Parakeets and Vomiting

First, note that vomiting is far different from regurgitation. When a parakeet regurgitates, it gently brings up partially digested food, often as a sign of love. This is how parent parakeets feed their babies, and how parakeets that are in love feed each other. This often happens when a parakeet falls in love with you the owner, too. The parakeet might bob their head a bit, and then 'bring up' a few seeds for you. Tell your parakeet that she is a good girl and put the seeds in the trash if this happens :)

However, just like humans vomit when their tummies hurt, parakeets vomit too. A real "vomit" involves the stomach contents spewing out of the parakeet's mouth and nose and often all over the cage.

Why do parakeets vomit? You might as well ask why humans vomit. Sometimes it's because we eat something that is bad for us - bad food, toys, whatever. Sometimes it's because we have a cold and the vomiting is just a part of the sickness. Sometimes it's because we inhaled bad fumes and the fumes made us ill. Sometimes it's that we have a much more serious problem - like a tumor - and the vomiting is a sign that something is wrong with our system.

So the same is true with a parakeet. Something caused the vomit, but the vomit is not "the problem". It's just a symptom. First, go with the assumption that it was something they ate - either a strange object or bad food. Clean out their cage and get them fresh, healthy food, fresh water and clean linings. Check the temperature around the cage to make sure it's warm - not hot or cold - with no breezes. Make sure they're covered at night and have a full 8 hours of dark sleep. If it was a one-time ingestion problem or a cold, this should help them get over it.

Make sure you're not using teflon cookware and that nobody is smoking or lighting incense or using carpet cleaner around the cage. That should take care of any fume issues.

If the parakeet still gets sick again, take him in to a vet. Something more serious might be wrong, and the doctor can run the tests to figure out what it is.

NOTE: I AM NOT A VET! If you have ANY concern about your parakeet's health and safety, no 'far off person' on the web will be able to accurately diagnose the issue. You need to bring your keet to a real, live vet to see the symptoms first hand and take appropriate action.

Parakeet Medical and Safety Information