Swelling

Question
There's a swelling between the legs of budgie. It's a swollen lump, and it seems to smell also. What's going on? We went to the vet and they didn't seem to know what it was. Do you? If so, what should we do?


Answer
Hi, Lin.  Thanks for posting!

I'm not an avian vet, so if your avian veterinarian (hopefully, you took your bird to an avian vet and not a dog/cat vet) doesn't know after an in-person medical examination, I don't know what I could tell you.  However, I do know that budgies on all-seed diets can get fatty deposits in this area (this is one area where you can tell if your bird is overweight or not).  This swelling could also be that your budgie, if female, is preparing to lay eggs and her lower reproductive area is swollen and/or she could be eggbound.  If the area is smelly, could be some type of bowel obstruction or perhaps a tumor of some sort.

You need to have your budgie examined by an AVIAN VETERINARIAN ASAP in order to determine exactly what the problem is.  An avian vet has been trained in dealing with birds, whereas a dog/cat vet has not been trained in birds.

Chrys