11 week old bng appetite

[Sully09]

I have just joined and hoping for some advice.
I have had Sully since he was 7 weeks. He has been a joy last week, he was not acting correctly. Not wanting to eat hardly. I typically fed him 100cc 3x daily. I could hardly get 50cc in him. Took him to the vet. They swabbed his crop and found he had a bacterial infection. Sent him home with some abx. I have been giving this to him for about 8 days now. He still sneezes here and there. No discharge. He is VERY active and strong. Flapping away and playing like crazy. But I can only get him to eat about 70cc each feeding. I sometimes add a 4th feeding to just get some more in him and he takes to that fine. Just curious to see if he’s just not better yet from the meds, or if I should bring him back to the vet to see if something else is going on. . ):

 

[Kiwi's Dad]

@Macawnutz @BrianB

 

[April]

@MiniMacaw I can't recall if Bowser was young enough to still be on handfeeding when you got him.

 

[BrianB]

If there is a crop infection it's better to offer smaller meals more often during the day. Sometimes the infection can change how fast the crop empties and you don't want food sitting there for hours at a time anyway because you're just giving more food to overgrown bacteria anyway. If he was taking 100 3x a day, try breaking that up into 50 but do it 5 or 6 times a day. Try to keep track of his weight as well. Even an active chick can still lose weight rapidly if you have a crop infection.

 

[Sully09]

If there is a crop infection it's better to offer smaller meals more often during the day. Sometimes the infection can change how fast the crop empties and you don't want food sitting there for hours at a time anyway because you're just giving more food to overgrown bacteria anyway. If he was taking 100 3x a day, try breaking that up into 50 but do it 5 or 6 times a day. Try to keep track of his weight as well. Even an active chick can still lose weight rapidly if you have a crop infection.

Thank you! That crossed my mind as well as feeding smaller more frequent meals. His crop seems to empty super fast lately. Just odd to me when he hits about 70cc he is just done. ): he is around 1010grams currently. I’m not sure if that is a good weight for her age or not

 

[BrianB]

Thank you! That crossed my mind as well as feeding smaller more frequent meals. His crop seems to empty super fast lately. Just odd to me when he hits about 70cc he is just done. ): he is around 1010grams currently. I’m not sure if that is a good weight for her age or not

How old is he? Just about 3 months?

 

[Sully09]

Correct

 

[MiniMacaw]

@MiniMacaw I can't recall if Bowser was young enough to still be on handfeeding when you got him.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, plus he also had an infection raging. His crop specifically wasn’t infected (it was full body) but since his crop was so empty and showed evidence of him ingesting only his feathers, it was tender. Feedings were small and frequent, paying special attention to always making sure feeding times were happy, never stressful, events. Bowser ended up being hand fed until he was a couple months or so past a year old. That’s not super common, but with the trauma and issues he had it was more about comfort and maintaining weight. When he was young at a few months old or so he was getting 40cc to 60cc 4-6 times a day as he needed. As he grew it went down to 3 times a day, then twice a day for quite a long time, then finally once daily.
At 90 days old the average blue and gold macaw weighs 942.5g with the maximum generally reaching 1030g and the accepted minimum being 848g, so it sounds like this little one is a good hardy weight.
I found Bowser really needed babying during feedings while he was sore. Even once the infection was gone, the tenderness and general “icky” feeling of being sick took some time to go away.

 

[Sully09]

Thank you for replying! I guess I was nervous that he regressed back to 4 feedings and eating less amount. But it seems to make more sense explained by others for sure lol. He ate 4 times today. Dinner being his biggest. He got 90cc which made me ecstatic. He is SO mobile right now and wanting to test everything out in his beak and flap flap flap. Lol. He is starting to bite but I feel it’s just seeing what he can and can’t do and testing his barriers. I wish I could post a video on here. I got the cutest one of him.
Thank you again for commenting !

@MiniMacaw I can't recall if Bowser was young enough to still be on handfeeding when you got him.

Yes, plus he also had an infection raging. His crop specifically wasn’t infected (it was full body) but since his crop was so empty and showed evidence of him ingesting only his feathers, it was tender. Feedings were small and frequent, paying special attention to always making sure feeding times were happy, never stressful, events. Bowser ended up being hand fed until he was a couple months or so past a year old. That’s not super common, but with the trauma and issues he had it was more about comfort and maintaining weight. When he was young at a few months old or so he was getting 40cc to 60cc 4-6 times a day as he needed. As he grew it went down to 3 times a day, then twice a day for quite a long time, then finally once daily.
At 90 days old the average blue and gold macaw weighs 942.5g with the maximum generally reaching 1030g and the accepted minimum being 848g, so it sounds like this little one is a good hardy weight.
I found Bowser really needed babying during feedings while he was sore. Even once the infection was gone, the tenderness and general “icky” feeling of being sick took some time to go away.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Macawnutz]

So your sweetie is 12 weeks old right now?

 

[Sully09]

Correct! He just turned 12 weeks today