illness.