Underweight WFA with High Cholesterol

[alabasandria]

Hi everyone! First-time poster here. I have a 37 year-old white-fronted Amazon named Buddy. He lived with one family until he was 28, when he unfortunately outlived his owner and came to live with me. When I first took him in, he was on a diet of only black oil sunflower seeds - for 28 years! He was a feather-picker and had about 7 large fatty tumors on his neck, back and abdomen. He wasn't abused, his family loved him, but they just didn't know any better.

Fast forward to today, for the last 9 years he's been on a diet of fresh food (lots of veggies, some pasta, a little fruit, eggs) and Harrison's Adult Lifetime. He's a great eater. He's grown in all of his feathers and is just beautiful and as happy as an amazon can be! Almost all of his fatty tumors have completely disappeared.

However, last summer he suffered from two instances of seizure. After a full workup at the vet, we determined that they were a result of vascular distress from high cholesterol. Clearly his old diet was catching up with him. After eliminating high cholesterol foods, I'm happy to say that Buddy hasn't had a seizure in almost a year. The problem is, he's pretty underweight. His last weigh was about 251g, which seems about right from what I've read but his keel is incredibly sharp and the vet remarked that she'd like to see him gain. But I don't want to reintroduce high cholesterol foods and risk him having more vascular problems.

So long story short, what kinds of food would be good for weight gain without high cholesterol?

 

[JerseyWendy]

Welcome to the forum, and THANK YOU for taking such excellent care of your Buddy.

Have you tried feeding him Harrison's High Potency Formula?

Also, shelled nuts may help him gain some weight.

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for giving an older zon a new home and some happiness. I rehome/rescue zons and know all too well the pitfalls that occur later in life after an early diet of sunflower seeds. You need calories without the fat, maybe natural sugars from things like fruit would help. Sunshinefactor is a Red Palm Oil supplement we use with older zons in similar situations as yours, it's high in VitA. Hemp seeds, Milk Thistle seeds and fresh palm nuts are what we also fed. High in VitA and omega3 they help with liver function in birds that have been on a sunflower seed diet. I would also recommend starting a routine of weighing your zon several times a week. I use a digital kitchen scale that you can get at a kitchen supply store ( Bed Bath and Beyond) . Weigh her in grams before feeding in the AM, keep a record and it will help tons in your situation. Best of luck and don't hesitate to ask for help. Loads of good info in some of the older threads in this section of the forum.