Pictures Kuiper's bloodwork results are finally back and...

[iamwhoiam]

everything is normal. Still have no clue why his droppings are so watery. Vet told me that he had some watery droppings when he was residing at her office but it was inconsistent and increased when he ate pellets. Guess this continues to be idiopathic polyuria. Happy that he is healthy but wish we had a reason behind the polyuria. Told the vet he must be part lorikeet.
Also, got a confirmation that he is a cinnamon pearl white faced. I thought he might have been split because I see ghost pearls but he is full pearl. Lost the pearling when he was at the vet before I first saw him.

 

[rockoko]

Normal! That’s great.

 

[Ulis_Beast]

That's just great! Normal results are always such a relief.
He's cute .. Looks angry though, as if to say ;"human lemme eat!"

 

[saroj12]

Awesome news!

 

[iamwhoiam]

I keep wondering what the babies would be if I let him and Callisto mate. She's a pearl, pied whiteface. NO, I'm not going to do that, just curious.
There's an easy to use app called Cockatiel Color Palette that I wanted to try but only available for iPhone and iPad neither of which I have.
I tried another calculator but I don't think the results were correct.

 

[Karen]

Normal is good!

 

[sunnysmom]

Great news. And such a cutie. I know you probably know this but there are suggestions out there that a heavily pelleted diet can be too hard on a tiel's kidneys. I wonder if your tiel is just more sensitive to pellets? I remember Srtiels once saying she fed her tiels only seeds and chop. I don't believe she fed pellets. I wonder if you tried eliminating pellets for awhile if it would make a difference?

 

[iamwhoiam]

Great news. And such a cutie. I know you probably know this but there are suggestions out there that a heavily pelleted diet can be too hard on a tiel's kidneys. I wonder if your tiel is just more sensitive to pellets? I remember Srtiels once saying she fed her tiels only seeds and chop. I don't believe she fed pellets. I wonder if you tried eliminating pellets for awhile if it would make a difference?

I mentioned taking him off the pellets to the vet and she said he seems to be OK otherwise so maybe not to do that. He gets more seeds than pellets but maybe I will try it for a day or two and see what happens. Thanks. His calcium level used to be slightly low but it's now normal and could be the pellets and/or the mineral calcium block that has helped with that.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

So glad the results came back normal! He’s gorgeous!

 

[Conure101]

Glad the results came back normal @iamwhoiam!

 

[Birdbabe]

Great news!

 

[sunnysmom]

I mentioned taking him off the pellets to the vet and she said he seems to be OK otherwise so maybe not to do that. He gets more seeds than pellets but maybe I will try it for a day or two and see what happens. Thanks. His calcium level used to be slightly low but it's now normal and could be the pellets and/or the mineral calcium block that has helped with that.

You of course don't want him to eat just seeds either. This may be a weird suggestion but Rosie, my 30 year old foster, gets Petamine. It's actually made for breeding tiels but it has of different nutrients in it. Because he was on it his whole life, I still give it to him. He's 30 so it certainly hasn't hurt him even if I'm wrong in assuming that it has helped him. I wonder if some brewer's yeast might help too instead of taking away the pellets?

 

[iamwhoiam]

You of course don't want him to eat just seeds either. This may be a weird suggestion but Rosie, my 30 year old foster, gets Petamine. It's actually made for breeding tiels but it has of different nutrients in it. Because he was on it his whole life, I still give it to him. He's 30 so it certainly hasn't hurt him even if I'm wrong in assuming that it has helped him. I wonder if some brewer's yeast might help too instead of taking away the pellets?

Yes, don't want him on a 100% seed diet but I think I just want to try him without pellets for only a day or two and see if that makes a difference and then I will at least know that the pellets are causing the watery droppings. Right now he gets Mazuri but maybe I will try him back on Oven Fresh Bites and see what his droppings are like with those pellets. I'll just try a few things out to see what happens. I used to use something similar to Petamine several years ago or maybe it was Petamine but it wasn't a breeder formula. If I remember correctly he had polyuria when he was getting OFBs but it wasn't as much. He gets other things besides seeds and pellets.

 

[WendyN]

He is a beautiful bird. Glad his test results were good.

 

[Monica]

I keep wondering what the babies would be if I let him and Callisto mate. She's a pearl, pied whiteface. NO, I'm not going to do that, just curious.
There's an easy to use app called Cockatiel Color Palette that I wanted to try but only available for iPhone and iPad neither of which I have.
I tried another calculator but I don't think the results were correct.

All offspring will be whiteface pearls split pied.

All female offspring will also be cinnamon.

Males will be split cinnamon.



You can actually check his tail feathers to determine if he's pearl or split pearl! A visual pearl male will have mottling at the *BASE* of his tail feathers, where-as a split pearl male will have solid grey tail feathers. Here's what I mean by mottling...

All three of the cockatiels currently under my care are pearls. My personal tiel is cinnamon pearl pied. The other two, male and female (unrelated!) are also visual pearls, although the male does not have *THAT* much mottling to his tail feathers.

 

[iamwhoiam]

@Monica I will take a closer look at his tail feathers but the vet told me that he was visual pearl and molted that out. However when I look back at a few of his early photos (when I first got him) I see some of the pearl markings and ghost pearls (faded pearl). He has fewer ghost pearls now. It does say cinnamon white faced pearl on his documentation. Thanks for the genetic info. Is your 'tiel male or female?

 

[Monica]

Casey - Cinnamon Pearl Pied Hen

Bibi - Pearl Hen

Beau - Pearl Male (has ghost pearls - not as obvious as Kuipers but does have mottling to tail feathers)


I've had Casey since she was 5 months old, she's 19 years old now. Bibi at ~2, now 4. Beau age unknown other than "adult".

 

[iamwhoiam]

I think Kuiper was about 8 mos. old when I got him and is now 5 years old. Have no idea how old Callisto is. I've had 'tiels before and when I lost my last one I wasn't going to get any more but the vet had a few up for adoption and I chose the two white faced ones.

My first 'tiel was a cinnamon named Smokey and I had him from the age of 3 months until he passed at 23 yrs. He was very friendly and sweet.

I don't know if Kuiper will let me get a close look at his tail. He isn't that friendly and doesn't usually like to be handled. However, I'll give it a try.

 

[Monica]

You could always wait until he molts his tail feathers, too.

 

[iamwhoiam]

You could always wait until he molts his tail feathers, too.

I might have some molted tail feathers saved somewhere.