* Kiwi found his forever home with a lovely person! Congrats Kiwi! *

Kiwi was surrendered to Toronto Animal Services by his owner. Poor Kiwi was in rough shape. His beak was deformed. He is missing parts of his toes and there were wounds on his feet. He had a pretty bad mite infestation when he arrived, so the shelter started him on treatment. Kiwi wasn’t doing well in the shelter, so TAS reached out to us for help. We couldn’t say no to this poor guy.

We sent Kiwi straight from the shelter to the avian specialist vet at Burloak Animal Hospital. After his exam, the vet let us know that dietary deficiencies, and/or the severe mite infestation could have contributed to Kiwi’s beak malformation. He couldn’t close his beak properly because of the issue, but thankfully he was still able to eat. The vet cleaned up his foot wounds best they could and trimmed his remaining nails. The vet noted that Kiwi’s primary feathers do not appear to have grown in at all, but she wasn’t 100% sure why they were missing. Kiwi also had several broken blood feathers. It seems this wee budgie had been through the ringer.
Back at his foster home, Kiwi was started on medication, and his cage was modified to accommodate his tender feet and lack of flight feathers. He did great over the next few weeks, and at his re-check vet appointment, the vet was thrilled at his progress. Kiwi’s beak is growing in mostly normally now, which is amazing. The vet trimmed his beak and nails, and they let us know that Kiwi was ready to find his forever home! The vet suggested he have regular vet visits to keep his beak and feet in check.

Here’s a note from Kiwi’s foster family:
“When he first arrived, Kiwi didn’t have much to say, but he sings and chats to himself all day since he’s been feeling better. It’s very sweet to hear. He’s not used to being handled, but we think he could be hand tamed if his adopters had the time and patience to work with him. It would be best to keep wooden perches covered with vet wrap to keep his feet from getting sore again, and/or use primarily twisted rope perches. Because of his lack of flight feathers, he should have many perches and landing spots in his enclosure so he can hop from place to place. He can fly, but not very far.
He has just started to eat veggies, but he’s quite picky about them. Romaine lettuce and dandelion leaf are favourites so far. He loves spray millet.
We’re sure Kiwi would appreciate having friends, so we’re hoping he’ll find a home where there are other budgies.
We’ve loved having Kiwi here, but he’s ready to fly off to his new home!”