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Help my budgie has a hole in his chest!

About a week ago, I took my budgie to the vet because he was sick and having trouble pooping (watery poop covered his vent and he was bobbing his head up and down like he wanted to vomit). The vet gave me medicine to give him for each day, and I’m still giving it to them. I don’t know what the vets did to my budgie, they didn’t say (or at least I didn’t understand). I’m not sure if they gave him an injection, but he had a little bit of reddish liquid on one of his feathers on his chest. I didn’t think much of it, but he has gotten better after that. Then a few days ago I started noticing a lump on the same spot on his chest. It was getting bigger every day but I shook it off thinking that’s just how he looked. But just yesterday 4/8/19 his chest was covered in like dark brown liquid with seeds attached to it. Today I took a closer look. There were liquid and seeds coming out. I gave him a bath, and the chest and belly area was very slimy from the liquid, and when I had the water running on his chest seeds started just rushing out. After when that was over, I saw that there was a hole in his chest! Strangely there was no blood, in it seems that there is a random flab of skin just covering the hole. I don’t think it’s that deep and I hope not, but at the same time, I’m thinking that it opens to his belly since I have no idea where all these seeds and liquid is coming from. Is this a type of tumor or cancer? Will it heal over time? I might take him to the vet in a little while, and I’m hoping I won’t lose him. 🙁

Hi AvaMia,

I am sorry your little budgie is sick. But you do need to take him back to the Vet ASAP. What you are describing is a hole in his crop, which is the first place that food is stored when a bird eats. This is not going to heal by itself. He will get an infection if he doesn’t starve to death first. I don’t know what caused this or if it was related to the vet visit. Maybe he had somehow injured it and this is why he was sick in the first place. Is there another bird in the cage or anything sharp that could have caused this? Most crop holes are caused by burns and generally happen to hand fed chicks if the formula was too hot. But hot foods can burn an adult bird. Other sources could be a hot light bulb or flying into a lit candle. It sounds somewhat like a burn because you seem to be describing a blister that formed first, and then ruptured.

Tell your Vet this is an emergency and may be related to his care at the clinic. I am not saying it was, but the vet needs to see him right away. Ask if he was given an injection or any type of tube feeding. Regardless of the cause, he will need a couple of stitches to seal the hole. With antibiotics and good care at home, he should recover.

Take care,

Brenda