VET COLUMN: Budgie rescued from cat’s claws has found a new home with us

A few weeks ago we were at home getting ready to start our day.
I was in the shower when one of my children said there was a knock at the door.
It was one of our neighbours clutching a towel containing a creature that her cat had brought home.Her husband had retrieved the creature from the cats mouth and had been bitten hard (by the creature). This creature was a budgie.
We placed the towel and budgie into a cat basket and placed her in our bathroom which was quiet and warm.
After about 20 minutes we went to examine the bird for any injuries.
My wife gently opened the towel. Things did not look good – the budgie was laying flat out with her head flopped over to one side.
My wife gently lifted the little bird. At this moment the budgie burst into life, flapped its wings and bit her very hard on her finger.
My wife’s assessment of the situation was that anything that could bite that hard probably did not need any treatment!
The only injury on the budgie was a torn nail on her left foot. However she had a respiratory infection, possibly due to being out in the cold.
We have successfully treated this and she is looking well.
She was initially very thin and would not have survived outside in the cold for much longer. In a strange twist of fate, being caught by our neighbours cat probably has saved her life.
We have not been able to find where the budgie came from but she has a home with us now.
I initially called her Budget but this may well change.
I had forgotten what good pets budgies are.
They are very interactive with humans and are such large characters.
I do not really like the idea of birds in cages, but these captive bred birds know little difference.
The best we can do is to use the largest cages possible and keep them with a least one other bird.
Budgies are very social and gregarious birds in the wild and we need to give them as much freedom as possible ( without them escaping).
I will be buying another budgie to join Budget when she has fully recovered.

Leave a Reply