Am I a horrible horrible horrible person?

[Pikmin]

Long story short...

I bought a new budgie on Friday, and the pet shop owner held him in such a way that I could only see his top half.
So I get him home in his box, let him out, and everything seems fine...

After a while, I notice he has deformed feet.. However, I was more than happy to let him live with me like that, after finding a lot of people on-line saying they can live perfectly happy lives with deformities. Though I was still a bit annoyed she hid them from us...

Later, we notice he hasn't gone toilet at all, watch him for a while, and see that his underside is frankly, a mess. Sorry if you were eating while you were reading this, but yeah. So I find on-line that this is most likely a sign of a bacterial infection... So mum talked to me about it and I'm considering taking him back, as it's only been a short amount of time I'd be allowed...

But if I do... Are they going to pay for him to go to the vet? Mum does tell me that they have agreements with vets for cheaper treatment, but then he'll be older and stuck in the shop, with his deformed feet, and no one will buy him will they? They'll want the cute little babies with perfect feet and sweet fluffy feathers...

And I think about that, and I just really feel awful for him.. Even worse, what if they DON'T take him to the vet? He may just die... But then, why is it fair for them to do this without warning people? I've already grown fond of the little guy and after two days I find out he's ill?.. Torn between being angry at the shop and wanting to protect a little budgie from the world.

And then I just think I'm an evil person for even thinking about taking him back ._. I mean, it's not his fault...
Everything sucks. The world sucks.

[Yggdrasil]

No you are not a bad person.
It happens, and no they are legally not allowed to do that, if there is a problem with the animal they are supposed to let you know, or it's false advertising.
Anyhow chances are they didn't want to take him to the vet, because even if they get it cheaper it still costs, and they don't want to pay. So they thought they could dump him on you, poor thing. Personally i would have taken it anyhow, knowing it had issues, because if they aren't going to care for it, someone has to.
Your best bet is to fine a complaint with their higher ups and take the little guy to the vet yourself. At least he's guaranteed the care he needs in the hands of a kind owner. And again, thinking o taking him back does not make you bad, some people aren't prepared for the responsibility of taking care of a deformed animal, but others are.

[Pikmin]

His deformity isn't what's bothering me, when I saw that first I just shrugged it off, after finding plenty of people that said they can live perfectly happy lives with them... And apparently it's most likely caused by him having a mother that sat on him too much, or was overweight, poor thing.

I'd also prefer not to take him back, it's just the frustration of only having him two days and to find out he's sick... To the point he may possibly die from it. I want to hug the little thing and make it all better, but mum says it's the shops responsibility, and I know she's right. I'm mad at them really, they should have helped him sooner... Up until this I've considered it a very good shop.
Of course there's the chance they didn't notice.. But as he was one of only four budgies left, I doubt it.

[Yggdrasil]

Makes sense
But if they did notice they decided to push him off on someone instead of teat him themselves, if not then they need to pay better attention to their animals.

[neomattlac]

You could complain to their higher ups and just have them pay for the vet bill to start with, but that would probably require a lawsuit and end up with you returning the dog bird anyways.
And you are not a bad person. Just go back to the shop and explain the situation. That should be the first plan.

[KoyiTar]

Meow a budge is a type of bird silly Willy silly.

Ok now that I got that out of my system. No wanting to take the bird back doesn't make you a bad person. The bad guys in this case is the pet store for seemingly neglecting the bird in the first place. Then hiding the issues that was wrong with the bird in order to make a sale. All in all they need to be reported to their higher ups and if that drank work then your local aspca should be able to take a look into the matter and see how well this pet store is truly caring for the animals.

My opinion is keep the bird and take it to the vet yourself. Because if you take it back its either not going to receive the care it needs and just die. Or they sill do the same to another person that they did to you. Hide the true condition of the bird to make a sale. Which is unfair to the poor thing.

[neomattlac]

First off, I had no idea what a budgie was. I thought you were talking slang for a hound dog, for who knows what reason.
Probably because of the deformed feet comment.

[Pikmin]

Well, I ended up taking him back today, to ask for advice etc, and maybe to get them to pay for vet bills...

And the little budgie just seemed to spark to life o3o He was climbing all around his cage and cheeping, and then I saw one of the other budgies that was in the same aviary as him start cheeping back...
It turns out they'd bonded and we never knew... No wonder he was so sad, we basically split a couple up

Because he'd bonded with a female though, we ended up giving him back (I got my money back), and they've said they're going to do checks on him, then sell them as a pair. And I do actually believe them, we've been customers in that shop for literally years and this is the first thing to ever go wrong. And I think the girl that made the mistake is somewhat new to the place, but really nice, so she'll get it o\

I do still worry a bit whether someone will buy a bird with a deformed foot, but the important thing is he's a bloody happy bird now lol, and if they are a breeding pair maybe someone will be interested...

So happy he's happy though x3 Even if I no longer have a budgie... We're gonna go to another shop and look at some more budgies, hopefully find some that haven't bonded with each-other.

[Chu]

*hugs* You are so incredibly sweet. I'm shocked that you even questioned whether you were a bad person at all. Of course someone will adopt him. :] Someone with an equally kind heart and understanding attitude will love him.

I helped take care of a mother cat and her kittens during the summer and worried myself sick over whether any would be adopted together or even at all. As it turns out, we kept two kittens, one went to a very loving family, and the other stayed with its mama with another family. Everyone is happy! Things work out like that if you trust others to step up to the plate. <3

[sychobunny]

T_T this is such a sad story, with a mostly happy ending (the pair can be together again).
Knowing me, I'd probably ask mommy if I could have the pair. Though taking him back was the right decision.

[KoyiTar]

Yay for the budgie being a happy bird again and getting the care it needs. Sorry if my earlier post came off grumpy I hadn't had my coffee heh. I'm sorry you don't have a little bird friend for yourself anymore though. Hopefully you can get another one that hasn't bonded.

I'm sure someone will be kind and adopt the one you had to take back and his mate. budgie pairs especially mating ones tend to sell really well. At least around where I live. *huggels all because she can*.

[Pikmin]

*Is so not used to being called sweet o.o*

Don't worry Koyi, I don't think you sounded grumpy /o\ Maybe 'cos I'm grumpy all the time anyway..

I would've loooooooved to keep the pair, they were just so adorable calling to each-other like they'd been apart forever :< But they would've had many (adorable) babies and I just don't know if we could take care of them all... Then again, we did it with gerbils... I want the baby budgies now....

But yeah, I think someone will take them on, seeing as actually finding a breeding pair tends to be a pain, and they both lack the yellow pigment base (ie: white and blue, which is sliiiightly rarer than the yellow ones)

I'm thinking of getting to a different pet shop, we phoned them earlier and they said they had lots of budgies newly in... Budgies... BUDGIES! They're so cuuuuute... In case you can't tell, I'm a bird person.
Also a worrier, which is why I'm so glad he's a happy budgie now <3