Chronically sick cockatiel - A hopeful update!!

[SamsonNZ]

After around a year of recurrent illness and ~$2,000 worth of vet visits and diagnostic procedures with no luck, I've finally found something that's eliminated all of her symptoms(!!!!):
Completely cutting seeds from her diet.

Charlie is a 6 y/o cockatiel who had been suffering from chronic vomiting, sneezing and lethargy.

Starting two weeks ago, I completely removed seeds from her diet which eliminated her symptoms almost immediately. I'm so happy that I've finally zeroed in on the thing causing her issue.

I'm unsure if she developed an intolerance, if she had been overfilling her crop, if it's a reaction to a particular kind of seed, or maybe a protein/chemical found on all seed casings. But things are looking so much better!! And I'm so happy that she's feeling better!!!

Does anyone else know of any birds with seed intolerance? Any good foods to replace them with? I've tried replacing with a pellet made by RoudyBush, but she's not the biggest fan.

 

[expressmailtome]

I mean no disrespect, however I will ask anyways. Does your veterinarian know about this? I am asking as cockatiels generally do best with at least some seeds in their diet.

 

[Rebel]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rebel]

I mean no disrespect, however I will ask anyways. Does your veterinarian know about this? I am asking as cockatiels generally do best with at least some seeds in their diet.

Most humans do well with peanuts. Then there are others who get deathly ill from them.

 

[Mizzely]

Veggies. Harrison's, Hagen, etc. Lots of pellets on the market.

You could also try and introduce different seeds one at a time (not from the same bag you have, in case i of cross contamination) to see if you can zero in on the specific ingredient.

 

[expressmailtome]

Most humans do well with peanuts. Then there are others who get deathly ill from them.

I understand that, hence my asking about a veterinarian knowing about this. The other side of the coin so to speak is that many cockatiels do not do well on an all pellet diet.

 

[Rebel]

Im curious what name brand seeds you were feeding him.

 

[Vittror]

I'm glad Charlie is doing better!

Through trial and error I've found out that Whiskey (lovebird) doesn't react well to buckwheat. It makes him itchy.

Buckwheat is an ingredient that is in a lot of seed mixes that are sold here so I had to search hard and found a seed mix without buckwheat.

You could also try and introduce different seeds one at a time (not from the same bag you have, in case i of cross contamination) to see if you can zero in on the specific ingredient.

This seems like a good idea to try out because I agree with the rest that cockatiels need some seeds in their diet.

 

[SamsonNZ]

I mean no disrespect, however I will ask anyways. Does your veterinarian know about this? I am asking as cockatiels generally do best with at least some seeds in their diet.

The vet does not know. It sounds bad writing it out like this but I've mostly given up on my vet coming up with a treatment plan that will work for her. This has been a continuous problem for nearly a year and there's still no diagnosis/treatment that has changed anything longterm.

I was excited to find something that could relieve her vomiting symptoms in the short term, though it may not be optimal for long term nutrition. To me, solving the immediate problem of weight loss and vomiting every half hour was more important.

It's been another week now and I am slowly beginning to increase the seed quantity in her diet to see where the 'tipping point' is.

 

[SamsonNZ]

Im curious what name brand seeds you were feeding him.

I had been feeding her largely Topflite Budgie Mix and Topflite Cockatiel Mix. I also had a couple of bags of supermarket brand seed mixes at one point, 'Value Budgie Bird Seed Mix' from New World and 'Feathered Friends Budgie Food' from Pac'n'save. Also Brooklands Best Bird Gold'n'fruit condition food.
There didn't seem to be a correlation between the brand of seed and severity of symptoms. I went through several bags of Topflite, so don't think it was an issue with an individual batch of seed.