Budgie Is Holding Head To One Side

Recently my one year old budgie has started to hold his head on one side. This has impaired his flying a great deal, to the point of crashing. He has also just started to walk around in circles. What is wrong with him? (Charles Gilpin - Ohio)

There are a few possible reasons for these symptoms. Parasitic infections such as toxoplasmosis can induce sever symptoms, such as blindness, head tilt, circling and paralysis. Vitamin E and selenium deficiencies can be a chronic deficiency in adults, and can cause weakness and head tilt amongst other symptoms.

Also, an ear infection could be the cause, although with such advanced symptoms you would expect to see some discharge. A bird's ears open near the eyes and are well hidden by the feathers. If you part the feathers, you may be able to see the opening, which should not be swollen or have a discharge. If there is a bacterial infection, the tissues will become swollen and the opening is no longer clearly visible.

As you can see, without a thorough vet examination there is no way of checking which of these illnesses your bird has, and several possible causes are extremely dangerous indeed. Please arrange to see a vet as soon as possible, preferably one with an interest in avian medicine.