FINCHforum

Hello, I wondered if you could help me with our zebra finch. Since quite a few weeks ago, he's stopped flying completely. We open his cage through the daytime and he used to fly around all the time. He's still as happy as ever, bouncing around, singing, preening, and he's not showing any signs of pain or problems with his wings. He doesn't have any problems with balance and he can still jump up to perches, he just doesn't actually fly any more. I've waited a while to ask because I was hoping it was just a temporary thing.

He did have a strange problem last May when he had some kind of seizure, at least we think that's what it was. We found him almost lifeless on his side on the bottom of his cage and we thought he wouldn't last long, but he recovered within a day and there weren't any lasting signs, not even any kind of weakness or tiredness, as far as we could see. We did try him with some vitamin drops but even with the absolute minimum it still puts him off his water so we haven't tried that very often.

Does it look like he has a lump on his front? We only have the one so we don't have anything to compare him to, I've only recently noticed and looking at some photos of others I'm worried now Checking him or taking him to the vet is awkward and maybe impossible because he's never been handled.

Thanks for any help.

Hi andy29
It looks he has a strange thing on his breast. It's abnormat form of breast have u checked it ? May be a inflammation corp
Yes vet is a good idea good luck

I would like to know this too...I had a female zebra finch that had something similar, never did figure out what it was.

andy29

A definite lump on his chest .

But it looks like he's had the lump for a long time as it's visible, albeit smaller, in the old picture. If it's a tumor, it must be benign, but would explain why he can't fly anymore. It's right on his breastbone.

May this lump has is an influence on wing muscles

Thank you for your replies He does seem to have had it for a long time, looking back. It must have grown very slowly. Are there any types of lump than can have something done about them? I always just thought that these poor little guys were too small to be able to really do much

andy29

Sadly, that's usually true.

If you have an Avian Vet near by, you could ask for an opinion....

I mean, if it's something that could be treated with meds, then maybe it could help, but if it's a tumor of some sort, then.....

As long as he's eating, and appears to be happy and content, I would keep him comfortable and go on from there.

Good luck

Hi, just to wrap this up - I know this is an old thread but it seemed like it would make sense to contain it.

We did take him to the vet back in March 2017 but they couldn't offer any help. It was a shame to see him not flying up to his perch on the wall and up on the curtains but he was still happy and energetic otherwise. I'm sorry that I didn't give an update.

I'm afraid he died today. Over a day or so his poo started smelling, he became puffed up and slept a lot. As time went on he just stood in one place with his eyes closed, and eventually passed away. His poo had only turned slightly green and we didn't see any mites (would you see them crawling?) so I don't know what happened.

But I wanted to say that, at least in our case, he got a good year or more after that lump became visible, and it hadn't seemed to be affecting him any more after a certain point. And since his poo was smelling, I guess it wasn't the cause here. So hopefully it doesn't always automatically mean the end is near for anyone else out there.

andy29 wrote: Hi, just to wrap this up - I know this is an old thread but it seemed like it would make sense to contain it.

We did take him to the vet back in March 2017 but they couldn't offer any help. It was a shame to see him not flying up to his perch on the wall and up on the curtains but he was still happy and energetic otherwise. I'm sorry that I didn't give an update.

I'm afraid he died today. Over a day or so his poo started smelling, he became puffed up and slept a lot. As time went on he just stood in one place with his eyes closed, and eventually passed away. His poo had only turned slightly green and we didn't see any mites (would you see them crawling?) so I don't know what happened.

But I wanted to say that, at least in our case, he got a good year or more after that lump became visible, and it hadn't seemed to be affecting him any more after a certain point. And since his poo was smelling, I guess it wasn't the cause here. So hopefully it doesn't always automatically mean the end is near for anyone else out there.

I am so sorry to hear

Thank you :)