illness

Question
hello, my budgies name is James Blunt and i have been a bit worried lately about him. First thing in the mornig until late at night he doesn't stop scratching his eyes either on the bars of the cage or on the sticks. He seems to be quite irratated by it and it looks very sore and red after. We have tried dabbing some cotton wool with salt water on his eyes but that doesn't seem to help. Would you please be able to help me and my budgy please! Thankyou.

Answer
Hi, Sacha.  Thanks for posting!

Don't use cotton wool with salt water on the eyes...the salt will burn.  Could this be why his eyes have continued to be sore and red (perhaps your bird had a minor irritation that was aggravated by the salt water)?

Are you sure your bird is scratching his eyes and not just rubbing his beak?  Birds rub their beaks on their cage and perches to clean off their beaks...it might just look like your bird is rubbing it's eyes.

Does someone in your home smoke or do you use any type of aerosol sprays, carpet deodorizers, incense, cleaning products, hair spray, etc., etc., etc.?  If so, these things can irritate your bird's eyes, as well as their respiratory systems.  In fact, some of these things can kill a bird quickly.  How about a kerosene heater or something like this with fumes?  

Try using some sterile eye drops that you can buy at a pharmacy or grocery store.  Not Visine or anything like that for getting "the red out"...these things only constrict the blood vessels in the eye.  Use only warm, plain water with a cotton ball in your bird's eyes (until you get some sterile eye drops).

If your bird has an eye infection, you'll need to take him to an avian veterinarian for antibiotics to clear up the infection.

Chrys