There's a rescued parakeet in an office down the hall from me at work. It's at least 4 years old. The last week or so he's not been himself, and is getting worse. Symptoms are: tilting his head, trembling a lot, not able to move around well in his cage. He's also making occasional unusual, soft chirps which I interpret as distress.

Without going into details, me sweeping in and taking him to the vet will be stepping on toes. I've already offered to take him, but cost is being brought up as a factor, since you can buy one for something like $7. I suspect an infection and am willing to pay out-of-pocket if I can order a broad spectrum antibiotic, or whatever might help him.

Is there anything I might be able to do to help the poor fella out, short of just taking him to the vet?

Edit: This is the only thing I've found, so far: https://vetafarm.com/product/triple-c-2/

Edit: Additional symptoms - before the head tiling to the side starting he was kind of tilting his head back. His feathers have been dull in color, and puffed out a lot more than usual. The dull color has been typical of him for several months.

I'm not an expert by any means but we have sold a bunch of them at our store.

It sounds like a bird Vet visit is warranted.

We tell people that if they accept the responsibility of an animal part of that is keeping them healthy and caring for them when they aren't.

I'd go ahead and step on those toes and get the bird to a bird vet.

A vet visit is indeed in order. I don't disagree. In this particular case, however, I'm trying to see if there are any other measures that can be taken first. That is the purpose of my question. (no disrespect intended - I'm just not looking for moral advice on the matter)

Sound neurological maybe a stroke.
If he's been on a strictly seed diet, could be a fatty liver disorder. But more than likely a mild stroke for a high fat diet.
I've administered broad spectrum gram negative to injured birds to fight bacteria.
But more than likely, the little budgie is mortally ill.

He has been on a seed diet, yes. The fact that his feathers have been dull for a long time, and he did also have an episode a month or two ago where he was not acting well, seem to point to something other than an infection, I guess.

A vet will be $65+.
Not many people value the life of a little budgie.
I vet care my own birds.
I should have removed Coco's egg myself and I'm more competent than the idiots around here.
I saved an eggbound budgie I have.

Odds are the dull feathers are due to the seed diet and not getting needed vitamins seeds don’t have. The puffed feathers are usually a sign of illness and birds hide their illness well so when you see it then sometimes it can be too late unless something is done soon. It definitely needs a visit to a vet to be checked out or it will most likely die soon.

Is it always in the office and are any cleaning chemicals, candles, or scented items used around it? Birds are extremely sensitive to these items. If it is having problems moving around, then this sounds neurological to me, which could be from many things including stroke, metal poisoning, and other things. I know you have really given as much info as you can, but it is hard to know what might be going on without a whole lot more info. It really needs to go to a vet. No animal should suffer.

A pet store should have some generic medicinal drops, or at least they used to. It helped my parakeet years ago.