Anya has been doing very good, last night she was moving around her cage, and starting to explore it again.  She went to several other perches and her nasal passage was no longer crusty.  The medicine is helping for sure and we anticipate only another day or two before she is chirping again and looking for even more activity.

As you may know, she was extremely underweight at her first visit to the vet, right before her respiratory infection.  We were given some great guidelines on what to feed her from our vet, these message boards, and independant research.

She has since gaines almost 15 grams of weight.  She was around 70 (every scale is different) and although young, that is still very light.  She gained her first 5 grams in about 4 days even while fighting her infection.

Yesterday she was 78.  This morning, she was 85.  This is great news, obviously, and we are very excited to see it.  She has been doing nothing but eating since she got sick.  Poor thing was probably starving in the pet store.

Of course, it is human nature to always look at the negative instead of the positive, and with obesity in humans (and birds) a major health concern, I find myself asking... How fast should a bird be gaining weight?

Obsiously, this is a curiosity question, not a concern, as she desperatly needs to gain even more.  I see that on average they typically weigh 90-110.

Any thoughts?

http://www.senegalparrot.net

I think she did gain some wieght quickly in the beginning, but it has since leveled off, gaining more slowly now.

We feed her primariliy Zupreem fruity flavored pellets for maintenance.  Within the last 2 or 3 days we have totally weaned her off off her other pellet/seed mix.

We also offer her a lot of fruits and veggies.  Some she likes, others she won't touch.  We were giving her a lot more variety before she got sick, and are starting to do that again now that she is feeling better.  I will probably give her some egg this morning for protien as she hasn't had much of that lately.

She is starting to look and act like her old self, although she is still not chirping a lot.  She did a little last night, which was a big step.  She whistles back at you when you whistle at her, and last night she answered us for the first time in days, but only once or twice.

As far as weights go, well I've got tiels who weigh 80-110 grams. The ones who weigh less than 90 (2 of them, male and female, unrelated - different homes) I feel could have more fat on their bodies as they are rather thin. One tiel is clearly overweight, however she can't fly, and I'd rather her being chubby than underweight for when she does try to fly. And two others are at a good weight, perhaps a little chunky, but not overweight. One clearly has more muscles than other.

With that said, the hen who is under 90 grams was under 58 grams when I first got her. I felt that any weight she gained was good enough for me! However, I also made sure she flew to gain muscle, so it wouldn't all go to fat (but then, I don't clip any of my birds). At first I really didn't bother trying to get her to eat fresh foods, but then again who knows how old she was when I got her, and probably being on a seed diet her entire life, I didn't try to get her to eat fresh foods back then (she does now!). It took her a few weeks to gain 10-15 grams, and she still looked horrendously skinny. It took at least 1-2 months to get her up to 80 grams, and I couldn't get her past 85 grams. She's now in the 85-90 grams range. Her weight loss was not due to an infection, but due to neglect.

Someone else took in a severely plucked and bruised female cockatiel, weighing in at 70 grams (the most disgusting picture I've ever seen - because someone let a bird get to that state - and thus I am so thankful that Tomi Girl had feathers when she was under 60 grams) and had a bacterial infection. It's been a little over two weeks now, she no longer has a bacterial infection, and she's gained 10 grams. She's also looking *SO* much better!

Someone else bought a whiteface cockatiel in December from a petstore (Petland), and he too had a lower respiratory infection. His first weight was 77 grams, taken at the vets office shortly after buying him. (perhaps a week later?) The vet said to feed the tiel handfeeding formula 2 times a day to gain weight (tried that with the tiel I had - no go! but she's an adult vs this one is only a few months old) as well as Baytril to "help stimulate appetite" if the tiel had an infection. During this time he was sleeping quite a lot. Three weeks later, he was taken to another avian vet who said she could hear some "crackling" in the lungs/air sacs, thus a lower respiratory infection. This avian vet recommended 3 handfeedings a day and another round of Baytril. Well, since the owner couldn't do 3 feedings a day, the tiel went back to the store. Near the end of January, the tiel was up to 90 grams, and got to come home... only to loose 10 grams by the next day... so the next business day was back to the vets where-in he was said to be clear of the infection. The avian vet at this point said to feed the tiel whatever he'll eat, as well as high calorie foods. Since then, the tiel has kept within the 79-82 gram range and is now about 6 1/2 months old.

I have some good news to report this morning.  Yesterday Anya finished her assigned medicine.  She was starting to chirp more (still not where she was before the illness, but baby steps, right?).  She also has been showing signs that she wants to chew, play, explore within her cage.

Being the 3rd week we have her, the 1st she wasn't use to her cage, the 2nd she was sick, so now she wants to explore, and she is still learning to navigate a cage (she was in a glass bin with many other tiels in the store).

She has leveled off in her weight gain to about 87 grams.  Still gaining but much more slowly.  I know she still needs to gain, because I can still feel her bones pretty sharply in her chest.  I would imagine another 5-10 grams should be good, but she has a follow-up with the vet next Saturday, so we'll see what he says.

She is completely off seeds and 'keet food, and now primarily on the pellets (which she LOVES except for the banana flavored ones, which she likes to hurl at us from across the room HA HA).

She is also a big fan of (thawed out) frozen veggie mixes, especially the peas and carrot mixes.  She also likes corn, and we gave get a little cashew nuts as a treat which she went wild over.  Since they are fatty, we only gave her a few and they will be a hand-fed treat, not left in a dish for her.

She enjoyed my scrambled egg, but again, since it is fatty, I didn't give her too much, and will keep it to a once a week or so treat.

She doesn't seem to like fruit though, which after reading about their diets, I find odd.  I have offered strawberries, banana, apple, blueberry, and none of it was really a hit.  I would say apple came the closest, but she is much more of a veggie fan.

She still has little to no desire to come out of her cage and explore, although when she does come out, she loves to hang out with us, on our shoulders.  I assume her lack of a strong desire is that she is still recuperating somewhat and also is spending her energy learning to climb and explore within her cage.

She did try to bite us (lightly) a few times when we reached in to pet her.  But after watching why she was doing this, I started moving her to a cement perch near a cuddle bone and toy and she went to town on them.  She was obviously just feeling the need to chew stuff.

I am sure it is only a matter of time before she is fully accustomed to her cage and looking to come out and explore how many things she can poop on in the house!

Thanks again everyone!

As far as fruits go, well not too many parrots are big fans of them, especially the smaller guys. The smaller guys are really more into grains than fresh foods. My guys will eat a cooked grain/pulses mixed in with fruits and veggies, however if I make up a grain based soak and cook mix for the little guys, they devour it! Although with my guys, since I have quite a few birds, I make up big batches of food that contains a variety of ingredients. All in all, it lasts about a month or so (with the majority of it having to be frozen). I try and use brown rice, perhaps mixed with wild rice (haven't tried other grain types), some adzuki, mung, lentils, 2-3 fruits (apple, orange, mango, bananas, strawberries, cherries, etc - usually not much), and 5-6 or more veggies, perhaps some sprouted seeds, etc. The last mix I made contains dandelion greens (store-bought) along with wheat grass.  I use mostly fresh produce with some frozen.

Was is considered good weight is relative.  This time of the year, mine are all a bit chunkier than usual because of the rich food they get in the spring so they can bulk up for breeding, and that is good because it's as it is in Nature.   But, normally, mine would be considered a bit skinny compared to other pet tiels  because they fly a lot all day long and I don't free-feed them seeds or pellets but whole grains and produce which are high in fiber.  As long as the keel bone is not too protruding, there is no consistent gradual weight loss and the bird is eating a healthy diet and is strong (you can easily tell by watching them fly), it's OK.

Bea & Birds

beatriz@newyorkbirds.net

I have read in books and magazines, as well as on these forums that pellets are preferred over seeds, especially in 'Tiels because the seeds can lead to fatty liver disease.  Our vet also recommended feeding pellets versus seeds.

I know that veggies and fruit are very good (for all living creatures, haha) but, these are in addition to a primary diet base of either seeds or pellets usually.

This is actually the first time I heard anyone say seeds over pellets.  Can you recommend a good brand of both seed mixes and pellet mixes for a Cockatiel?  Maybe we can get both and mix them up for variety?  I am just wary because I have seen so much information about fatty liver and seed diets linked together.

Thanks for your information and support (in all of my various postings!).