Marleys trip to the vets :)

[JamJar]

So there is a new vet just opened at the bottom of my apartment block and there was a 50% discount on a checkup for all animals.

i took marley there today for a check and there was some bad news but nothing too bad!

things he said..

Protein Deficiency
severely Malnourished
Worn down taste buds (thats how he explained it for us to understand)
fake tag! so he is not 2 years old the vet thinks he is mid teens at a guess
has been wrongly clipped in the past
all feather are very dull in colour

GOOD things are he doesn't have mites the reason for feathers missing around the eyes and him scratching is down to being malnourished apparently and can be easily fixed with a good diet

he recommended a blood test at some point when my finances are in order its going to set me back around 500ead ($136) is that costly?

so overall its basically he has been fed a awful diet which i knew already and apparently he has been extremely bored for a long time which is why he doesn't make much of a noise. I'm quite happy with that the vet said as he said in a few months when his diets back on track he will be a completely different bird

 

[JamJar]

Also apparently marley could be a blue fronted amazon.. the vet see a lot of baby blue feathers coming on the head. apparently we won't know until after he has had his next molt? i didn't even know parrots molted? lol

 

[Kiwibird]

Poor Marley I bet your getting him back to good health again though! You seem to be doing everything you can for Marley. Did the vet discuss proper diet with you? On the subject of a blood test- YES! Worth every penny. What you don't know you can't fix and a vet cannot know the full extent of nutritional issues without one. They can "feel" the keel bone and get a general appearance of the bird for clues, but a blood test is vital. You should look back at when Zilla's mom (Amanda) first started posting on here. She looked a lot like Marley in terms of feather quality and was in poor health/low energy. The improvements of good diet, good care and being treated by a vet for health issues are visible in her photos (hoping Zilla's mom will post some before/after photos of her return to health). Parrots are quite resilient and can bounce back quickly!

I also never knew you thought he was only 2! It's pretty obvious he's not a young bird, I would guess mid-teens. Curious if you've been regularly bathing Marley? A couple baths can do wonders for the appearance of their feathers Especially in a dry environment. One thing I am 150% sure of is that he is NOT a BFA. BFA's, whether a AX or AA all have black beaks. Marley has the mottled beak of an OWA, the facial markings of an OWA, sounds like he has the gentle temperament of an OWA and the size of an OWA (they're smaller zons).

 

[JamJar]

Poor Marley I bet your getting him back to good health again though! You seem to be doing everything you can for Marley. Did the vet discuss proper diet with you? On the subject of a blood test- YES! Worth every penny. What you don't know you can't fix and a vet cannot know the full extent of nutritional issues without one. They can "feel" the keel bone and get a general appearance of the bird for clues, but a blood test is vital. You should look back at when Zilla's mom (Amanda) first started posting on here. She looked a lot like Marley in terms of feather quality and was in poor health/low energy. The improvements of good diet, good care and being treated by a vet for health issues are visible in her photos (hoping Zilla's mom will post some before/after photos of her return to health). Parrots are quite resilient and can bounce back quickly!

I also never knew you thought he was only 2! It's pretty obvious he's not a young bird, I would guess mid-teens. Curious if you've been regularly bathing Marley? A couple baths can do wonders for the appearance of their feathers Especially in a dry environment. One thing I am 150% sure of is that he is NOT a BFA. BFA's, whether a AX or AA all have black beaks. Marley has the mottled beak of an OWA, the facial markings of an OWA, sounds like he has the gentle temperament of an OWA and the size of an OWA (they're smaller zons).

Thanks kiwi i will search amanda's older posts to have a look at villa and yes the vet gave me a big printout on diets and how to move marley over to pellets for more protein.

yeah i was pretty sure he was a OWA amazon after looking at a lot of pictures. the vet apparently had a BFA though! lol

i try to mist marley 2-3 times a week but he really doesn't enjoy it and it puts him in a bad mood lol I'm hoping to maybe try putting him in the bathroom whilst I'm showering to let the moisture in the air wet him a bit because he does smell abit

thanks for your reply

 

[ImmunoGoblin]

He's a textbook OWA. It's normal for OWAs to have bluish/lavender feathers on top of their heads.