Color change in droppings

[Kiryon]

Oz's droppings have changed color today. They used to be green and they still are, but a darker green. Only change to his diet was more seeds and pellets as a 'threat'. That's only until I can go out to buy a balance because I'm going to do the sudden transition to only pellets since he's been sorting his food to eat the seeds first. I'm just worried he'll only eat the seeds. I think he eats the pellets, but I want to be sure that he's not just grinding them up and slowly starving himself. So I'll give only pellets once I have the balance and monitor his weight.

I can post pics if needed. He also had quite a few watery droppings with almost no poop, but I chalked that up to me working night shift and him not eating until I got up at 1 pm (even thought I gave him fresh food and water before going to bed at 7 pm.

 

[MonicaMc]

Going from seeds to pellets can result in a change in the color of droppings.


Please do not feed a diet of more than 50% pellets to Oz. Too many pellets can be just as bad as too many seeds for him... may not result in the same health problems later in life, but that doesn't make one any better than the other.

 

[Kiryon]

Of course, I'm gonna give him fresh fruits and vegies too =P Thought the percentage for pellets I'd seen in most places and had in mind was 80%? I didn't realize that might be too much.

Would you say I should keep a small portion of seeds as a part of his daily diet or use them as a threat?

 

[MonicaMc]

The 80% recommended is often for the larger species. Smaller species should eat around 25-50% pellets and no more. (unless recommended by an a-vet or only as a temporary thing)

Seeds = malnutrition, obesity, fatty liver disease/liver failure
Pellets = kidney failure, possible vitamin toxicosis (especially if owners supplement with vitamins)

So yes, seeds are still important! As bad of a rap that seeds get (and I'm not disputing this!), small parrots *do* better on a diet that includes seeds because they naturally forage for seeds and grains in the wild. I recall one owner, hearing that seeds are terrible and pellets the best diet, put her cockatiel on a pelleted diet, assuming that they were doing the right thing. This pelleted diet then led to kidney failure, which resulted in this cockatiel having to take allopurinal for the rest of his life! Parrotlets especially may be sensitive to pellets, to the point that if fed a high pelleted diet may die within the first 6 months of their lives, if not the first three years.

In short, they are *NOT* healthy in large quantities for an extended period of time for small/petite species. Even my a-vet agrees! I actually had one of the vet technicians at my a-vets old practice reprimanding me for feeding more than 50% of the diet as pellets! What she didn't know was that my a-vet recommended this to me as a temporary thing for the health of a bird and I was willing to give it a shot!


If you don't want to feed dry seeds then feed sprouted seeds instead! But do keep seeds as part of the diet! And get Oz to eat any healthy, fresh/cooked foods you can get him to try!


Diet can be confusing! Especially when you read general recommendations that apply for larger species that would not be great for your little guy!

 

[Kiryon]

Thanks for all the info. Should I put the seeds/pellets in separate dishes? As I wrote before, my fear with this is that's he'll eat only the seeds if he can choose to eat either seeds or pellets and slowly starve himself.

I've tried giving him apples, bananas, hard boiled eggs and carrots so far. He only accepted the carrot but that may have to do with how I presented it to him. I saw he likes eating stuff when I scatter it on the table and he goes from one piece to the other. I'll try that with the other foods I'm trying to give him.

Thought, yesterday, I was eating a Caesar salad and he seemed really interested (way more than when I make a show of eating the stuff I want him to try). I was really disappointed I couldn't allow him to have any since he seemed eager to have some for once.

 

[MonicaMc]

He probably could have had some small nibbles of your salad! Or, next time you have a salad, make one for him, too!

Currently, I'm feeding seeds and pellets on alternating days. Some days they'll have pellets available that they also have seeds on, but it is a very small amount of pellets as compared to seeds (typically). I've also just mixed the seeds and pellets together and fed them enough to eat within one day. Once they finished eating one, all they had left over was the other.


Keep working on it, and figure out what works best for you and Oz!

 

[Kiryon]

Alright, thanks! It's the salad dressing I was worried about, I put a lot of it on my salad. I'll keep some without dressing for him next time I have salad =)