My sweet, spunky bird is fighting cancer

My Sweet

It is so hard to face cancer with a dear friend/buddy. We had to Have our Jack Frosts wing amputated. The cost was terrible but our vet allowed us to split payment over several months. This looks like the tumor is associated with the oil gland. The sooner we catch these the better chance our beloved budgies have. Jack' s tumor was the size of a field pea. We caught it because every three months we give our birds mini vet checks. His previous check was clear. Jack made it and came to live with us in the house in a modified flight cage with his special hen. Prayers for successful surgery. Your little one is a yellow face sky dilute. one of my all time favorite colors. What a long life to be proud of and remember all of the joyous times you have shared.
Blessings, Jo Ann:budge:

Jo Ann, I'm sad to hear about what your birdie had to go through but it's also great that the surgery was a success! Was it difficult for Jack to adjust to his new life with one wing? I worry about how Chi-Chi will adjust to not having a tail. I'm hoping to try the same thing and pay the vet bill in installments.

Kristen, Chi-Chi's surgery is this Tuesday. I'm going to try and pay for the surgery in installments though, so I don't think I need to have all the money ready by Tuesday. I will keep Chi-Chi's fundraiser page up for a while yet. I don't want to rush you, so whenever you are comfortable or able to donate would be wonderful. And if in the end you can't, just the fact that you considered it and wanted to means a lot to me! Really, it is very sweet of you. (Chi-Chi says hi by the way! He is keeping me company and sitting on the keyboard as I am typing this)

My Sweet

We started Jack alone in a small hospital cage for a few days and as soon as the drugs wore off We brought his beloved hen to visit under supervision until We were sure she would not try to pull his stitches. Then we moved them to a larger cage for a while and then to a modified for climbing flight cage, with a couple of other birds that were unable to fly.
We started him out holding my finger and flapping his wing. If they let go they turn around backward because the opposite wing is missing when they let go.

As he became more comfortable We took everyone in his little flock and let them fly in our soft training net. I would hold him on my hand letting him flap
at the level of he flock in flight to get as close as possible to flying with the flock. He had quite a personality, always first to the new water bath and a sweet loving husband. We tried to help him mate but he never filled any more eggs. His lady is still with us and a number of his off spring, One Johnny Winter, looks just like Jack but has a lot more frosting. He is smaller than Jack was.

So yes, With care I think your little one can adjust and possibly fly. We took a mosquito net made for a round picnic table and hung it over our bed to provide a very safe landing place for babies and of course Jack and his crew
when we gave them wing exercise. We laid a sheet on our bedspread and threw it in the washer and secured the net on the bed so landing was a nice soft mattress.

Praying for recovery and many years to come. I get too attached and have to step back to get necessary done. I feel your fear and potential loss. Put this in Gods hands to be the best for him. Blessings,
Jo Ann:budge::budge:

Jo Ann, what a great idea using the mosquito net around the bed! I might have to try that. I did worry about how to control Chi-Chi if he tries to fly and crash lands. Of course that won't be until after he recovers from surgery, but I'm thinking ahead! You're so lucky you have some of Jack's offspring. I thought about breeding Chi-Chi years ago - I would've loved to have had some mini Chi-Chis! But I've never bred birds before so it seemed a bit above my skill level. Chi-Chi's surgery is tomorrow at 1:00, but I'm dropping him off at 9am. I'll let you know how it goes! I'm extremely nervous... I don't know what to expect. I've tried to make this week super special for him in the event that something goes wrong during surgery. He's been getting lots of Maggie time I filmed so many cute new videos in the last week but I haven't gotten the chance to upload them yet!

kcladyz, Luckily I think I have raised enough that I can pay for the first couple installments of the surgery! I did consider putting him to sleep but I really want to try everything I can to save him first... He's got so much spunk and love for life that I would hate to put an otherwise healthy bird to sleep. And I'd hate to watch him slowly get worse as the cancer progresses.