I have a sickly Obese Parakeet. How can I make him healthy?

[john5677]

Ever since I got him from the Pet Store 2 years ago, he's always been pretty "big". He is bigger than my 2nd Parakeet(who is avg size for a parakeet) , and he runs out of stamina pretty easily, compared to the 2nd one . Both have mostly had a seed diet with some Vegetables.

Anyway, recently I went to the doctor because he was sick( scratching his vent, and straining to poop. And when he did, it would either be dark green+ watery, or show none at all except something yellow ). While he is getting MUCH better(Not straining anymore, his stool is normal, not scratching) after a couple of days , I want to think of the long term and how to help him lose weight, and prolong his life for the best

So I was wondering, what are my options? How do I get him to help lose weight? How do I change his eating habits? Do I strive to limit my parakeets food intake? If so, how should I do it?

Rowdy bush Pellets were recommended. But how do I get him to eat it, and have him stick to it?(he's stubborn to pellets). I'm willing to do whatever it takes, just as long as I can turn his life around.



Basically, what options do I have in having my Parakeet lose weight, so he can live a normal and healthy life style?


Notes:
- Doctor mentioned he's 20% overweight. Specifically, he's 47 gms

- The Diagnosis through physical+blood work was that at the time of his sickness he had: Bacterial, Viral, and Fungal Infection. Fatty Liver, and Heart Disease. And obesity.

Since monday(when he got sick, and I went to the doc) , he's gotten much better. But he's still not finished with medication yet.


- The Parakeet in this topic, is NOT the same parakeet I mentioned in my other one. The other one has gotten better, and is fine.

 

[john5677]

Another question that comes to mind. Is it okay to mix seeds with pellets to get parakeets to eat pellets?

Or is this not recommended?

 

[Bokkapooh]

Does he get out of cage time and exercise?

 

[Birdbabe]

I was gonna suggest out of cage, and flying time, plus,,,try fresh veggies in his diet. Eat them with him, they always want what you have.

 

[Laurie]

Another question that comes to mind. Is it okay to mix seeds with pellets to get parakeets to eat pellets?

Or is this not recommended?

That is fine but most likely they will just sort through it and not each the pellets. I had an aviary with 6 keets who had been on a seed only diet. I started out soaking the pellets so that they were soft but still keep their shape and then feeding them. Mine liked them better soaked. Gradually I soaked them for a shorter and shorter period of time and they keep eating them. Finally, I did not have to soak them at all. I was able to wean them off seed that way.

You can also soak or sprout your seeds to make them a bit more nutritious.

 

[john5677]

Does he get out of cage time and exercise?

Both of them get out of cage time. From 7-8 AM to 5-6 pm.

That said, when they fly, both of them only have two places to pitch on in my room .

1. The top of my window(which is near the cage). I only have one window in my room

2. The Cage
Actually let me correct my self. The 2nd Parakeet can pitch on my door(that leads to the hallway and other rooms), but usually doesn't. My obese one doesn't go that far. For some reason, neither of them pitch on the door(that leads to my closet) that is close to their cage.


As far as exercise, I believe i'm in need of some in cage accessories. I do have a 2nd cage, but i'm not sure what cage accessories i can put inside that would really help with weight loss, or exercise. Any recommendations?

 

[Bokkapooh]

What about a playstand/aream start off with it next to the cage and then slowly move it away so Mr Fatty can slowly get accustomed to flying and building indurance.

 

[john5677]

Before I reply to the other comments(gonna be back in a few hours)

Are there any types of veggies that Parakeets tend to really love? From all the parakeets i've had in my life they've mostly liked lettuce

I did introduce them to broccoli a few days ago, and they ate some. Any other types of foods that they on average, tend to like and eat? That are good in nutrition

I usually cut up carrots and place them in a bowl, and they rarely eat that. They also don't seem to like the apples, oranges, or grapes I try to give them. Unless I have to be very consistent to get them to eat them?


Edit: Any recommended play stands you'd suggest?

 

[ashbirdlady]

Trick is to get the weight off slowly. Weigh seeds before you give them to him. At night weigh again to see how much he is eating per day. Give only that amount.
After a few days reduce seed offered by about 1/2 oz. After a week weigh your bird. Also, offer fresh dark leafy greens, whole carrots tied to the cage or left on the bottom for chewing eating and playing. Running around, flying or just flapping are great excercise. You can move the food to different places in the cage make the little guy look for it! And get excercise in the process.

PS. I used to have a Chubbie Budgie and this is what I did to help her lose weight. I was in contact with the vet regularly too.

 

[Lady Jane]

I have recently been on a mission to enhance my budgies nutrition and life in general because they both have avian gastric disease. How I upped their diet - I make a custom blend of almonds, pumpkin seeds and assorted dried herbs. goji berries. Put them in an extractor or blender until the size is small enough for budgies to eat. This I mix in their main food bowl with a small amt. of Volkmann's seeds (has no sunflower seeds which are very fatty) and Harrisons High Potency extra fine pellets alternating with Totally Organic crumptlets. I also get a parakeet food called Dr. Harvey's which you will find on Amazon and mix in this main food bowl. Sometimes eggs shells, chia, hemp and unhulled sesame seeds and finally goldenfeast petite hookbill legume blend. In another flat food dish I serve them dried Herb Salad from .
Twin Beaks Aviary. It took them about 1 week to dip their beaks in this mix. So you see they are fed like royalty. I suggest you increase flying time, add ladders to their cage and have a play area for them. I am having a playtop gym delivered this week which will be fun for them. To their water I add a milk thistle product for liver health from MySafeBirdStore. Do you have a scale to keep track of the wt? You can find them at birdscales.com If you do not already measure the seed you feed them try doing that. Get your vets suggestion as to how much seed to feed him. You can think about having them in separate cages so that you can control the amount of food he eats. Budgies generally do not eat much fruit and if you can make a mash of veggies and they eat it then that is a huge accomplishment. I feed an assortment of fresh greens such as dandelion, kale and romaine. Thanks for taking your birds health seriously and good luck.

 

[Lady Jane]

How is your budgie doing today?

 

[john5677]

Seems to be doing fine. He's seems like he's back to his average self. He's still on medication though, until next monday.

That said', it's clear I have a lot of stuff to do. I've posted this same thread in other forums, and have been met with a lot of suggestions. To the point where it may seem overwhelming. So here is what i've mainly gathered so far from this forum , and others (Feel free to add in)

1: Get Rowdy Bush Pellets

• crush them
  
  
• moist them
  
  
• Mix them with seeds
  
  
• Put them in another bowl
  

2: Make bird fly until tired/making noises

• Do it 4-5 times a day.
  
  
• 7 days a Week
  

3: Buy more toy accessories. Something to give the parakeet exercise


4. Begin to shy away from Dry Seeds and millets. They contain too much fat


5: Introduce more vegetables like Spinach, Broccoli

6. Seed Sprouting

So
- I recently ordered pellets. Should be coming on wednesday

-Been making both of my parakeets fly around more often

- Getting spinach and Broccoli today

Right now, the other big hurdles seem to be

1. Getting more stuff for them to get exercise in. More toys, and stuff like that. I need to ask, anything specific or brand you guys recoomend? stuff that is great for parakeet exercising or something? That I can purchase online with no issues?


2. Seed Sprouting. Seen this suggested in other forums. Is there a very easy guide on this? Like where would I buy the seeds? Anything in particular? It's just kinda overwhelmig for me right now, since i've never done this kind of stuff. But I heard that this method is better than seeds, and even pellets for health. So i'll try it.

 

[Lady Jane]

Sounds like a good plan. Best of luck to you.

 

[Monica]

If you are having problems getting your budgies to eat pellets, then try pellets for finches and canaries. Lafebers, Harrison's or Roudybush. Once they are eating those kind of pellets, you can then convert them onto budgie pellets.

At least three of the issues listed with your obese budgie could potentially be fixed by providing alcohol free milk thistle supplement and a diet change, with exercise. If the liver is compromised (i.e. failing or fatty), this can lead to a compromised immune system, so birds may be more prone to infections (bacterial and fungal infections). Providing a milk thistle supplement daily can help provide support for the liver, which can help the liver repair itself, which in turn helps to remove toxins from the blood and can help a bird get over from being sick.



Personally, I'd shy away from feeding spinach, since it's high in oxalates and it can cause some health issues. Feeding sprouted seeds over dry seeds is definitely a good idea! You can buy pre-mixed sprout blends that you sprout yourself or you can make your own sprout blends! The following links may be of help to you, although forgive me as many of the links may be dead within these two threads!


Converting Parrots to a Healthier Diet - Tips | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum
Bird Safe Fresh Foods & Toxic Food Lists & More | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum



Although I no longer have budgies, I was able to get mine to eat a variety of food!

 

[Robyn]

I would recommend a drastic cut back in seeds once you get them switched to pellets and RARELY give sunflower seeds as this is the cause of fatty liver. Place baskets around their out of cage area where they can forage for food and toys.

 

[john5677]

@Monica

Well, I got the Rowdy Bush Pellet crumbles
Amazon.com : Roudybush Daily Maintenance Bird Food, Crumbles, 44-Ounce : Pet Food : Pet Supplies

The Vet recommended I do a thing where

1. Give only 1 Table Spoon of seeds in the morning, and in the evening. In the afternoon, replace the seeds with fruits/veggies

2. Keep the pellets in a high dish at all times


the good news is that I've been doing this method since yesterday , and they started picking on it.

The bad thing is that they don't really seem to be eating the pellets. maybe taking slight picks.I'm gonna continue to be consistent with this method, unless after a week or something they still dont eat the pellets



That said, you recommended "milk thistle supplement without alcohol ", right? In that case, which particular product or brand would you recommend?

And are they good, even for birds that are already healthy(the obese parakeet has a cage buddy)? If so, do I provide it for them every day? Or just a few times a week?



Someone asked if I had a scale. Unfortunately, I don't have one for parakeets. Not yet.


Edit: I'm gonna do some reading on those links in regards to sprouting. If I have any questions, I'll post them here about them.



EDIT: One other thing. Lets say I do get them converted to a sprouting diet or w/e. Can these still function as their main diet(when taking into account veggies I put there as well)? Or would they still need pellets as well.

 

[Robyn]

Pellets are good as a gap filler in nutrion. Sprouting is easy the way I did it was to start off with a little seed (less than 1/4 cup) make sure theres no pellets in them as they will spoil quickly and ruin the whole bunch. Put them in a tupperware container with 1 tablespoon either distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar and fill the container with water and let them soak over night. Rinse them in the morning (I use a wire mess strainer so the seeds don't fall out) and then atleast 2 more times during the day. Repeat the process for 2 more days and serve on the third. Sprouts are soooooo much healthier for the birds than dry seeds. But still feed pellets and veggies and a little dry seeds and by little I mean just sprinkle them in the food dish.

 

[Monica]

It can take weeks for birds to convert over to a new diet, so as long as they are at least nibbling on it, that's a good sign.

I've used Nature's Answer, although Avitech, a company that makes supplements for birds, also sells a milk thistle and dandelion extract. It's 1 drop per 1 oz of water and needs to be changed twice a day, or it can be given orally, twice a day. I'm surprised your vet hasn't recommended it? You may want to speak with the vet about the milk thistle before giving it.

It should be fine for a healthy bird, too.



You can easily buy a postal or kitchen gram scale for $15-$20 at places like Target, Walmart, etc.



A mixed sprouted diet can function as the "main" diet with vegetables, some fruits, grains and legumes as a major part of the diet as well, but it's still a good idea to feed pellets, too. As Robyn says, it helps to fill in the nutritional gaps.

 

[Verivus]

They may prefer other pellet brands as well. My GCC will not touch Roudybush and only nibbles on TOPS, but he loves his Harrisons. My Eclectus prefers TOPS over Harrisons, which is good since Eclectus don't need synthetic vitamins.

 

[john5677]

-Well the good news is that since 4-5 days ago, they've both been eating the Rowdy Bush pellets. Right now I have two dishes that have the pellets being solid(untouched), and the other dish where I put some water in the pellets.

They prefer the latter, but do still eat the solid ones sometimes.


-I've also made it a point to force both of them to fly around. 4-5 times a day, on top of regular flight they usually do. From my observations, he seems to be much more active. Being able to fly a lot more. He still makes some noises when flying(sounds like panting type), but compared to the past he doesn't seem to tire out that easily.


To be more specific, in the past he'd have trouble flying around my room once or twice. After that, his flight would drastically decrease, and he'd only be able to fly low, not at all. Now he seems to be able to fly around my door and a bit higher, and more times to boot Which is far better than what he couldn't do in the past.


Right now the only issue seems to be that his stool looks a bit watery, Mostly during the night. Not sure if it's because of the seed-pellet conversion or what. Vet is going to be going away for vacation for a week, so hopefully my parakeet stays in solid condition.


- I got the Milk Thistle too, like i said in the other thread. I was worried about overdosing on it, since the water dishes aren't that big for them. So I decided to put two drops in both of their water dishes.


Now the only thing left to do is for me is to Seed Sprouting. I looked at some of the links posted, and WOW. The UPS Ground Tax(which seems to be the least cost) really bumps up the price a crap load. I'm thinking of getting a Seed Sprouting Mix, that is affordable.

Actually, I'm thinking of getting a Seed sprouting mix thats 2-3 lbs+, and has the Sprouting Jar that comes along with it.
Bird Sprouting Kit

Right now, this seems to be my best option. But i'm open for suggestions. Especially since a lot of the links that Monica posted in regards to buying seed sprouts from websites, are unfortunately dead.