This summer, by budgie Pixie had to undergo surgery to remove a lump of food that got stuck in her crop (which is part of a bird's throat), which is kind of a strange occurrence and I'm still not sure what caused it, neither is the vet. For the next two weeks I had to hand-feed her antibiotics and anti-fungal mush, which was very difficult... if you have ever had experience trying to hold a tiny animal still who wants to get away and does not want to eat the medicine, you know what I mean.

Last night, she got sick with seemingly the same symptoms. She
was throwing up and has lost weight. That is pretty serious for a tiny fragile animal
like a bird. I'm extremely worried. I don't know exactly what's wrong, but so far it has cost us hundreds
of dollars to treat these issues with her crop and it causes me (and
her) a lot of stress. I don't understand why food can't pass properly because she is only eating easy-to-digest foods. I feel so helpless to stop the problem and I'm worried she has an issue that can't be cured and will cause recurring episodes of vomiting and weightloss for the rest of her life. At least she is in good hands with a specialist. I trust them to do everything they can to ensure she is treated properly and recovers. I just wish she didn't have to 

Anyways.. Does anyone else have experience having to care for a sick pet?

I'm sorry to hear about your Pixie's troubles. But I got ninety-nine problems and a budgie ain't one.

It's really awful when a pet has been seriously injured or is sick, because there is absolutely no way you can explain to them that even though what you are doing to them may be uncomfortable, it is ultimately for the best. I've had to look after more than a few injured or sick pets. I even had a cat once who was run over by a car and broke both of his hips. He dragged himself home and we found him crying in our crawl space. We tried to take him to a vet, but in the end we couldn't afford to have his bones set, so we had to just let him heal on his own. He eventually did, but he had a limp for the rest of his life. He died just this month at the age of 13...

Lazlo Falconi : Aww, poor thing. I do think it's pretty amazing he was able to survive being hit and drag himself off the road like that. It's good to hear he lived a normal lifespan for a cat even after all that.

I actually have looked after a sick pet. The poor thing was throwing up a lot as of late, probably because the owners have been keeping it outside 50% of the time in the cold

Yep, my last dog had 2 times where I had to 'nurse' her. 1st was pyometra (this was a serious condition that I fortunately noticed - the vet said she had 24 hours to get the surgery).

2nd was a hematoma in her ear which required another surgery, plus one of those cones you'd see around dogs' heads sometimes.

Both times I had to feed her antibiotics stuffed in a glob of peanut butter on my finger, she wouldn't eat the pill any other way I tried.

I've had a lot of pets throughout my lifetime. Which is great, because they're great company, but it's always sad when you have to say goodbye. My short answer is yes, but this reminded me of a pet that I was rather close to, so I wanted to spill my guts. If you think it's too far off topic, just let me know and I'll delete it myself.

My dog was the one that I remember the best. She was a mutt; she was a yellow lab, cocker spaniel mixed with a few other breeds. I had a lot of ups and downs involving her.

I loved to take her on walks and play fetch with her, but I loved it most of all when, in the middle of the night, she'd lay on my bed and fall asleep while I pet her.

Occasionally she'd be mean to me, though. She never bit; she was a good dog. But some days when it was only me and her at home, she'd growl at me if I tried to go into the kitchen (where her food bowl was). I was young and stupid, so I took it personally. I'd stick my face right in hers and insult her as though she knew what I was saying. Then, when that didn't shut her up, I'd growl back. She usually won the arguments, and I'd just head upstairs until she calmed down.

She was also known for running away. She never ran far, but my dad was always all bent out of shape when she'd get out. We'd go out and look for her and within about 15 minutes we'd have her back inside, wagging her tail and licking us as if to tell us about how much she enjoyed her time outside.

But one time we didn't get her back within 15 minutes - we didn't even have her back inside after a couple days. My parents told my siblings and me that she was gone. I never expected to see her again. I still don't know what exactly happened, but I've heard my dad explain it enough times to have some idea.

One day my dad was outside and saw one of my neighbors driving home from work. In the back of his truck was my dog. My dad knew he couldn't talk to the guy. The man had been arrested a few years back and still blamed him for what happened. The man had even told my dad that if he ever saw him, or one of his kids, that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot. While my dad took it for what it was, an empty threat, he knew he couldn't tell the man to give our dog back.

My dad decided to ask a German man who had moved in to the neighborhood temporarily to ask our neighbor to give the dog back. Long story cut in half, the man got out dog back; but our neighbor, who would from now on be referred to by every kid in the neighborhood as the drunk guy, had a new person to hate.

One good thing that came from this was that it was now easy to find my dog when she ran away. She'd always run straight for the man's backyard. She would sit on his deck and look at the door, as if she was hoping it would open. I felt a little jealous, but she always followed me back home when I caught her.

The man wound up getting a little dog of his own and calming down. They say you can tell a lot about someone from the way they treat animals. I could tell he was a good person. In retrospect, I appreciate what happened.

On Topic Part:

From then on things were great. I got my dog back. Skip a few uneventful years and you get to the part that is actually relevant to your thread. My dog was sick.

I have no idea what she was sick with, but it was clear immediately that this was one sickness that she wouldn't get over. She would spend nights laying on my bedroom floor wheezing and crying. I would get our of my bed and lie next to her petting her until she fell asleep. It was hard to watch.

I felt bad knowing that there was nothing I could do. One day I helped her outside, so she could get some fresh air; while I was petting her I put my face in hers to try to calm her. Putting my face in hers - while admittedly ill-advised - was something I regularly did. But this time she did something she never had before. She snapped at me. She got her mouth on my cheek and stopped suddenly as if she realized what she was doing. She then shied back and followed me around. It was probably because of the extra attention I had given her while she was sick, but I took it as an apology.

The last night I ever spent with her I spent laying by her on my bedroom floor, as I had so many nights before. I didn't have school the next day, not that it would've mattered. I wouldn't have been able to sleep either way. My mom heard me talking to the dog and came upstairs around 3:00 in the morning and told me that they were going to the vet as soon as it opened.

The next day I tried to keep myself busy and pretend like I wasn't worried to see my parents get back. My gamecube was messed up and wouldn't read discs, so I spent a few hours trying to mess with that. Then my parents got home and told me the news. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried.

soxfan849 : Not off topic. That's a sad, but heartwarming story. I would have cried too, very much so..

I have taken care of pets for my neighbors while they went on vacation, only the dog was sick from what I remember. The dog needed to take pills for her intestines or possibly stomach. I would rub them in her dry food so she would more easily eat them. I took care of their two guinea pigs and mouse, as well as hamster. It was fun handling the rodent, except the guinea pigs were to scared to do so XD

soxfan849 : I don't think it's off topic either. I dunno about you but I like to read animal stories.
I also understand what it's like to watch a companion animal die. I would have cried too. I hope you found comfort knowing she had a good life being part of your family. Some people have dogs and don't really accept them as a family member, they're just for the sake of having a dog, but you obviously cared for her like she was part of your family.
My budgie is mean to me sometimes as well.. Sometimes she is cranky and she will peck at me or squawk. Worse is when she is being antisocial and has a tantrum if I try to bring her out to get exercise, because I like to play with her and if she doesn't cooperate... It makes me sad. xD Sometimes I "fight"/spar with her using my finger but we obviously never do each other any harm.

Update:

Pixie is back from the vet today, and seemingly all better. I have to feed her medicine twice a day for about two weeks in order to prevent inflammation (which will be stressful for her, unfortunately she doesn't enjoy being handled that way). She is still at risk of having a blockage in her crop, but for now everything looks fine. I'm pretty relieved but still worried that she could have another episode.

UserMike : Thanks, and I love rodents too. Had a hamster of my own. That thing loved to find way to break through the cheap plastic cage I bought him and scare my mom half to death. He was like a little, furry Houdini.

Annette : Thanks. I wasn't sure if the whole story would be alright to post, since most of it wasn't about my dog being sick. But I wanted to write it because it brought back memories, and I hadn't really stopped to think about her in a while.

And I know exactly how birds can be. I've had 5. It started with two, when my brothers friend was planning on moving to Germany and his parents had to get rid of the birds since they couldn't take them. They were named Bobo and Baby. I have no idea how old I was; I can hardly remember life before them.

Bobo always had an attitude. I don't know what it was, but you couldn't get near the cage without him hissing at you and trying to bite you, ultimately smacking his face against the cage. But Baby was incredibly nice. Though I will say that it was hilarious to watch the two together. Bobo had been taught how to say a couple things by his first owner, and would often just stand there saying over and over "hello" and "pretty, pretty birdie" then whistling forever.

Anyway, there were times when Bobo would lower his head, which he would do when he wanted you to pet him, and when I took the bait he'd bite me as hard as he could. He couldn't do much damage, but I took it personally. He lived for a long time, and it seemed like he was never gonna die. But one day my new dog just lost it and tore his cage down and got to him. He was injured pretty badly and didn't make it through the night.

As for your update, I'm glad to hear things are looking better. I hope Pixie gets well and you can put this behind you.

When my beagle was 10 weeks old, we found out he had a huge abscess on his back. How did we find out? We saw him licking his back, and we saw a LOT of creme colored thick fluid covering his back and it had a strong sweet almond smell. Well, that was all a huge flowing amount of puss from his burst abscess. I spent half an hour with him in the tub just constantly draining more puss and washing it off. Poor little baby. Anyway, when I took him to the vet the next day, they had to shave the area, and slice open the abscess to finish draining it. The cut was 2 inches long, which is giant for a 10 week old puppy. They couldn't bandage it because it was on his back, so it couldn't just drain down, keeping the wound moist until it was empty. If we bandaged it, the wound would have closed with puss still in there, and it would just grow again. What I had to do was this. I was given a bunch of blunt syringes full of antibiotics. Three times a day, I had to hold my puppy down, shove the blunt syringe deep into the whole in his back, and inject the antibiotics until if flowed out of his wound. He screamed and cried each time I did it for 2 weeks. It was so heartbreaking

rcarter2 : Wow, not only does that sound really sad and painful for your puppy, but also disgusting. Poor thing. Was he alright in the end? Did he ever have problems like that again?

soxfan849 : Some birds do have an attitude. Some birds are bonded to their friend/cagemate and will not bother bonding with a human, so they will bite you and be grumpy towards you all the time, so it will be very difficult to try to get the bird to gain your trust. Or they might not trust you.

He is fine now. He is almost three years old now and happy and healthy as he can be. He never had anything like that afterward. But he did get kennel cough once and he did have a yeast infection in his ear one time. But the ear thing is common in beagles because of their big ears picking up stuff from the grass when they are sniffing through stuff. All that happened the first year we got him though. But after his first year, no more problems. I think he had so many problems early because he was the runt, so of course he wouldn't be as strong. The abscess though, was the fault of the place we adopted him from. The vet said it was located directly where he would be given his vaccinations. He said 9 times out of 10 is due to needles not being properly sterile.