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Budgie blues- an article about feather cysts Birds always present a bit of a challenge at work not in the way scary dogs or cats do but because they have a habit of popping their clogs from the stress of the whole thing! With this in mind it was with some trepidation that I opened the consult room door to call in the budgie with the bad wing. Fortunately for me little Bobby was very used to being handled and let me see his rather lumpy wing quite happily. The most likely cause of the lump was a feather cyst; something not that uncommon in caged birds. Unfortunately for many of these birds the environment in which we keep them is rather a contrast to what they would enjoy in their native climes. Let’s face it; summer in England is hardly on a sunshine par with the sub tropics, let alone winter. Even with the best will in the world many budgies are fed a diet which is not ideal and daylight is a big problem. Over years of captivity in this country they can easily become deficient in vitamins such as vitamin A and minerals like calcium which are all important for health and, in this case, good quality feathers. In the wild these birds would have vitamin rich food, company to stop them traumatising themselves from boredom and between ten and thirteen hours daylight every day of the year. They moult as light length increases and feather up as it goes down. In a gloomy living room in Scotland their body clocks have little chance of knowing what’s going on! Poor feathers and cysts like Bobby has are not only a worry because of the actual cyst but are often a pointer to poor health internally too. Liver damage from deficiencies is not uncommon in these birds and any outward signs like these feather problems shouldn’t be taken lightly. I sent Bobby to our main surgery to have some blood taken to check his liver, and to have surgery if he was fit enough to investigate the lump and make sure it wasn’t a tumour. Feather cysts can be removed but some can also be plucked and squeezed and will sometimes do well. Virtually all these cases need a better diet and although this won’t cure existing cysts it will certainly improve the overall health of the bird and greatly reduce the likelihood of recurrence. Happily for Bobby his owner had caught things early and he was soon home and probably rueing the summer as much as the rest of us!
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