Licking inside beak

[camo]

Other than clearing up this infection and adding more calcium to his diet I'm not convinced he needs an entire diet change. (Although some of the levels say low/high so not sure about those ones....)

BTW I replied to the email and sent ALL the links you posted here. Hopefully she will take the time to do some more reading.

Katie,

Hoping Jasper gets through his troubles soon, it's good the vet has clearly put some time and effort into giving you details and suggestions. Obviously the fact that she had to ask what sex Jasper was on the first visit, makes it hard to be confident to rely on their recommendations on diet. Definitely worth a second opinion from a vet more familiar with eclectus parrots.

Glad your not just jumping into a massive diet change without more consideration.

Cheers,

Camo

 

[katie_fleming]

After this $600 visit I can't financially afford another opinion. This bill is hard enough to pay. When I go back in a week for his follow-up I will tell them I'm not switching him to pellets. I emailed all the above links to the clinic and asked that the vet read them before the appointment if possible.

Ultimately the decision is up to me of course! I just want to make sure he's healthy, gets rid of this infection, and we can fix some of the levels that are too low/high. He's my baby, love him to death!

 

[Anansi]

Hey, Katie. You're welcome. I've been in a situation where I've been given advice by a vet that would have been good for any parrot type but my own. Smh. Only difference was, the guy I was dealing with, though considered one of the top 3 avian vets in the east coast, wasn't as diligent about at least checking into stuff he didn't know about. If there was something he didn't know, it just didn't exist. And had he been my first source on ekkies, given his credentials, I'd probably have taken his word as gospel. So I'm glad I was able to help you a bit in this situation.

Btw, since Jasper doesn't like broccoli you should just chop it up really fine so that he has trouble separating it from his preferred foods. That's how I do it. I do something similar with carrots, except I grate those. For some foods, you just can't take no for an answer. Stealth is the way! Lol! My ekkies probably wouldn't take even a nibble of their carrots or broccoli, otherwise.

And as for eggs, you might want to limit that to once or, at most, twice a month. Otherwise you run the risk of him developing arteriosclerosis. Only time I'd give him egg more frequently is during heavy molts.

 

[Kitsch]

Sorry to hear about your large vet bill

I've also noticed our boy (3 months old) licking a lot... He licks the bars and bites one of the perches a lot, but he is also licking inside his beak too.
He doesn't have anything obvious stuck in there as I've had a good look. I just made a video (see below) of him doing it, he is in the sleeping position but he's been doing it just sitting up too.

[ame="http://youtu.be/CmIjaV1m-4E"]Licking eclectus - YouTube[/ame]

Any ideas?