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Truman is Not Eating Well

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby birdvet » Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:28 pm

Michael wrote:The hand feeding stuff came in and Truman had a fantastic feeding! Took him up from 308g-320g in one shot. I spoke to Jean after and she suggested feeding him in smaller amounts but more frequently to avoid crop stretching.


Great news, and sounds like he enjoys it off the spoon so phew, no crop tube required :D

I agree with Jean, the last thing you need is an overfilled crop to add to your problem list...a bird of Truman's size should manage 5-8mls quite comfortably per feed. Offer it to him multiple times a day, as long as his crop is clearing as you obviously would know ;)

Again, great great news...my birds and me are sending lots of well wishes!! :senegal:

(PS: I have a soft spot for Capes, I'm South African and have bred and hand reared them when I still lived in SA...AWESOME parrots!!!)
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Michael » Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:36 pm

Kim S wrote:Just spoil him for a while. And dont forget Killi!


I'm not forgetting Kili. Really the main reason I'm neglecting her lately is not because I'm so busy with Truman but because Kili is in a heavy molt and in the moody stage. I just let her eat a lot and do her own thing. I do a couple tricks with her if she wants to but I'm not really pushing her. I've been over feeding her pellets anyway so she could have good nutrition for the new feathers. When I come to let her out of the cage she doesn't particularly want to come out and is a bit nippy.

So it's actually more like leaving her alone is the better thing to do right now and thanks to being so busy with Truman's care I'm actually able to follow through and do that. If she were alone, I'd probably be trying to interact more with her and she wouldn't particularly appreciate it. I know this definitely cycles. A few weeks ago she was the other way around. Overfed and anxious to please. She was trying so hard to do tricks and stuff when I was trying to work with Truman that I'd put him away and work on extra tricks just cause she wanted to. Up till this week she was always begging for petting cause she has many mature pin feathers. Now on the other hand she nips cause I think she has very fresh new pins coming along.

I'm gonna feed Truman again in a little bit and try to get a blog post up about it.
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Michael » Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:56 pm

I've hand fed him four times so far and I must say he's still eating terribly. The first time was the only one where I got much food into him. Subsequent feedings ended up much smaller amounts and faced with more resistance. He takes little as it is and spits a lot out. When I weigh him before/after I'm amazed how there is practically no change. This last feeding I think he was 311g before and 314g after. Even Kili can gulp down 5g of water all at once after a 5g meal of pellets, so clearly Truman isn't taking in very much. He is energetic though. He spends more effort flying away from me when I get the feeding stuff ready than flying toward me for food. No matter what I feed him, it's like he just doesn't want to eat! I know that if I didn't put so much proactive effort into feeding him, he wouldn't eat enough and his weight would continue dropping.
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby pchela » Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:58 pm

I wonder if the medications are killing his appetite. In any case, the little man has to eat. How much longer does he have to take the medication?
"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but LISTEN TO YOURSELF!" ~ Jack Handy ~ Deep Thoughts
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Michael » Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:44 pm

I just got off the phone with the office manager/nurse. She says that I can terminate the medication at any time. That if it is the medication that is interfering, that I need not bother giving it. She even suggests possibly putting him back on metacam as it is the thing that worked for him. We spoke on the phone for 30 mins and discussed many things. I will try to post an update about this on my blog tonight.
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Azure Hanyo » Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:53 pm

Michael wrote:I just got off the phone with the office manager/nurse. She says that I can terminate the medication at any time. That if it is the medication that is interfering, that I need not bother giving it. She even suggests possibly putting him back on metacam as it is the thing that worked for him. We spoke on the phone for 30 mins and discussed many things. I will try to post an update about this on my blog tonight.


Good good... I hope you reamed them for almost causing serious, life-long harm to Truman about the screw up on dosage, too. I hope he feels better and starts eating more very soon!
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Kim S » Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:38 pm

I wouldnt worry too much about his drinking. Parrots that eat pellets are always drinking a huge amount compared to normal waterintake since they need more water to help digest. Parrots in general dont drink that much. Since Truman isn't eating his pellets, he wont need that much water. Especially not since you are handfeeding him formula now. He gets a lot of water out of that.
A parrot normaly drinks 2% to 6% of his bodyweight a day.

I know this is not really a good comparison, but I got the advice not to weigh my birds too often while handrearing. The most important weight (also the weight you will want to base your feedings on) will be his morningweight on an empty stomach. If you do it more often the differences in weight will drive you nuts.
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Michael » Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:47 pm

Well even when he wasn't injured I would weigh him regularly throughout the day. It helps me set up baseline standards. Regardless, what I do know is that he was 300g when I got him, he has been 320g-330g since before accident, 315-320g while on metcam, 305-315g after the metacam termination (the full sequence of events I've mentioned previously and on my blog). The main weights I am concerned with are his morning post-poop weight and his going to bed weight. These are lower than before. I've stopped the drop but it's taking a lot of effort feeding him on my part to keep it that way. Not only does he not put in effort to eat but he resists quite actively as well.
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Ben » Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:00 pm

Does he still have almonds/nuts as well as the hand rearing formula? Can you continue to try and supplement his calorie/protein intake with those?
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Re: Truman is Not Eating Well

Postby Kim S » Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:08 pm

He is still in the safe zone if he doesnt lose more than 10% of his bodyweight. On the other hand, he is a young bird and (should be) still growing.
I can understand your concern and I realy feel for you. I wish I could do more to help. :(
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