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My pet budgie passed away last night.

joossa

Aklys
Today, before leaving home to go to class, I saw that my female budgie had passed away. I think her death was mainly due to her age. I brought her home from a pet shop about 7 years ago.

The fact that she was gone didn't really hit me until I got home from class and looked over to the cage and only saw her little male friend sanding all by himself. I don't feel sad, just stange. I know she lived a joyful, long, happy life, which I guess, is what really matters...
 
I am truly sorry to hear about that. It's always hard when you loose a staple of comfort in your life. I hope that you will never forget the fond memories.

xvart.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your budgie. Its always sad to lose a pet. My condolences.
sad.gif
 
Me too-I'm sorry as well. My family has kept a lot of birds as pets. I like them a lot.

Do you ever wish that people who buy birds would be required to do a little research and learning first, to help ensure a long and healthy life for their pet like you did? I have been amazed many times at how many people don't know the simple fact that birds must have grit in their diet, like sand and oyster shell, because they have no teeth for one thing and the grit in their gullet helps to grind their food.

I remember once an older woman died and her pet parrot passed into the care of a friend of mine. He mentioned to me with puzzled amusement that the parrot loved to crack and eat bits of chicken bones. He had observed that habit at his older friend's house, and he gave the bird chicken bones to play with as well.

I immediately suspected that the bird was trying to get grit (and calcium) into his diet in the only way he could, and I asked my friend if either he or his friend the older woman had ever made available to the parrot grit of some kind, like coarse sand or crushed granite, clay, charcoal, etc. He said no, he hadn't, and he didn't remember the previous owner having done so either. He asked why, and I explained to him about birds needing grit in their diet. So many of them die young because they are missing this or some other important need.

When my last budgie died, after grieving for awhile, I began to feel relieved because I was no longer responsible for a living being's welfare (except for my plants of course).
smile.gif


Then, several weeks later, at my birthday party, a friend gave me a new budgie. Instead of being happy I was frustrated and angry. For one thing, a new pet, even of the same kind, cannot really replace the original pet, and for another, I was not yet prepared to take on the responsibility of another being's life. It can sometimes seem like a weight. I was quite sharp in expressing my anger at my friend during my birthday party.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your remaining budgie lives a happy life.

Best wishes,
Steve / xscd
 
budgie? i get that its a bird... but?
 
It's another name for a parakeet I think. Confused me, too.

I'm very very sorry. I think they are so cute how they bob their head when you do it first!
 
Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus, nicknamed budgie). The term 'parakeet' can refer to any small parrot.

Im truly sorry to hear about your loss. budgies live 5-8 years, and if you dont know how long it was in the pet store aswell, that amounts to a pretty long life.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I have been amazed many times at how many people don't know the simple fact that birds must have grit in their diet, like sand and oyster shell, because they have no teeth for one thing and the grit in their gullet helps to grind their food.
Yes... and no.  parrots,no.  with finches, they  tend to gorge themselves, especially when introduced to new grit, leading to crop impaction and death unless handled properly. I tried to wean by birds by giving a more and more steady supply a little at at time but they cannot show self control with it. I asked some finchkeeping experts and they say that with my chosen bird group, grit is not nececarry for the digestion of seeds. I provide mineal supplements to substitute for the osytershell grit. It depends on the species. Some have a strong enough gut to completely digest food without.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Since the purpose of grit is to remove the outer coatings of whole seeds, it would seem that only birds which consume intact seeds, such as doves, require grit in their diet.

Grit is not required in normal, healthy, psittacine (parrots) or passerine (canaries, finches, starlings, mynahs) birds. Since these birds remove the fibrous hulls from the seeds in the act of eating them, the digestive enzymes have no barriers to prevent them from acting upon the seed. In fact some species of parrots have ridges on the inside portion of their upper beak which are believed to aid in the shelling of seeds. The seed is held in place by the ridges, while the lower beak is used to crack and remove the hull. Birds on a formulated (pelleted) diet also should not require grit.
Avian Medicine: Principles and Application reports that there have been many examples of healthy birds which have not had grit for periods of 15 to 20 years and show no signs of poor digestion.

On the other hand, it is believed that birds with pancreatic or physical digestion problems, may benefit from some grit. However, in such cases an avian vet should be consulted.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your budgie, I hope you feel better soon. {{{HUGS}}}
 
Thanks for all the support. My little male was very quiet today. I can tell he knows that she is gone.

When I got her, the pet shop owner said that all the budgies were about 1 year in age. So, yeah she did live for about 7-8 years.
Ever since I got her I have always made a cuttlebone (calcium shell available) and always provided her with a "home made" feed that the pet shop owners make themselves. (The pet shop is not a big name shop, it's more of a small town independent shop.) The feed contained various mixtures of seed, greens, and dry fruits and veggies. I later learned that giving a budgie an only-seed diet could cut their life by 2-3 years.
 
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