A bit worried about Cookie...

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Cookie has been spending a lot of time sleeping. He doesn't sleep on the highest branch. He stays on one of the lower branches around the middle of the cage. The days have been a bit colder right around the time Cookie began to sleep more often but Crippi doesn't sleep as often as Cookie does. Cookie's also moulting right now so that might be contributing to his tiredness. He only sleeps that much when he's in his cage and is more active when out.

If I ever leave the room he flies to me. He also flies to me when I call him as long as he knows he going to get a treat. He still vocalises like the way he normally does when he's outside of his cage but not when he's inside.

Also, I never see him near the food bowl. He may be eating when I'm not near by but I never see him eating. His crop is not empty (I felt it just now). I put a small bowl of seeds where he's always sleeping and he seemed very hungry. I can feed him if I have to since he loves baby bird food.

I'm not very sure what I should do. I would love to take him to a vet but my country doesn'y have any.

 

[Laurasea]

You need to have a digital kitchen scale , snd track weights. All parrit owners should do this.

While increase sleeping and wdigvt loss is how I caught thst my bird was sick and went to vet. Its not enough info for me to be able to give yiu any meaningful advice ,,as every illness oyt there can present like this..

A healthy diet with lots of veggies and leafy greens. Fresh clean water at all times, a clean large cage, indoor flight, and safe reinforced cagetime outside in shade or light shade while you stay right With the cage fir a few hours a week. Well all that veggies as great nutrition to add to the seed or the seed abd pellets diet. Especially Vitamin A well help tge body giuggt off infection. As does tge time outside , even in shade tge parrot featgers convert preen glabd oil go usable vitamin D as dies tge special gland in their eyes. Vitsmin D also plays a role in immune health.

You can feed a small amount of live culture yogurt, like a thumbprint size every few days. This might hp balance gut flora. A little protein will help with molt, maybe dine boiled egg, ( or scrambled) or cooked legume or lentil just a teaspoon amount. Sprouting seeds safely eith no molds also full of healthy enzymes.

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Thank you for your reply!

I have a kitchen scale and I just checked his weight. It's at 79 grams. I weighed him a few days ago and he was 80 grams so I think he's at a healthy weight.

I did a bit of recall training and checked if he still remembers how to wave (he does) and he did all these things very enthusiastically. He also flies to me even when I don't call him. He lost one of the two long tail feathers during recall and a lot of smaller feathers while I was giving him scritches so I'm pretty sure he's moulting right now.

During recall, I tried to see what Cookie would do if I moved my hand right when he was about to land. I did that about 3 times and all 3 times he changed direction and landed on hand so his reaction time is good.

He has a very large cage and shares it with Crippi and a budgie (he isn't tame but all the other budgies don't like him so we keep him indoors). All of them get along well enough. I'll try and post of picture of their cage soon.

As for his diet, he was weaned on seeds and does try veggies but isn't too keen on chop. I always give him mong bean sprouts (he loves these), dandelion greens, and carrots. He also gets green beans. I'm trying to get him to eat veggies but he doesn't eat them. I mix the veggies in with some seeds and Crippi seems more interested in it that Cookie is. I'll try and give him some boiled egg and see how that goes.

 

[Scott]

Sorry to know Cookie seems unwell. Hopefully a coincidence with molting. Can you recall if similar molts resulted in lethargy?

Might have to get creative for Cookie to enjoy chop. Have you tried serving just chop (no seeds available) for a few hours? The goal is not to "starve into submission" but remove the more tempting food for a safe period of time.

Another technique is to prepare two bowls of chop - one for you, the other for Cookie. Begin to eat from yours, making "mmmm" sounds, bob your head with joy. Birds are flock eaters and you are part of the flock. Even better, do the same with Cookie, Crippi, and the budgie.

 

[Laurasea]

parrots are so different, and whst works can be so different!
Yours is already some tgsts great dandelion greens are great!
My 3 quakers, 2 budgies, and GCC all came to me as seed eaters only. I never limited their seeds at all. I just kept offering stuff spread out in large glass shallow dishes spread out so each veg wasn't touching. Id woukd habd feed or offer by hand lits if different foods. I offer the foods in bunches of different ways, . Anyway now tgey eat a huge variety, and will explore new foods easily. Once they start try more things, tge better they get at trying more things. I think it helps to let thrm explore new foods out of the cage and spread out.
My budgies learned to eat pelets this way too, I never limited their seeds,
I've recently decided to call this veg by abundance or something, like the weaning by abundance, i thi k getting to try new foods by ubundance works too,! Tgey have the confidence to try new stuff. Last but not least , my flock eats together, so learn from each other

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Sorry to know Cookie seems unwell. Hopefully a coincidence with molting. Can you recall if similar molts resulted in lethargy?

Might have to get creative for Cookie to enjoy chop. Have you tried serving just chop (no seeds available) for a few hours? The goal is not to "starve into submission" but remove the more tempting food for a safe period of time.

Another technique is to prepare two bowls of chop - one for you, the other for Cookie. Begin to eat from yours, making "mmmm" sounds, bob your head with joy. Birds are flock eaters and you are part of the flock. Even better, do the same with Cookie, Crippi, and the budgie.

Thanks for the advice!

I have noticed that Cookie is sometimes a bit more lethargic during molts. Before his cage used to be in my brothers room and while I did spend a lot of time there I couldn't observe him as much. Now he's in a much bigger cage in the living room. It much more easier to observe him now so I believe that's why I noticed earlier. I think a sick bird would try and conserve as much energy as possible and the fact Cookie comes to me even when I don't call him makes me think it's just the fact that he's moulting.

parrots are so different, and whst works can be so different!
Yours is already some tgsts great dandelion greens are great!
My 3 quakers, 2 budgies, and GCC all came to me as seed eaters only. I never limited their seeds at all. I just kept offering stuff spread out in large glass shallow dishes spread out so each veg wasn't touching. Id woukd habd feed or offer by hand lits if different foods. I offer the foods in bunches of different ways, . Anyway now tgey eat a huge variety, and will explore new foods easily. Once they start try more things, tge better they get at trying more things. I think it helps to let thrm explore new foods out of the cage and spread out.
My budgies learned to eat pelets this way too, I never limited their seeds,
I've recently decided to call this veg by abundance or something, like the weaning by abundance, i thi k getting to try new foods by ubundance works too,! Tgey have the confidence to try new stuff. Last but not least , my flock eats together, so learn from each other

That's a great method to get them to eat veggies! Thanks for sharing.

I think that Cookie just doesn't like the way a prepared the veggies this time. I put the sprout and dandelion greens in a blender and tried to get a texture as close as possible to what a food processor could get, since I don't have one. Crippi seems to like his veggies like that but Cookie ate his veggies the way I usually prepare it. Which is by cutting it as small as I possibly can. I'm thinking preparing half of the veggies in a blender and the other half the way I usually do it so that both of them can have veggies.

 

[noodles123]

As someone who recently experienced an egg-bound bird, I don't want you to worry, but are you sure he is male? The weight increase, plus behavioral changes just should be considered-- not saying that is the issue, but it can be.

 

[Laurasea]

Taking extra naps can be a sign something is going on. Fir my GCC it was. She had a yeast infection. Her weight when sick was 69 grams, I hadn't weighed her before so that fell in tge normal range. So I thought was ok. Once she was well she weighs 74 grams! And has stayed steady at that for the last two years...

Your burds weight is on tge low end, what i found as a range is 90-100 grams, im not sure if thats tge absolute standard or anything tho.... Whats most important is knowing what your bird weighs, and a fluctuations of 1-3 grams for your size burd is normal, you are looking fir trends.

With molt it is a normal increased demand/ stress on the body. But they shouldn't really be extra sleepy. Sometimes a molt extra stress reveals previously hidden health issues.. because the body is handling two stressors..now a really ill burd usually won't molt or will have a prolonged molt.
What is the age of your burd? Older burds will start napping more.

Healthy burd will eat slight more during molt, and crave a tiny extra amont of protein before and during molt. I think there is a tiny uptick in moodiness during molt. But the burd shouldnt look patchy and ratty, yes they can have lots of pins.

A couple of years ago my burds looked patchy and ratty during molt. I had been really restricting seeds st that time. I took them to the avain vet specialist to get tgem checked out i was that concerned. My vet assured me tgey were fine abd it was norm to look like that at molt. I did not accept that!! So I did a bunch of research , which I think I put on my ornithology thread. As an aside I also am a naturalist and I have never observed wild burds looking crapy during molt ... Anyway my research showed that feathers are protein, and protein is required for growth. At the time I fed Harrison, zooprem, maybe Tops too, and lots of veggies , tiny amount seed, and no nuts ( i was out) abd tuny amount fruit.

I decided to add more seeds back to diet. And at tge next molt to really offer more protein. I choose eggs, chicken and walnuts for my protein. Well what a huge difference!!!@ my parrots really craved that extra protein just before and during molt. They looked fantastic during molt, not one bit patchy! They molted faster too! For the past two years tgey look great during molt, I only know tgey are molting because of tge feathers i find. They never look ratty or patchy. This year they started going after my meat meals, as tgey started earlier than I expected and I had nit increased their protein yet. So I offered more. Tgey definitely craved it, and soon tgey were shedding feathers. Now they have finished and their interest in protein has gone way down...

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

As someone who recently experienced an egg-bound bird, I don't want you to worry, but are you sure he is male? The weight increase, plus behavioral changes just should be considered-- not saying that is the issue, but it can be.

I am absoloutly sure that Cookie is a male. He's a cockatiel and has been through his first moult and doesn't have any markings on his feathers. He's also very vocal.

Taking extra naps can be a sign something is going on. Fir my GCC it was. She had a yeast infection. Her weight when sick was 69 grams, I hadn't weighed her before so that fell in tge normal range. So I thought was ok. Once she was well she weighs 74 grams! And has stayed steady at that for the last two years...

Your burds weight is on tge low end, what i found as a range is 90-100 grams, im not sure if thats tge absolute standard or anything tho.... Whats most important is knowing what your bird weighs, and a fluctuations of 1-3 grams for your size burd is normal, you are looking fir trends.

With molt it is a normal increased demand/ stress on the body. But they shouldn't really be extra sleepy. Sometimes a molt extra stress reveals previously hidden health issues.. because the body is handling two stressors..now a really ill burd usually won't molt or will have a prolonged molt.
What is the age of your burd? Older burds will start napping more.

Healthy burd will eat slight more during molt, and crave a tiny extra amont of protein before and during molt. I think there is a tiny uptick in moodiness during molt. But the burd shouldnt look patchy and ratty, yes they can have lots of pins.

A couple of years ago my burds looked patchy and ratty during molt. I had been really restricting seeds st that time. I took them to the avain vet specialist to get tgem checked out i was that concerned. My vet assured me tgey were fine abd it was norm to look like that at molt. I did not accept that!! So I did a bunch of research , which I think I put on my ornithology thread. As an aside I also am a naturalist and I have never observed wild burds looking crapy during molt ... Anyway my research showed that feathers are protein, and protein is required for growth. At the time I fed Harrison, zooprem, maybe Tops too, and lots of veggies , tiny amount seed, and no nuts ( i was out) abd tuny amount fruit.

I decided to add more seeds back to diet. And at tge next molt to really offer more protein. I choose eggs, chicken and walnuts for my protein. Well what a huge difference!!!@ my parrots really craved that extra protein just before and during molt. They looked fantastic during molt, not one bit patchy! They molted faster too! For the past two years tgey look great during molt, I only know tgey are molting because of tge feathers i find. They never look ratty or patchy. This year they started going after my meat meals, as tgey started earlier than I expected and I had nit increased their protein yet. So I offered more. Tgey definitely craved it, and soon tgey were shedding feathers. Now they have finished and their interest in protein has gone way down...

Thank you so much for all the advice!

I weighed him a couple hours ago and his weight was 77g which is concerning. This was before he ate so I'll weigh him again after he eats some more. Cookie's feathers don't look too messy during moults and the only way I know he's moulting is the amount of pin feathers and the amount of feathers in and around his cage. I tried to give Cookie some boiled egg but he did not like it. I'll try and give him some scrambled egg to see if he eats that. Cookie really likes almonds so I'll give him a little bit of that (I'll make sure that none of the almonds he gets are bitter almonds).

Cookie has been sick once before. It's been over an year now.

Cookie will be 2 years old on 21rst December. He's still young so I'm sure he isn't sleeping often due to old age.

 

[Laurasea]

its probably worth an avsin vet visit. Weigh tje burd at the same time every day, i fo first thing in the morning. Protein probably isn't a big deal at this point. But I would offer live culture no artificial sweetners yogurt, burds seem to take to it pretty easy, mine lick from my fingers.
How do poops look? What was he sick with before?
77grams seems low

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

its probably worth an avsin vet visit. Weigh tje burd at the same time every day, i fo first thing in the morning. Protein probably isn't a big deal at this point. But I would offer live culture no artificial sweetners yogurt, burds seem to take to it pretty easy, mine lick from my fingers.
How do poops look? What was he sick with before?
77grams seems low

I would love to take him to an avian vet but we don't have those here (even though parrots are the most popular pets here). I'll be weighing him every day from now one. I don't know what he had before but he was lethargic, he wasn't eating or drinking and he always had something brown dried up on the sides of his beak. I posted about it on this forum: http://www.parrotforums.com/cockatiels/79909-my-bird-vomiting.html

I fed him with a syringe during this time and he got better quickly.

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

I just fed Cookie some baby bird formula at room temp. I may be overreacting but his weight loss has me very concerned. He ate about 7 spoonfuls of it very enthusiastically and I recorded his weight before and after feeding.
Before feeding: 76 grams
After feeding: 83 grams

So he ate about 7 grams of formula. I'll weigh him early tomorrow to check if he has gained any weight.

 

[Teddscau]

How's his bum? Is it nice and clean? How do his poops look? I'd look into buying him Harrison's High Potency Mash to feed him.

Based on how excited he was to eat the food, it sounds like he might not be feeding himself properly. I've had birds with feeding issues, and it can take a while to resolve. I'd feed him by hand at least a few times a day to make sure he's getting enough to eat. I have experience with birds who only eat properly when they're with their flock, and Noah would go hours without eating until I came to play with him. If I was busy and couldn't play with him until later in the day, he'd get low blood sugar and would almost fall over when I'd take him out, so I made the decision to integrate him into my budgie flock so he'd start eating properly. It's possible something similar is happening with Cookie.

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

How's his bum? Is it nice and clean? How do his poops look? I'd look into buying him Harrison's High Potency Mash to feed him.

Based on how excited he was to eat the food, it sounds like he might not be feeding himself properly. I've had birds with feeding issues, and it can take a while to resolve. I'd feed him by hand at least a few times a day to make sure he's getting enough to eat. I have experience with birds who only eat properly when they're with their flock, and Noah would go hours without eating until I came to play with him. If I was busy and couldn't play with him until later in the day, he'd get low blood sugar and would almost fall over when I'd take him out, so I made the decision to integrate him into my budgie flock so he'd start eating properly. It's possible something similar is happening with Cookie.

His vent is clean and his poops look healthy too. Cookie absoloutly LOVES baby bird formula and is always excited to get some even when he's eating properly. He may not be eating as much as he should but his crop is never empty. And it isn't just water either. I can feel little bits of seeds in his crop.

Cookie lives in a cage with my brother's tiel and a budgie. All of them tolerate each other enough that they can live together. He began eating a bit less than what he usually eats after Vixen died early this month. They got a long very well so I'm very sure that Cookie is mourning her death. I do plan to get another bird soon (purely because I want to, not as a friend for Cookie) and I hope that they'll be able to get along well.

He seems to be doing a bit better after the feeding as well. Still sleepy but he's been a bit more vocal and more active in general.

 

[Laurasea]

oh yes they do grieve !
And can eat ,less
My GCC just went through this after my Neptune escaped , and sge lost weight.

Since you can't go to a vet I hope thst is the cause, so he will be OK

 

[noodles123]

their crops should empty though...is its slow or not emptying, could be sour crop...maybe I misunderstood what you meant though

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

their crops should empty though...is its slow or not emptying, could be sour crop...maybe I misunderstood what you meant though

His crop does empty if I don't give him food over night. Other than that his crop isn't empty since he always has excess to food. I tried smelling his beak this morning and nothing smelled off.

I also weighed him and he was at 76 grams. I'll give him a bit of baby bird formula.

 

[Laurasea]

I'm worried too... he should weigh more. He basically
weighs the same as my much smaller green cheek conure Hopefully since it's the weekend some of the cockatiels members will add comments to your thread.

What is his regular diet again?

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

I'm worried too... he should weigh more. He basically
weighs the same as my much smaller green cheek conure Hopefully since it's the weekend some of the cockatiels members will add comments to your thread.

What is his regular diet again?

He was weaned onto seeds so that's what his diet mainly consists of. I'm trying to get him onto veggies. I use dandelion greens, mong bean sprouts, green beans and carrots. I also put in some sesame seeds to get him to eat it. These are the things that are readily available to me. I tried adding bell peppers but he doesn't like them. During the time I had Vixen, Cookie ate his veggies and I managed to get him and Vixen off of seeds. After she died, Cookie would not eat the veggies. His diet is now mostly seed and I haven't seen him eat any veggies for a while.

 

[Laurasea]

Yiu have not said if you are following my advice about giving yogurt! This can be a huge help to your bird, and one if tge few things you can do.

The addition of live culture yogurt wih no artificial sweetners, will help if yiur burd has a yeast infection! A common thing tgst can get out if wack in a bird. Also will help balance if your bird has a bacterial overgrowth. Is safe to give and won't harm them , and has a chance to really help. I found it really helped my bird at 1/2 teasooon a day, for a week, then every other day for a couple if weeks. I learned from other members here the importance of the addition of probiotic!!! I found yogurt to contain many of the same strains of beneficial organism. And yogurt is the preferred way for many, as tge burd eats it readily. With powders you sprinkle on tge food unknown amounts are ingested.

Also never put anything in the burds water. Yiu fo t add vitamin to tge water or anyt fo you ??

Except mention weightloss linked with yeast infection , and the importance of weight checks

" Many types of diseases such as yeast infection, parasites, or goiter may result in weight loss, so a veterinarian examination will help find the cause and process to initiate treatment
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Diagnosis of Weight Change in Birds
Because of the very nature of your bird in wanting to keep its health status hidden, the best way to determine any impending health problems is to be aware of slight behavioral changes. Performing this observation when your bird is not aware of it is best. As well as that, if you teach your bird to become used to being weighed and you establish a baseline of normal weight, any noticeable fluctuation from the normal weight will be the best estimation on its health. There will be slight changes on a daily basis due to what is happening in your bird’s life that need to be taken into consideration. "