My budgie is puffed up with his eyes closed on the floor of the cage — what's wrong?

Take him to an avian or exotics vet today — now, wherever the nearest one is, even if it means a drive. Birds are prey animals and they hide illness with extraordinary discipline. By the time a bird sits fluffed on the floor of the cage with his eyes closed, he has usually been ill for days or weeks and he has simply run out of reserve. This is not a wait-until-morning situation, because birds die overnight.

On the way, keep him warm and quiet: a covered carrier, gentle warmth around 26–29°C (80–85°F), never a hot surface he can burn himself on. Do not force food or water into his beak, because a weak bird inhales it. Do not bathe him.

Take the cage paper with you exactly as it is. Do not clean it. The droppings are a large part of an avian exam, and a day of droppings tells us more than any story: look yourself at whether they have changed colour, gone watery, turned green or black, or almost stopped. Photograph the whole cage and the food you give him.

Two things to check while you drive. First, whether that full dish is actually full of empty husks — a budgie can look like he is eating when he is only shelling seed and swallowing nothing. Second, whether anything fumed in the house: an overheated non-stick pan or a self-cleaning oven can kill birds within minutes, and if that is even a possibility, fresh air comes first. What is actually wrong is for the vet in front of him to work out, with the bird, the droppings and the history in hand.