Urgent Throwing up

[parrotluv]

Hope it is nothing serious

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Ok, back from the vet. We came to the conclusion that it's a sort of regurgitating.
They told me to monitor his feedings and feed him only when i am there to watch and see if he regurgitates it right after.
So it's a "wait and see" right now.
As of now, Butter is in his cage playing with a toy.

 

[parrotluv]

Oh sounds odd, let us know what you discover.

 

[Karen]

Ok, back from the vet. We came to the conclusion that it's a sort of regurgitating.
They told me to monitor his feedings and feed him only when i am there to watch and see if he regurgitates it right after.
So it's a "wait and see" right now.
As of now, Butter is in his cage playing with a toy.

Hope it's nothing serious. Usually with vomiting the head goes rapidly side to side expelling the vomit a good distance while with regurg. the head goes up and down and they deposit the regurged food onto an item or swallow it back down.

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Hope it's nothing serious. Usually with vomiting the head goes rapidly side to side expelling the vomit a good distance while with regurg. the head goes up and down and they deposit the regurged food onto an item or swallow it back down.

That's what's weird. His head went side to side but it came out like regurgitation would.

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Ok, so after watching him eat a couple times, turns out he will eat the red pellets first, then the green pellets, and leave the rest till last.
He fakes eating the zupreem natural. Just crushes it up into dust.

 

[lupe]

That happened to me with Elvis when he was around the same age..it turns out it was regurgitation and nothing serious. .I too took him to the avian vet..the only time he has thrown up was in first car ride. .good thing you took Butter to the vet..hope all remains well..

 

[Monica]

Just because a bird makes pellet dust out of their food doesn't mean they *aren't* eating it. I've been saving the leftover pellet dust from my bourke parakeet and it's quite a lot! And I know for a fact she eats it, too!

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

This morning he did the head moving thing like he was about to throw up, but i think it was because i had just put the food bowl in, and he was eating pretty dang fast that he choked himself for a second. Could that be a plausible reason? I do remember once before, i think it was yesterday or the day before, he did the head moving thing, and he was getting over-exited then because we had just let him out and he loves coming out. Maybe both of those reasons could be it...

You can apparently learn a lot from watching your bird eat...

 

[Crazy4parrots]

Try feeding him outside of the cage! Maybe he gets so excited that instead of focusing on eating he just wants to come out. So try feeding him out of his cage!

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Try feeding him outside of the cage! Maybe he gets so excited that instead of focusing on eating he just wants to come out. So try feeding him out of his cage!

I do that sometimes just to try and get him to eat and not focus on coming out, but he still doesn't eat for like 5 minutes because he's exited that he's out.

I only have to monitor him for the rest of tonight and tomorrow morning, so it's not a long-term thing.

 

[Kellie728]

Did they culture anything or take any sample to make sure it wasn't an infection?

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Did they culture anything or take any sample to make sure it wasn't an infection?

Strange as it is, they didn't.... The vet isn't an "avian" vet, he's just "exotics".... Can't go to a qualified avian vet because they are 2 and a half hours away.
I assume he thought that it was regurgitation and didn't feel the need to do it.
Anyway, i managed to get a video of him doing his weird head thing-

It looks pretty uncomfortable to do that to your head/neck if you ask me.

Edit: I also just realized that i got my own bird's age wrong
He is now 9 months old as of March 1'st. When i wrote the starting post, i meant to say "almost 9 months old" not 8 months.....

Edit 2: He ate a whole bunch of food just before i took the video, so he *may* be choking himself. He was fine after this.

 

[Kellie728]

Has he vomited lately? He definitely looks uncomfortable. When my bird was sick it was obvious that she was trying to vomit, head bobbing up and down quickly. hopefully it's nothing serious.

 

[rocky'smom]

try to give him smaller meals, about 1/2 of a tablespoon. if he is still doing it reduce it even more. i had budgie that use to eat too fast and regurg. i started with 1/2 teaspoon

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Has he vomited lately? He definitely looks uncomfortable. When my bird was sick it was obvious that she was trying to vomit, head bobbing up and down quickly. hopefully it's nothing serious.

He only vomited once last Wednesday. And he hasn't vomited since.
The vet felt his crop to see if there was anything in it, but there was nothing in his crop at all.... Edit: forgot to mention that what he vomited was digested, no bits of undigested pellets, no blood, but it was gross watching him eat it again.

try to give him smaller meals, about 1/2 of a tablespoon. if he is still doing it reduce it even more. i had budgie that use to eat too fast and regurg. i started with 1/2 teaspoon

I can't be there all day to feed him when he needs food, so i would rather just leave him with the bowl in his cage.
And as i have said before, he's a U2, and half a tablespoon of pellets for him is tiny, and i wake up at noon so feeding him just that much for all his meals would slowly drop his weight, witch is exactly what i don't need!

He didn't eat this fast before i had to monitor him, so i think was trying to fill himself up as much as he can before the next food time because he didn't have the ability to snack on his food throughout the day.
That's why he may have upset his stomach by eating too much too fast.

Either way, i don't have to monitor him anymore so maybe he won't eat as fast because he will always have food available.
I have also emailed the video to the vet and maybe he will know what to do about it.

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

Got a reply from the vet... This is what he said:

"So, I'm thinking he ate too much food and it's not getting down into small enough pieces for him to swollow. The motion he makes with his neck is to try and move ingesta from his crop downward. If the ingesta is too large and not passable, he maybe regurgitating the food up to chew it smaller and then try's to get it to pass. Try not to allow him to 'over ea and try to notice if he's breaking his food up. Keep me posted.".....

That's what i thought too.
He stopped trying to break up his food when i had to be there to feed him.
Since i stopped monitoring him, i haven't seen him do the head thing again, and he takes his time crushing the food into smaller pieces, so that is good.
Maybe when he actually regurgitated that one time he was over-exited?

 

[Wolf]

My thoughts were the same as your vet said, when I watched your video. I have read this topic twice to be certain of what you were saying before inserting my foot in my mouth. So here goes. First and foremost it occurs to me that not feeding your bird until noon is not good husbandry and neither is feeding him an all pelleted diet. We learned some time back that an all seed diet was killing our birds and pellets, regardless of how much they may have changed, some for the better and some even worse, are still primarily seeds that are ground up too fine for them to choose any certain seed. But they are still mostly seeds. If you are going to provide pellets all of the time, free feeding them, then there is little chance that you are going to get him to eat anything else. You should consider removing the pellets after he goes to bed for the night and then offer him some cooked whole grains and chopped up veggies and fruit for breakfast. Then provide a limited portion of the pellets for him to eat in the evening. Also you should be aware that for a parrot eating is a social as well as a bonding event so you should sit and nibble on some veggies with him when you offer them to him. I don't know how much of this you were aware of but since you didn't mention using any of these things I though it might be a good idea to remind you of them.

 

[Cockatoo-Dust]

My thoughts were the same as your vet said, when I watched your video. I have read this topic twice to be certain of what you were saying before inserting my foot in my mouth. So here goes. First and foremost it occurs to me that not feeding your bird until noon is not good husbandry and neither is feeding him an all pelleted diet. We learned some time back that an all seed diet was killing our birds and pellets, regardless of how much they may have changed, some for the better and some even worse, are still primarily seeds that are ground up too fine for them to choose any certain seed. But they are still mostly seeds. If you are going to provide pellets all of the time, free feeding them, then there is little chance that you are going to get him to eat anything else. You should consider removing the pellets after he goes to bed for the night and then offer him some cooked whole grains and chopped up veggies and fruit for breakfast. Then provide a limited portion of the pellets for him to eat in the evening. Also you should be aware that for a parrot eating is a social as well as a bonding event so you should sit and nibble on some veggies with him when you offer them to him. I don't know how much of this you were aware of but since you didn't mention using any of these things I though it might be a good idea to remind you of them.

I really do appreciate the info.
He wakes up way earlier than me (about sunrise, because i always leave the blinds open), so i just leave the pellets in there instead of taking them out at night and feeding him when i get up.
He will only eat pellets because that is what the breeder weaned him onto. Even though it may not be the "perfect" diet, it is still better than the "all seed" diet.
I am switching him from the Zupreem fruit blend (what he was weaned onto) to the Zupreem naturals, and so far he is eating them with no problem, so i want to be sure he will eat those before i try and really make him eat the fruits/veggies/etc.

What i mean by "really making him eat them" is that i will try and do something like you said with taking the pellets out when he goes to bed, and offering the fruit/veggies/etc in the morning (10:00 am is morning, right?). It is nearly impossible for me to stay awake if i wake up any earlier than about 10:00 am. I can't go to bed sooner either, because i can't sleep. I would literally lie awake in bed until the normal time i would go to bed and actually go to sleep (about 1:00 am)...
When i go to bed, i don't turn the light on, so i don't wake up the birds.
The birds don't even wake me up even though they are in my bedroom. Butter doesn't scream at me to get up either.

If i offer him a piece of fruit/veggie/etc while he was hungry (i have tried it!) , he will taste it with the tip of his tongue, shake his head, and complain to me that what i was trying to feed him was not what he wanted, even though i had eaten some in front of him, let him watch my other birds eat it, etc.
I am just going to say it here- the healthiest bird i have is a lovebird. (will actually eat the best diet, loves exercising, bathes the most, etc)
Even though i have let Butter watch the lovie vigorously eat the fruits/veggies/etc, he still does not eat them himself because he doesn't want it.
I am starting to sound repetitive saying he won't eat it...

And it's also about time for an update.
He hasn't done the head thing again, so we are still good on that part.

 

[mythic55]

Good to hear... My first thoughts were actually your conclusion. Wish I had come to this thread earlier. Sorry
You are a good featherparent.