Hi all,
Tiki is still hanging in but I can't get her to gain weight anymore, so I thought I'd reach out to you guys to see what you think. I'll try to be brief because I could easily write a wall of text.
- Last year: 1100 grams
- June: 950 grams which the dr said was low but OK
- June-August we've gotten her up to 1000 and back down to 950ish
- Today: she's 940 grams
Weight is with the same scale, same time of day.
She has good days and bad days food-wise. On the bad days (like today), her crop is empty and she does the baby feeding response.
We took her off seed and put her on pellets. This was a think 1.5 months ago. I think this is the major contributor to her weight loss. She's picky.
Reasons why this might not be PDD:
- She's never vomited.
- Her crop empties fine, it never backs up
- She's picky about what she eats.
- It seems like food goes through her too fast, not too slow
- Her droppings are normal now (no undigested food, but no seed either)
Her Diet:
- Breakfast: 1/12 slice of a whole wheat english muffin with sunflower, peanut or almond butter and harrisons enzymes. She doesn't eat much of the muffin, just wants the butter.
- Pellets: (my husband does this part so bare with me) - a blend of Kaytee fruits, veggies and nuts. Plus we added some harrisons specialty pellets to it. *I know kaytee is less than ideal but since she was showing interest in it, I figured it was a good start to the pellet diet
- Bowl: A mix of Fresh fuit (typically blueberries, apple, papaya or grapes), veggies (things like carrots, peapods & broccoli), birdie bread and maybe some cheerios or like whole grain rice cakes with no sodium. Also probiotics & harrisons enzymes
- Dinner: Possibly what we are eating if appropriate - whole grain pasta, a little pizza, some sweet potato, etc
On "bad" days like today I give her hand feeding formula in a syringe with a little applesauce, enzymes and probiotics.
She's showing less and less interest in her bowls. I can't tell if she's digesting the pellets or just grinding them up for fun. The reason this seems like she's being picky is because I know there are certain foods she will always eat no matter what. I don't think this is a case of her stuffing herself and not getting the nutrients. She can be at a point where she's doing the baby feeding response, and she'll still turn down everything we give her unless it's something that's peanut butter coated or pasta. Sidenote: Is whole grain tortellini good for them? She loves it.
What I think I'm doing wrong:
I think it's possible she looks forward to breakfast and dinner so much that she just doesn't bother eating the stuff she doesn't want. I feel like I'm reinforcing it by giving her hand-feeding formula and yummy butter treats when she's begging for food. But on the flip-side - I have to feed her and I don't want to put her back on a seed diet.
How can I tell how much of this is her transition to pellets vs. her having an legitimate digestive medical disorder of some sort? Any tips on how to fatten her up?