Retaming an old bird

[Wolf]

I am sorry that your parents feel this way about their animals, especially one that is as intelligent and as self aware as parrots are. I also know from experience that there is very little that anyone can do to convince them that this attitude is wrong, much less why it is wrong. Don't read this as my saying that we should not try to teach them the error of thinking in this manner, because it is something that we should try to do. It is a matter of bringing the birds intelligence as well as their responsibility to the front of their minds in such a manner as for them to think that it was all their idea, in the first place. So that it becomes a thing that they already knew and then you just become the instrument carrying out their idea. Not an easy task but it does sometimes work.
I know money is tight for them as I am also on disability and therefore on a small fixed income myself, but if we can't get the bird a check up in the near future, perhaps we can work on at least improving his diet. I have never actually sat down to work out the costs, but feeding the bird the diet that we have suggested could prove to be cheaper than using commercially formulated parrot foods on a monthly basis. Also the more of the items that are used that are also a part of their diet then the cheaper it becomes to feed them these foods.
And we should still be able to work on the target training of Dudley. Regardless of what your parents attitude is concerning Dudley, we will still do all that we can to help you to give him a better life.

[JessiMuse]

Thank you wolf. Your support means so much to me. I plan on getting a job as soon as possible (university offers jobs on campus). Not sure how that will sit well with my parents, because of my own disability, which I think is causing their concern for my ability to function on my own (which is why they've been very skeptical about me getting a job in the first place). If I can't convince them to give him a better diet, then I'll just take over the buying and serving of his food, myself. Either way, I'll get a better diet for him as soon as possible.

So when trying to work on target training, should I do something about his tendency to snatch away food rather than calmly taking it, before moving on to the actual training? I feel his territorial tendencies may get in the way, but I'm not too sure.

[Wolf]

No, I think that his snatching the food away is just something that you will just have to work through with him. Most animals exhibit this type of behavior because they have had the treat taken back from them and are afraid that it is going to happen again. So to me it is a trust issue and he needs to learn that once the treat is offered that it is not going to be taken away from him. So I think that you should start target training and give him the opportunity to see that when you offer him the treat that you will wait on him to take it and eat it and then proceed. In this manner he will learn that it is his and it will help him to trust you more. Just remember that while he is snatching the treat away from you to count your finger to be certain that you still have them all. Be patient with him and it will come together.
Same advice for your parents. Be patient and loving, creative and gentle, they are older and a bit more resistant to learning new things so you need to be gentle as well as persistent and consistent and avoid confrontation. They will learn but it will be at their own pace, very much like Dudley will learn, although he will probably be the easier one to work with.

[Pajarita]

Well, if he is that old and has lived all his life on a bad diet, he most likely has advanced liver damage and is beginning to affect his neurological functions (and that's why he falls off the perch - ammonia accumulates in the brain when the liver is not working right). So the first thing you need to do is to put him on supplements as well as changing his diet because, if you don't, he will die soon. He needs to eat low protein (gloop and produce for breakfast and a budgie mix for dinner) and get supplements (milk thistle, dandelion root, aloe vera detox formula, methionine and, for the ammonia in the brain, lactulose). I bet his poop and plumage as well as beak and claws are showing symptoms, too...

Why don't you do some research on fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) and show it to your parents? I am sure they love him so even if they are not willing to pay for a vet, they might be willing to allow you to change his diet and get the supplements.

[JessiMuse]

He rarely falls off his perch ever, but the fact that it happens at all does worry me.

I've seen a lot of bird poop in my life, from all the birds my mom raised, and his droppings don't show any signs of being sick. Not quite sure about his physical appearance though... (I'll try and get some good pictures of him once I have the time).

So I managed to convince my mom to use roasted, unsalted peanuts, rather than raw peanuts, because of the fungus that can grow on raw peanuts, that Wolf mentioned. She asked me if the whole fungus thing was something I read off the internet, and I replied with "it came from another parrot owner" (she gets very paranoid on whatever is read on the Internet, because it's not always true). It's not much, but it's a start. I'll try and convince her not to put so much in his food, next. Hopefully I can gradually convince her to change his diet.

But I was also wandering... Because him falling off is connected to him being frightened, is it possible that rather than him falling, it's moreso him acting in a "fight or flight" instinct, and he's actually fleeing to the bottom of the cage? It sounds quite unlikely, because it makes more sense for a bird to fly to a higher place rather than a lower place, but his highest perch is pretty close to the ceiling of his cage, and since he likes to sleep on it, i feel it would make a little sense, since there's no other place to go but down. I'm probably sounding like a crazy person to you guys, with this theory, but I'm hoping for a few opinions on this...

I'm never in the room when it happens, but when it does, I hear him flapping like crazy until he actually lands on the bottom. Would a bird having a seizure, or their neurological functions hindered, do this? Or would they just let themselves fall?

[Wolf]

Whether a seizure or panic they would normally flap their wings like crazy. If in panic then it is done in and attempt to get away from the thing causing the panic. If it is from a seizure then the bird has no control of the muscle spasms.
How do you think that your mom would react to articles from bird magazines?

[Pajarita]

But if he is all alone in the room and you hear him falling and flapping, I doubt that it's panic...
With the bad diet he has had for such a long time, he most likely has both kidney and liver damage and both cause seizures... You can find scientific sources of information on aspergillus all over the place.