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Urgent Problems With Food!

Viridity

Sitting on the front steps
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1/31/21
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I would be grateful for anyone's advice on my cockatiel, Cosmo! (He is 5 yo)

He is slowly losing weight, and I'm extremely concerned, because he is already underweight.
I feed him a seed diet, I want to convert him to a pellet diet, but he is refusing to eat the fine-pellets that I've tried introducing in numerous ways (gradual, pretending to eat it, using it for activities, hiding it in his food, etc.) and he just refuses to eat it!
He also refuses to eat any type of vegetable or fruit, occasionally some lettuce or broccoli. I can really only get him to eat popcorn, rice puff-thingies, and spray millet.
Out all of the seeds I have in his seed mix, he only eats the white millet in it, he used to eat sunflower seeds, but he suddenly stopped.

Another thing that makes this difficult, is that Cosmo is scared of new objects, so trying to feed him new foods makes him think the food is going to kill him or something.
Please, I really am scared, and I can't get help from a vet for a long time, and I have no clue what to do. (I'm a minor and my parents are unable to help, as they work 24/7)

I really care about my bird, and I beg anyone to please give me any advice. I just need to know how to help him rapidly gain weight.
 
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MiniMacaw

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I’m sorry your bird isn’t doing well. Whenever an otherwise visually healthy bird is losing weight, the only way to determine the root cause is generally with a vet visit who can run some tests. I understand this isn’t possible right now in your situation, so I can only give some tips on getting stubborn eaters to eat.
My birds really like warm oatmeal. Maybe because I eat it every morning, (and monkey see monkey do) but I found introducing any new items in a small bowl of oatmeal helped. Especially if you’re eating some of your own. Birds can be very curious and don’t like being left out so if you’re enjoying something they’re often more interested in trying it too vs if you just put new food in their bowls.
If cosmo likes being out near you make it a fun experience for him. Sharing meal time and putting no pressure on him eating it. Just leave it next to your food like you don’t care if he ever touches it. Enjoy your meal and just relax. He’ll read your emotions easily and eventually he may start to relax and try the new food. It can be oatmeal, sweet potato, salad, whatever healthy foods you can eat and he can share in.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Is he eating the seed mix you feed him? Does he have access to his seeds all day? How much seed do you give him a day? Does he get fresh seeds everyday? I wouldn’t worry about changing his diet until you can keep his weight stable. Was he overweight before?
 

flyzipper

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What is Cosmo's weight and is his behaviour otherwise normal?
 

Viridity

Sitting on the front steps
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What is Cosmo's weight and is his behaviour otherwise normal?
Sorry for replying so late! Cosmo's weight has fluctuated a lot, and currently (as of right now) he is 75g. It really isn't consistent, as sometimes he is 80g, but then drops again. And yes, he is acting normal.
 

Viridity

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Is he eating the seed mix you feed him? Does he have access to his seeds all day? How much seed do you give him a day? Does he get fresh seeds everyday? I wouldn’t worry about changing his diet until you can keep his weight stable. Was he overweight before?
Sorry for responding late! He has never been overweight. He was a rescue from a neglectful house for 3 years, so I don't know his full story. He does eat his seed mix, but only the white millet in it. He used to eat the sunflower seeds in it, and a few others, but over the past month, he has refused to eat them. He also does get fresh seeds, and he does have access to them all day. Should he not?
 

Viridity

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
1/31/21
Messages
16
I’m sorry your bird isn’t doing well. Whenever an otherwise visually healthy bird is losing weight, the only way to determine the root cause is generally with a vet visit who can run some tests. I understand this isn’t possible right now in your situation, so I can only give some tips on getting stubborn eaters to eat.
My birds really like warm oatmeal. Maybe because I eat it every morning, (and monkey see monkey do) but I found introducing any new items in a small bowl of oatmeal helped. Especially if you’re eating some of your own. Birds can be very curious and don’t like being left out so if you’re enjoying something they’re often more interested in trying it too vs if you just put new food in their bowls.
If cosmo likes being out near you make it a fun experience for him. Sharing meal time and putting no pressure on him eating it. Just leave it next to your food like you don’t care if he ever touches it. Enjoy your meal and just relax. He’ll read your emotions easily and eventually he may start to relax and try the new food. It can be oatmeal, sweet potato, salad, whatever healthy foods you can eat and he can share in.
Sorry for replying late! Thank you very much for the advice, I have been trying to follow this today. So far, no luck, but I hope he will eventually eat the food I eat near him. I will definitely try the oatmeal! I'll also try to relax, I just tend to get very stressed, since I've never owned a bird before, and I don't want to fail Cosmo :,)
 

Fuzzy

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Don't panic! If he's been used to an all seed diet for years, it will take time to encourage him to eat other things. Great advice already. I too sit with my birds so that we all eat together... they eat much more this way. You could also try sprouting since sprouts look very similar to seeds. My Pionus who was weaned onto seeds, took to sprouts pretty quickly. I also found that he loved peas. So I would stick peas on new foods I wanted him to try. My Budgie used to love eating off my plate, so we would share unsalted wholemeal grains, legumes and veggies/salad. You can also make food into toys such as threading pieces of veggies and fruit on a stainless steel birdie kebab or weaving large leaves (like kale, or Romaine lettuce) in and out of his cage bars, etc. Here is a link on how to sprout easily:

 

Viridity

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
1/31/21
Messages
16
Don't panic! If he's been used to an all seed diet for years, it will take time to encourage him to eat other things. Great advice already. I too sit with my birds so that we all eat together... they eat much more this way. You could also try sprouting since sprouts look very similar to seeds. My Pionus who was weaned onto seeds, took to sprouts pretty quickly. I also found that he loved peas. So I would stick peas on new foods I wanted him to try. My Budgie used to love eating off my plate, so we would share unsalted wholemeal grains, legumes and veggies/salad. You can also make food into toys such as threading pieces of veggies and fruit on a stainless steel birdie kebab or weaving large leaves (like kale, or Romaine lettuce) in and out of his cage bars, etc. Here is a link on how to sprout easily:

Thank you so, so much for the help. I am so grateful! I'm excited to see if these new food ideas will work. You have really helped me, so thank you, again :D
 
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