Am I doing it right? Skinny CAG questions

[Bandespresso]

Espresso is still fairly underweight from receiving pretty terrible care in her last home. My focus since bringing her into my home has been simply getting her used to eating healthier foods and boosting her nutrition. She has since gained some weight but now I want to start getting some more grams on her. I have started by giving her a couple sunflower seeds per day as treats and adding some into her seed mix. I have also started adding a mix of all-natural peanut butter (she won't touch almond butter at all), ground flax seed, some baby food, and a touch of coconut oil to her morning chop. The best part is that she LOVES it and gobbles up all her veggies and grains in the process

Is there anything else I should be doing? I weigh her about once a week...she's at 397 from a measly 375!! So she's almost where I want her which is about 405. Her keel is finally not jutting out but I want just a bit more cushion.

 

[Birdman666]

Even 405 seems a bit low to me, but I'm probably off base due to the fact that I've got one of the XXL ones (Try 525-ish!) But he is a seriously huge CAG. In fact, he and my red fronted macaw are about the same size.

I would think that 410-425 would be a good target weight.

If he's eating healthy now, and you're giving him good foods, he will get to his natural weight on his own, what ever that happens to be.

So it sounds like you are doing everything right.

Tusk lost about 100 grams when he was lost. He's gained most of it back already, just eating normally. Same with the one I found that appeared to be super weak from starvation. Three days later, he was super active again, and flying all over the house...

They do bounce back! Nature gave them that. Finding food in the wild is hit and miss.

 

[Bandespresso]

Even 405 seems a bit low to me, but I'm probably off base due to the fact that I've got one of the XXL ones (Try 525-ish!) But he is a seriously huge CAG. In fact, he and my red fronted macaw are about the same size.

I would think that 410-425 would be a good target weight.

If he's eating healthy now, and you're giving him good foods, he will get to his natural weight on his own, what ever that happens to be.

So it sounds like you are doing everything right.

Tusk lost about 100 grams when he was lost. He's gained most of it back already, just eating normally. Same with the one I found that appeared to be super weak from starvation. Three days later, he was super active again, and flying all over the house...

They do bounce back! Nature gave them that. Finding food in the wild is hit and miss.

Excellent! Thank you!! Hearing I'm doing everything right is a lovely feeling hahaha

She is pretty tiny...I call her my little pocket grey. People are constantly astonished when I tell them she is almost 20 because she is so small. I am pretty much planning on shooting for 405 and then assessing her body condition to see if I want her to go up anymore from there. Pretty sure a BIG thing that has helped her beyond just a generally better diet was giving her more room to play and gain muscle; she was pretty severely atrophied from years in a tiny cage. She LOVES swings and boings (yay good for her weak little feets!!)

 

[Birdman666]

She is pretty tiny...I call her my little pocket grey. People are constantly astonished when I tell them she is almost 20 because she is so small. I am pretty much planning on shooting for 405 and then assessing her body condition to see if I want her to go up anymore from there. Pretty sure a BIG thing that has helped her beyond just a generally better diet was giving her more room to play and gain muscle; she was pretty severely atrophied from years in a tiny cage. She LOVES swings and boings (yay good for her weak little feets!!)

Well, my point is, what ever your goal is, she'll reach her ideal weight in time on her own, given proper nutrition. I wouldn't worry to much about it... What ever that turns out to be. As long as the bird doesn't over eat to the point of obesity, it will be fine +/- a few grams.

As to the rest of this, I will never in a million years understand why people get these birds and then do THAT to them!!! My CAG is the opposite of a "pocket grey." And he's very strong... so that isn't normal. That's because of what THEY did to him.

Fortunately, you have the ability to reverse the damage. And nature, pretty much gave them the ability to bounce back. Encouraging her to flap and play to the extent that you can helps.

 

[Bandespresso]

The picture I use for my avatar shows how tiny she is/how skinny she was. This is about three weeks after we got her and you can still see her keel when she is poofed. She is such a little teeny!

 

[jasper19]

mines weight seems to vary slightly, between 480-500 depending on what time of day/when i weight her. In the morning almost always is somewhere between 480-490

Birdmans advice does seem sound to me! If she is gaining weight that is a good thing. The rate at which she does shouldn't be an issue. With time, proper weight should balance out.

Very nice picture!

 

[Birdman666]

Here's a photo of the anti-tiny CAG.

Tusk and my red fronted macaw. As you can see, they're pretty close to the same size... which is friggin' ginormous for a CAG. His "getting fat" weight is around 550-565 grams...

He's about 1/3 larger than most. Sticks out like an NBA player in a crowd.

 

[Bandespresso]

He is gigantic!!! And your RFM is gorgeous.
With the extreme size difference between Espresso and other CAGs, I almost suspect that she isn't 100% Congo. I am almost tempted to try to get in contact with where her band said she came from but the place I THINK it might be is under new management. I love her all the same...even if she is trying to tear apart her brand new boing already

 

[MikeyTN]

Greys have the tendency to be calcium deficient, have you thought about getting Espresso onto pellet diet formulated for greys?

 

[Bandespresso]

I have her eating TOPs, lots of veggies and grains, fruit at night, some seeds, and she gets an egg with the shell about every week or so. she doesn't care much for her pellets so I prefer feeding her calcium-rich fresh food than to rely on pellets.

 

[MikeyTN]

Of course if your able to provide fresh calcium enriched food, it's even better!

 

[Bandespresso]

Agreed!! I definitely spend more time prepping food for her and my rat than I do for myself