Something that can replace veggies for a few days?

[Cringy_muffin]

Hello. I have a 9 month old caique who i'm boarding for 4 days. It's the only other place near me within an hour that boards birds. They only want me to bring pellets for my caique. I asked about veggies and they said unfortunately no.
Now my caique mainly eats veggies and will avoid the pellets. I've given him pellet only days to see how he would do at the boarding place but he avoids eating until absolutely necessary at night and that worries me because i don't want him to starve himself.
Is there something else i can give him to replace veggies for a few days that doesn't need a fridge so he still gets as much nutrients as possible? I was thinking of sprinkling a few seeds for fat but i dont know what else. Please help me out.

 

[hiriki]

For 4 days, are there any pet sitters in your area? Honestly, even a neighborhood teen willing to stop by twice a day is probably better than boarding. Someone else may offer alternate opinions, but it's very stressful for birds, especially single birds that don't have a flock at home, to go from a quiet house with their human to a boarding place full of strange birds and their human isn't even around to offer comfort. Any benefit that there might be to having boarding staff there 24/7 is negated quickly by the fact that your bird will almost certainly be stressed out of his mind.

Instead, stocking his cage full of destructible toys and putting on the tv for him at home, where he may be a bit lonely but at least he won't be stressed, is better imo. Some pet sitters will also be willing to hang out with a bird out of the cage for an hour or so, but my experience has been that they'll do it once in the first day and then kick up a stink about how hard it was to put them home and never do it again smh.

 

[Cringy_muffin]

For 4 days, are there any pet sitters in your area? Honestly, even a neighborhood teen willing to stop by twice a day is probably better than boarding. Someone else may offer alternate opinions, but it's very stressful for birds, especially single birds that don't have a flock at home, to go from a quiet house with their human to a boarding place full of strange birds and their human isn't even around to offer comfort. Any benefit that there might be to having boarding staff there 24/7 is negated quickly by the fact that your bird will almost certainly be stressed out of his mind.

Instead, stocking his cage full of destructible toys and putting on the tv for him at home, where he may be a bit lonely but at least he won't be stressed, is better imo. Some pet sitters will also be willing to hang out with a bird out of the cage for an hour or so, but my experience has been that they'll do it once in the first day and then kick up a stink about how hard it was to put them home and never do it again smh.

unfortunately everyone i know has cats or other pets whom don't have a separate room for a bird. As for having someone come over, I live in a shared household with other people and the landlord has cameras outside and they don't allow anyone else to come in who's not part of the household especially since everyone in the house is going to be gone. (that's why my roommates can't help either).

 

[hiriki]

unfortunately everyone i know has cats or other pets whom don't have a separate room for a bird. As for having someone come over, I live in a shared household with other people and the landlord has cameras outside and they don't allow anyone else to come in who's not part of the household especially since everyone in the house is going to be gone. (that's why my roommates can't help either).

I'm assuming you've texted your landlord to ask if they could make an exception for four days? I mean... to me, that sounds incredibly unreasonable and obnoxious for a landlord to have that rule, but what do I know, I'm not a landlord lol.

The fact is that if you have no choice but to remove your bird from the home while you're away, your bird is going to be stressed and at that point, it's literally only four days. A person can live off of french fries if it's only four days. You should be primarily concerned with providing your bird with food that he will be willing to eat so that he doesn't starve himself for those 4 days, don't worry as much about giving the ideal diet because no matter what creative solutions you come up with, you won't even be there to make sure that the boarding place even does it.

I would find a dry food that can be free fed, like seeds or pellets, that he's willing to eat, and on the days leading up to boarding, offer less veggies and give him the foods he'll be eating while you're away. One way or the other, he's going to deal with his surroundings drastically changing overnight from your home to the boarding place, so do him the favor of making the diet change more gradual. And then, when he comes home, gradually decrease the free fed dry foods and increase the veggies until he's back to where he started.

Birds don't like change so just try to make everything gradual where possible.

 

[Inger]

There are lots of places you can get freeze dried veggies - Christine's Chop Shop, Texas Freeze Dried Naturals, My Safe Bird Store. Maybe he'll eat these because they taste the same despite the change in texture (Bumble *loves* crunchy food so she will eat them without any fuss).