Options for Budgie Weight Loss?

[Lovviekeet]

Hi all,

I have a flock of five budgies currently and need some weight loss help. I've had keets for 15+ yrs now, but I've never had a big issue with obesity until recently. My current flock of keets are all 3-5 years in age. I also have lovebirds. My birds live in species-specific large flight cages (plenty of room to fly, and lots of toys to keep active). They eat primarily Roudybrush pellet, with occasional seed. I typically try to feed them greens as well. They can be quite fond of greens but that comes and goes. They currently have their food dishes in the cage all day. My lovies are on the same diet, and are at perfect weight and in great health

I had one budgie die in September of cancer, and at his autopsy the vet said that he was overweight (not the cause of death- testicular cancer got him sadly). The vet says that at least the three bigger of them need to lose weight, which I absolutely agree with, but he hasn't been helpful and there's no other avian vet nearby. His only suggestion was to limit their food to only pellets (NO greens or seed), and to only feed twice a day for ~1hr per feeding. I don't plan to limit their access to greens as I believe it's necessary for them.

I have a few issues with that. One, because of my schedule I am not always home at consistent times. I'd feel bad keeping them waiting without an idea about when dinner is (unless I consistently set it to "early" and "late"). Two, even with food dishes in, mine will eat the paper towels lining the cage (not just pecking at it, but full-on beak shaped holes with missing chunks throughout) and their own feces. When I take food dishes out, they simply spend their time eating feces (save for the one who is of course at perfect weight). They will do so obsessively. Giving them mineral blocks, cuttlebones, and veggies has not solved that. Three, one of my obese hens will aggressively bully others for food even at the best of times, and my obese male will simply sit in the dish eating nonstop, whether or not others have a chance to eat. I feel like the healthy weight ones would lose all the weight and the obese ones would keep going.

My budgies are reasonably active, but not like they were when they were younger (they could fly circles for entire mornings!). Two have chronic crop issues so I don't fault them for not being very active now (although I suspect their crop issues lead them to never feel full- one is them is the obese male, but the other is a healthy-weight hen). But the others don't fly around much either, even though they do get regular out-of-cage and exploratory time. They get out of their cage, maybe fly once around the room, then settle on top of the cage to sing or sleep. When they do fly, some do well and others simply flounder a bit and controlled-crash onto the nearest cage. They are active in the cage, running around the ground, playing and climbing, and chasing each other off desired perches. They do fly in cage a good amount.

I had a very obese hen who died a year ago, but she was oddly enough extremely active (perhaps the most active budgie I've ever had). Her mate constantly force-fed her, though, and isolating them with limited food only led to him continuing to forcefeed her and simply not eating himself. Isolating just her stressed her out terribly so that didn't last long.

I'd really hate to have to isolate my budgies by weight as they are all very bonded and do get stressed out when apart (constant calling, pacing, staying on bottom of cage).

I've been reducing the amount of pellets they get, and even had them on low-fat pellets for almost three months, but I've seen almost no weight loss. My two obese keets are still obese, (both 40-42 g.) and their weights have fluctuated higher at times than the start of their diet. Two of my others fluctuate right at the upper healthy-lower overweight mark (33-37 g.). My other keet is at perfect weight and he's very chill regardless of what happens.

Any ideas? Help? Should I follow the vet's suggestion of limiting their feeding times? Find a particular pellet? Reduce quantity further?

Also, any ideas on how to limit the poop eating? They will eat poop off ANYTHING (floor, cage bars, perches, each other's feet, you name it!) even when I keep their cage as clean as possible. Again, cuttlebone, mineral block, and veggies haven't slowed it down at all.

Thanks!

Keet directory, fyi:
B- upper healthy weight male. 3yrs
P- healthy weight male, not as much of a poop eater as the rest. 3 yrs
K- obese hen, aggressive, compulsive eater. 3 yrs
M- obese male, compulsive eater, crop issues. 3 yrs.
L- healthy weight to slightly overweight hen, crop issues, the only food she prefers to poop is millet. 5 yrs.

C- overweight male, passed due to cancer. 3 yrs
H- extremely obese but very active female, passed for unknown reasons after multiple unsuccessful medications. 2 yrs

 

[Shezbug]

Pellets are not good as the only food source for budgies. @Ripshod might be able to offer some information to assist.

 

[Ripshod]

Shez is right. You really shouldn't feed just pellets. My experience is too many fortified pellets gives them too much calcium leading to kidney problems. One exception would be Top's. They're not fortified making them a great diet tool - a filler.
Don't be tempted to remove seed either. When you put them back the birds will likely gorge on them just as they would in the wild. Finches and canaries eat lower fat seeds including grasses. If you mix finch/canary seeds with their budgie mix you'll reduce their fat intake without them noticing. Plus the grass seeds are a little harder to hull, making them eat slower.
Remove the mineral blocks but leave the Cuttlefish bone. They're eating pellets so they don't need any extras, while Cuttlefish is a great grooming tool.
Push the veggies. All the colours to ensure all the main vitamins.
Do they get out of the cages to fly? To me this is essential. Not just to help control weight but if they're out flying you can see who's having problems, get a better look at them for developing health issues, and gets them out and away from food. Plus it's much better exercise than just flitting around a flight cage.
Don't be over-concerned about them eating paper. Mine look like they eat cardboard but it does end up on the floor of the cage as fluff and dust.
Eating faeces is something they do naturally in the wild if there's something missing in their diet. I can't see that being the case here with the pellets you use. It certainly won't make them gain weight.