HELP !!! My African Grey WON'T eat

Hi My Name is Ilham
I have an African Grey, his name is Boi
And around these days, He has some problems...

I already put the description and his images on the link below

https://imgur.com/a/yvVuFax

I hope someone can reach this, Thank you very much

When did you last have him to the vet?
Is he only eating seeds? If so, it is possible he could have developed a liver issue (assuming you included the greenish poop pictures because they looked different from normal)...
BUT sometimes poop can look that way for other reasons tooo-- I mean, in my unprofessional opinion, something is wrong (as birds hide illness until it is too hard to do so)...
but it could also be bacterial, fungal or viral and you won't know without testing (preferably by an avian certified vet, if at all possible..if not, other vets (if they see birds) can still do some of the same things, but they do not have the same knowledge or capacity for diagnosis).

Thank you for replying Mr/Mrs. Noodles123

He loves to eat banana the last 2 days and He's rarely eating seeds
but his meal portion is much less than usual ( Kaytee ).

I bring him to the general vet 5 days ago, and the doctor said that it just an appetite problem and try to feed different food so I give him banana.

as I mentioned in the image description, his weight is slightly lighter and look thinner. His body temperature is normal and His behavior is the same as usual no sign of stress

I tried to give him pellets that should be arrived today because the delivery service is a little bit lacking these days and I'll look for an avian vet near my city if available.

I hope that you could give me some advice about the bird's care until I find an Avian Vet today.

Thank you..

zedindiano said:

Thank you for replying Mr/Mrs. Noodles123

He loves to eat banana the last 2 days and He's rarely eating seeds
but his meal portion is much less than usual ( Kaytee ).

I bring him to the general vet 5 days ago, and the doctor said that it just an appetite problem and try to feed different food so I give him banana.

as I mentioned in the image description, his weight is slightly lighter and look thinner. His body temperature is normal and His behavior is the same as usual no sign of stress

I tried to give him pellets that should be arrived today because the delivery service is a little bit lacking these days and I'll look for an avian vet near my city if available.

I hope that you could give me some advice about the bird's care until I find an Avian Vet today.

Thank you..

Click to expand...

You could try mashing up a few pellets and mixing with mix plain oatmeal (room temp or lukewarm warm)--you don't want to give them TOO many pellets, as they do contain vitamins (and too many vitamins can have toxic impacts as well)...I am not saying cut off seeds 100%, but you should try to wean to something else gradually (with seeds being a treat or minimal aspect of diet in the long-term). You need him to eat for now, so keep it as health as possible while keeping him stable.

I think your first vet is 500% wrong- birds don't have "appetite" problems unless something is wrong...BUT, in the meantime, do try to keep him eating!
Don't give too much banana, as it is very high in sugar, but again, they do need to eat, so if that is all he will eat at this point, in my opinion, it is better than nothing.

When a Parrot slows and/or stops eating, feed whatever they will eat. The sugar in a banana will at least keep him alive at this point.

What did the prior owner provide your Parrot?

Thank you for replying Mr/Mrs. SailBoat

I will try to feed Boi with Banana, Oat and Pellet

The First Owner said the same, just keep feeding Boi with another diet plan as long he likes it and safe for him.

I've already found another Vet near the city. It's not an Avian Vet but has a good reputation for years so I'll try to bring him there...

Thank you for Mr/Mrs. noodles123 and Sailboat response
Please wish Boi all the best
I will keep updating Boi's condition after this

Best Regards

Hi Ilham, I read your description and had a few questions. Is Boi still being handfed baby formula (Kaytee exact hand rearing formula) from a syringe? Is this what he is refusing to eat?
Getting him to a good vet is important and you've been given some good advice. At this point keep him eating whatever he will eat that is safe is the most important thing.

mica21493 said:

Hi Ilham, I read your description and had a few questions. Is Boi still being handfed baby formula (Kaytee exact hand rearing formula) from a syringe? Is this what he is refusing to eat?
Getting him to a good vet is important and you've been given some good advice. At this point keep him eating whatever he will eat that is safe is the most important thing.

Click to expand...

Very good question-I was thinking Kaytee seeds when I answered

noodles123 said:

mica21493 said:

Hi Ilham, I read your description and had a few questions. Is Boi still being handfed baby formula (Kaytee exact hand rearing formula) from a syringe? Is this what he is refusing to eat?
Getting him to a good vet is important and you've been given some good advice. At this point keep him eating whatever he will eat that is safe is the most important thing.

Click to expand...

Very good question-I was thinking Kaytee seeds when I answered

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply guys...

So Today, I go to the vet that I mentioned before, and Boi got checked up.
The Veterinarian said Boi has a healthy beak and lungs,
Boi also has good skin and feather condition too.
The main reason why Boi is refusing to eat probably because of these reasons:
1. Digestion / Bacterial problem so his appetite is gone
2. Bored with the food and afraid of the syringe

Stress is likely not the reason why Boi is sick because his behavior is normal, but His eating problem right now can cause Boi to weakened and stressed because of hunger.

The Veterinarian then gives Boi a vitamin injection to help his malnutrition, and hope that he would gain his appetite again.

I give the Pelet, Banana and Oat Meal after I went to vet and Boi's still same, He's still refusing. I don't know what to do anymore, This just too stressful for me.

Right now he's tired, and he seems to less talkative than yesterday. This is made me worry so much that this is getting more serious.

My question is ...
Should I force-feed him with Kaytee to save him?
Or Should I wait for the Vet home visit tomorrow morning?

btw Thank you so much guys for helping me so far

zedindiano said:

noodles123 said:

mica21493 said:

Hi Ilham, I read your description and had a few questions. Is Boi still being handfed baby formula (Kaytee exact hand rearing formula) from a syringe? Is this what he is refusing to eat?
Getting him to a good vet is important and you've been given some good advice. At this point keep him eating whatever he will eat that is safe is the most important thing.

Click to expand...

Very good question-I was thinking Kaytee seeds when I answered

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply guys...

So Today, I go to the vet that I mentioned before, and Boi got checked up.
The Veterinarian said Boi has a healthy beak and lungs,
Boi also has good skin and feather condition too.
The main reason why Boi is refusing to eat probably because of these reasons:
1. Digestion / Bacterial problem so his appetite is gone
2. Bored with the food and afraid of the syringe

Stress is likely not the reason why Boi is sick because his behavior is normal, but His eating problem right now can cause Boi to weakened and stressed because of hunger.

The Veterinarian then gives Boi a vitamin injection to help his malnutrition, and hope that he would gain his appetite again.

I give the Pelet, Banana and Oat Meal after I went to vet and Boi's still same, He's still refusing. I don't know what to do anymore, This just too stressful for me.

Right now he's tired, and he seems to less talkative than yesterday. This is made me worry so much that this is getting more serious.

My question is ...
Should I force-feed him with Kaytee to save him?
Or Should I wait for the Vet home visit tomorrow morning?

btw Thank you so much guys for helping me so far

Click to expand...

If they didn't do a gram stain or anything they are literally just guessing that your bird "seems" alright. Did they run any tests? He may need medication (like an antibiotic- if it's bacterial)...or he could have fungal problem...
When you say Kaytee, you are talking about the formula mix or seed?

Also- why would he scared of the syringe (that's what the vet said, right?) if that is what he has been eating out of in the past?

So has this bird ever eaten on his own? is he unweaned?

I am really confused--- was he eating on his own and then stopped?
Have you always had to hand-feed?
How long has this been going on?

I don’t have a solution for you, but I can encourage you to not give up. I am going through a very similar situation with my Eclectus. What’s different is I have to get him through another 48 hours before he can see a vet.
Winston will eat treats (nuts and seeds), so I mix that in with his regular food. I also provide him a mashed up diet (soft food like sweet potato, oats, peas). Something that can sneak into his beak when he’s looking for seeds. Members on this forum recommended to keep watching his hydration level, too.
I’m convinced that mine will need a crop culture and antibiotics (gosh, I am a very conservative med user, but antibiotics sometimes just work wonders.) I don’t know about your baby, but we might be in the same boat.

I think you should provide any food he’d take at the moment and see the vet tomorrow. Good luck to both of us.

Did you ask about a gram-stain when you went in? I know your vet isn't a bird vet, but most exotics vets can also do them and the bird doesn't have to be there---for a gram-stain, the vet puts dye on a slide with a bit of the fresh sample and then just looks at the slide under a microscope for gram-negative vs gram-positive bacteria and yeast. Hopefully they could at least tell you if they saw gram-negative bacteria (even if they didn't know the type..) Note: gram-negative bacteria is never natural in a bird's system, so it would be one indicator that an antibiotic was needed...

noodles123 said:

zedindiano said:

noodles123 said:

Very good question-I was thinking Kaytee seeds when I answered

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply guys...

So Today, I go to the vet that I mentioned before, and Boi got checked up.
The Veterinarian said Boi has a healthy beak and lungs,
Boi also has good skin and feather condition too.
The main reason why Boi is refusing to eat probably because of these reasons:
1. Digestion / Bacterial problem so his appetite is gone
2. Bored with the food and afraid of the syringe

Stress is likely not the reason why Boi is sick because his behavior is normal, but His eating problem right now can cause Boi to weakened and stressed because of hunger.

The Veterinarian then gives Boi a vitamin injection to help his malnutrition, and hope that he would gain his appetite again.

I give the Pelet, Banana and Oat Meal after I went to vet and Boi's still same, He's still refusing. I don't know what to do anymore, This just too stressful for me.

Right now he's tired, and he seems to less talkative than yesterday. This is made me worry so much that this is getting more serious.

My question is ...
Should I force-feed him with Kaytee to save him?
Or Should I wait for the Vet home visit tomorrow morning?

btw Thank you so much guys for helping me so far

Click to expand...

If they didn't do a gram stain or anything they are literally just guessing that your bird "seems" alright. Did they run any tests? He may need medication (like an antibiotic- if it's bacterial)...or he could have fungal problem...
When you say Kaytee, you are talking about the formula mix or seed?

Also- why would he scared of the syringe (that's what the vet said, right?) if that is what he has been eating out of in the past?

So has this bird ever eaten on his own? is he unweaned?

I am really confused--- was he eating on his own and then stopped?
Have you always had to hand-feed?
How long has this been going on?

Click to expand...

The full diagnose test should be tomorrow, today the vet just checked him up and give vitamin injection.

his usual food is Kaytee Exact for baby parrot with hand-feeding

First, that is my 'personal' guess about his fear of Syringe and I told the vet the story. So I guess it began when My father trying to feed him, When he just eat a little of his portion, my father seems like to force him to eat. I think that just backfired and made Boi doesn't like the Syringe. When I put the Kaytee on to the spoon, He seems didn't have any problem with that but he refused to be force-fed. But after all it just my guessing so I don't blame anyone, I just want to give my father advice so hopefully, this will never happen again

These 4 months, He barely eating any fruit or veggies. Because I thought that if he is fine with Kaytee, that's fine by me but I never expect he suddenly doesn't like to eat it anymore

He began to eat on his own when I first adopted him. I tried to give them half-cooked sweet corn but after few weeks, He began to stop eat the corn and his diet is just the Kaytee.

And that was until his appetite for Kaytee is slowly gone, then I tried to give him Apple, Papaya, Banana, and some Exotic Seeds just to make sure his nutrition is not lacking. Later I find out that Banana is his favorite so I feed him every time with it now.

So it's like a transition between Kaytee and Diet Fruits. He's eating Banana and Seeds on his own right now but always a little compared to his usual with Kaytee. Yesterday I tried to weigh him, and he's lost about 15 grams of his weight this week. His activity is slower than usual and He looks thinner

This has happened for a week, and I always interact with him every day since the first day I adopted him (I'm currently Work from Home because of the Corona pandemic) and this also makes me confused, What causes him stopped eating so I just hoping for the Disgestional and Bacterial test tomorrow

Thank you and please wish Boi's the best for him

shinyuankuo said:

I don’t have a solution for you, but I can encourage you to not give up. I am going through a very similar situation with my Eclectus. What’s different is I have to get him through another 48 hours before he can see a vet.
Winston will eat treats (nuts and seeds), so I mix that in with his regular food. I also provide him a mashed up diet (soft food like sweet potato, oats, peas). Something that can sneak into his beak when he’s looking for seeds. Members on this forum recommended to keep watching his hydration level, too.
I’m convinced that mine will need a crop culture and antibiotics (gosh, I am a very conservative med user, but antibiotics sometimes just work wonders.) I don’t know about your baby, but we might be in the same boat.

I think you should provide any food he’d take at the moment and see the vet tomorrow. Good luck to both of us.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your encouragement and advice !!
I hope for both our birds can get through this and both of us can play with them again

I will keep you guys updated tomorrow

So, he doesn't sound like he was ever fully weaned (I could be wrong..--he sounds like he was working up to it, as he was eating some solids, but not quite there)...I am NOT an expert...but you might look at this thread and see if any of the info applies...
I tried to get the author of this thread to look at your post, but they are not currently available---hoping maybe they check-in soon, as they know a lot about hand-feeding!
http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

I mean, you DO have to hand-feed a young baby with a syringe...BUT...at this point, it does sound like a lot more is going on...as he is rejecting most foods (including the formula and solids)

At some point, were you feeding him formula and offering solid foods on the same day (offering solids but supplementing with formula)? From what I understand, that is pretty typical in the weaning process.

My concern is that tiny things, like temperature and sterilization can be huge for a baby eating from a syringe and even little mistakes can lead to bacterial infections etc.... I hope someone who knows more can chime in..

**ALSO--Early on, when I said to feed pellets and not just seed, that was because I thought you meant Kaytee seed mix when I read your post initially. I didn't know he was still hand-feeding on the formula...so don't worry about pellets at the moment-- just focus on getting him to eat). I had no idea how young he was-- so my reply originally was what I would have written to someone with an older bird that was totally weaned and eating independently 100% of the time.

If he’s taking some banana...

Crush up some pellets into a fine powder and dip the banana slice into it. He’ll get extra nutrition this way.

Also, whatever you do, DON’T put any liquid vitamin in his water. It seems like the right thing to do but it isn’t, which also makes me wonder about the vitamin injection the vet gave him. I’m far from an expert, but that seems like treating a symptom and not the cause.

Also, have you tried EVERY possible thing he may like to eat? I would be at the store buying up every damn thing he would possibly eat and trying it, including some jars of baby food. You’re racing the clock here.

I am by no means an expert but I do have some experience with handfeeding and weaning. Please read the link that Noodles sent you very carefully. Can you contact a local parrot breeder for recommendations and advice?
It seems like there is quite a lot going on here. I believe most Greys start to wean around 3-4 months like he was doing when you got him. It also seems like Boi is underweight at 340 grams for a Congo grey.
Please don't give up. At this point, I would treat Boi as if he is sick. Keep him warm, as close to 90 degrees as you can get (wings out and panting is too hot). Offer him handfeeding formula on a spoon and make sure it is the correct temperature (104 degrees) and consistency. Offer him a variety of foods in a variety of forms. Chopped small, chunks, mashed, etc. Offer any food that is safe including seeds. Soak some pellets in warm water until soft and offer those. Remove moist foods after two hours to prevent spoilage. Keep weighing him at the same time each day and record the weights. Keep an eye on his droppings.
I wish you and Boi the best and that the vet can offer some help tomorrow.

I don’t want to drive you crazy, but...

Unless you can find a REAL specialist in birds, and I don’t know what the certification procedures are required in your country, if any...

Is there a zoo near you? If so, get on the phone, get on e-mail, and/or get in your car and BEG their avian specialist to help you. One day can make all of the difference in the world.

One day is what killed my Congo Grey, Tonto.

I wouldn’t trust ANY breeder to help you here. This is a medical situation.

In case you would like more information, or a second opinion, regarding veterinary advice, I'll offer these links.
Certified Avian Vets
https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/
If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
In my opinion, any of the vets listed above should be better than a regular vet, although exceptions do exist!
Sometimes, it helps just to Google "avian veterinarian - [YOUR LOCATION]"
And here is a link concerning COVID issues...
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/85090-covid-19-veterinary-care.html

Sorry for the late reply everyone...

This morning I searched for the vet that can do a Gram Stain, but Unfortunately, none of them have the implements to do that. So I just read all of your advice and went shopping in the morning. I told my sister to always watch Boi regarding his condition and contact me if anything happens

I bought all the Bird Pellets I can found, I also bought fruits that parrot can eat/tolerate and I also bought some corn and potatoes. I didn't buy nuts because I bought it 4 days ago and Boi seems to don't like it so there's plenty at home, But I try to give Boi all of that diet including Nuts before I went shopping.

It takes 2 and a half hours for shopping then I return to my home. And when I have arrived, I found that He ate the Nuts and Fruits that I gave him
And it's much more from yesterdays but still less than Kaytee Formula he usually eats. But for me, it's like a MIRACLE that his appetite is back and he's eating normally again now.

His behavior is more energetic now, and he begins to actively talk with us again. Although his weight is dropping again by 7 grams from before, I'm sooo glad that he's starting to eat again by himself and I know he needs time to recover. And from today, I will give him variants of the diet so he won't be bored anymore.

I'm planning to go to the vet tomorrow to check him up again, and I hope nothing bad is going to happen to Boi anymore.

So, Guys, I'm really thankful for all of your help, guide, and advice.

I will keep you guys updated tomorrow again