Budgerigars by Barrie Shutt

Lumps and bumps.

 

Budgerigars can develop lumps,these can be on the outside or inside of the birds body.

 

Remember these lumps may not be tumours.

 

 

Often a lump can just be an abscess,these are areas of tissue which may be swollen

 

and inflamed due to a bacterial infection.we can often see a fat bird and our first

 

thoughts are cancer whereas it is nothing more than a large deposit of fat beneath

 

 the skin.If the fat bird is a female, the lump we are concerned about may be an egg.

 

Swellings,lumps and growths can be a diseased kidney or liver which is enlarged.

 

Many times the bump is a cyst,a tissue sac filled with fluid or other loose substance.

 

I have a bird at the moment with a feather cyst,this is caused when a new feather

 

 is soft and cannot break through the skin,this cyst then fills up with keratin .

 

Cysts are not cancerous -  they may fill up with more fluid and get bigger,

 

 but they will not grow and spread like a tumour.

Tumours.

A tumour is a solid mass of tissue that may grow very quickly and spreads,these can

 

be found anywhere on the body,under the skin,protruding from the skin or inside

 

 the body.There are two main types of tumours,the non cancerous benign and the

 

 cancerous kind,malignant.Both of these can be life - threatening to budgies but

 

the benign are less serious than the malignant tumours. Most benign tumours will

 

not return and can be removed by the avian vet.