Rudy's sick
 

Our little parrot Rudy has pretty bad arthritis and isn't doing too well lately. As he's getting older he kept stumbling and sometimes he'd fall. We've put pillows around the outside so in the event that he does fall he wont hurt himself. So last Friday he fell about four times during the day and we noticed he's putting very minimal weight on his right foot. We took him into his vet for an x-ray of his foot and bloodwork. I thought he might've fractured his ankle but the x-ray came back fine. His bloodwork showed he has gout (high uric acid levels and crystals in his foot). He gave him an anti imflammatory and allopurinol to give him 2x's daily. They usually get gout when their kidneys are slowing down. Rudy is VERY old and it's so sad seeing him like this. He doesn't go up on his cage like he used to because he can't climb up. I was happy to see he did do it yesterday but he did still look unsteady so maybe he is doing better with the medicine.

I've been looking for ways to protect him and make navigating his cage safer and easier. It's hard because any minor change we make stresses him out so much. Per our vet, we bought him different perches so he could grip them easier but he wouldn't touch them. We have to be careful because the stress could kill him. He's been with our whole family through everything....grown up with my 22 yr old daughter and I've had him for 32yrs. I know he's getting older so please say some prayers for my lil Rude dude :)

Anyone with birds that has any suggestions would be great as well.

Will say a prayer for him. Wow 32 years is a long time!. I hope some-one here will know something about birds, and might have some suggestions.

I wish I could help with suggestions, but all I can do is offer my support. It's not easy watching someone you love so much age and feeling powerless in some ways to help him/her. My prayers are with you and Rudy. It is so obvious how much you love Rudy, and our love, protection, and devotion is the greatest gift that we can give to our babies. I hope and pray that Rudy's health improves.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the support and prayers, it means alot.

I hope the medicines can help Rudy feel better. I will keep him in my prayers.

When my little Parakeet got old & could not use his legs properly, I put a small glass dish in the bottom of his cage & put shredded news paper in it for cushion & he really liked it. He spent most of his time in that bowl the last few months of his life. I did give him leg massages every morning & evening to help with circulation.

Bless you for loving him and taking such good care of him for the last 32 years. I'm sure he has been a great joy to your family and now it is sad to see him aging and having trouble moving around. I hope the meds help him to do better.