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Postby Babysmama18 » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:50 pm

Hi I'm Patti and a new member to this forum. I have had my Sennie for 11 years, in fact she just turned 11 this month on Grounhogs Day. She seems thin to me, only 100grams, and she eats well, I thought. Her Tropimix, along with veggies and pasta, fruit, just about everything we eat. Any suggestions for homemade things that might put some meat on her? Thanks in advance :swaying:
Babysmama18
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal parrot
Flight: No

Re: New member

Postby Pajarita » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:38 am

Welcome, Patti and Sennie [what's her name?]! Well, I am afraid that I have to agree with you, 100 grams is definitely too low for a Senegal, even if it's a female [their average weight is around 130 grams so, at 100 grams, she is VERY underweight because you are talking of a 30 percent difference!]. Has she had a complete physical in the last six months? I am not talking just the vet looking at her and doing a fecal [something that is absolutely worthless as an indicator of good or bad health], I am talking complete blood work : CBC, avian chem panel and bile acids as well as a full body Xray [to see if the liver or heart are enlarged, if everything is where it's supposed to be, etc]. Of course, she could just be the runt of a clutch of overbred parents that were semi-depleted at the time she was bred but, if this was the case, she would have been underdeveloped her entire life, is that the case? If it's not and she has been free-fed Tropimix [you don't say if this is used just for dinner or all day long], she should be overweight and not underweight...

I have to tell you, though, that I don't like Tropimix, it's mostly dry corn with soy, peanuts and dehydrated fruit -none of which is actually good for parrots.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: New member

Postby Babysmama18 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:49 pm

Oh dear, I'm sorry, my Sennie's name is Baby. I keep the Tropimix in her dish for her to nibble on all day, but supplement with vegetables, pasta, fruit, cereal, anything we are eating. What do you suggest instead of Tropimix? She's had other brands throughout her 11 years of course, but I bought this because it looked like a good variety of things in there.
Any advice on a different mix would be welcome. :redbelly:

Patti and Baby
Babysmama18
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal parrot
Flight: No

Re: New member

Postby Navre » Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:58 am

Be careful of human cereal. It often has high level of iron and zinc.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: New member

Postby Pajarita » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:21 am

Awww, Baby is a great name for a little girl! I have a dog named Baby and several of my birds know that this word is applied to them, too. My male Senegal, Sweetpea, which is a genius at cognitive speech, actually teases/jokes with me saying that his name is Baby Bird when he knows very well his name is Sweetpea. :lol: And I name my male redbelly Davy because it sounds like Baby as I did not know his real name and he kept on saying: "Hey, Baby!"

John [Navre] is correct. Birds cannot consume human cereal - or anything that has been formulated for human nutrition, actually. I know that avian vets and most people say that parrots can eat human food but anybody who says that has not done any real research on their natural diets or their nutritional needs [avian vets don't study parrot nutrition or behavior]. One very serious issue is iron content. Humans need a lot of iron in their diets while birds don't. Cereals are particularly bad because they are mostly formulated for children who need even more of it than adults. For example, the iron content in Cheerios [something that, unfortunately, has been recommended as a treat for parrots for years now] is up to 45 percent while a bird cannot consume more than 2. To make matters worse, birds cannot get rid of the excess iron so it goes into the liver for storage and once the liver becomes saturated, you end up with a condition called hemochromatosis which is fatal and has no cure. I adopted a 10 year old sun conure with this condition caused by feeding her Cheerios. It took me a looooong time of a special iron free diet and special supplements both in the form of liver cleansers and a special iron-free multivitamin/mineral supplement [which the manufacturer of the bird seed mixes I use with my birds kindly had his own vitamin/mineral supplement manufacturer, La Roche, make specially for me] to get her bile acids levels to a good normal range. But she will still require the special diet and supplements for the rest of her life because once the liver is damaged, this is the only way to keep them alive.

So, if you have been feeding her human cereal and other fortified human foods and/or meat, her weight loss could be caused by advanced liver malfunction so, again, you need to take her to an avian vet for a complete physical.

As to leaving the Tropimix in her bowl all day long... well, that's what we call 'free-feeding' meaning, she can eat as much as she wants of it and, when it comes to protein food [seeds, nuts, pellets, nutriberries, avicakes, etc] that's not good for any parrot and I'll tell you why. Nature gives animals a craving for elements that are necessary for life but hard to find. And, like humans with salt, parrots have it with protein because, in nature, there are no rich, abundant sources of high protein for herbivores so, whenever they find one [say, a tree with nuts], they eat and eat and eat of it until it's all gone. We bred these birds in captivity but their physical needs are exactly the same as the ones in the wild so, when we free-feed them protein food, they will eat and eat and eat same as the ones in the wild. I do free-feed but it's gloop and raw produce which they get for breakfast and stays in their cages all day long until it's time for their dinner when they get their protein food in a measured portion. I will tell you what I feed mine as a starting point and you can take it from there. My birds get gloop [this is a very low protein, virtually no fat, very high moisture and fiber dish made out of a variety of whole grains cooked al dente mixed with thoroughly cooked pulses and chopped veggies - if you go to the diet section, you will find several recipes of gloop from super easy to the more complicated one I use myself] accompanied by raw produce [one veggie, one fruit, one leafy green or broccoli]. I alternate spicy and fruity [which I should actually call 'non-spicy' because it's not as if it's actually 'fruity' all the time] gloop by adding spices and chopped produce or naturally dried fruits like raisins, currants, dates, figs, etc [this is because if you add fresh fruit to it, it gets all mushy and wet and at least my birds don't like it]. I give them one single fruit, one single veggie and one single leafy green but they get a different one every day of the week or every ten days - this is because I have discovered that, if I give them a variety, they will pick and choose always the same thing day after day so by giving them just the one, they end up eating a larger range of produce. I also make birdy bread [in the bread machine, not by hand :D ] and birdy cookies and I always feed organic of the ten 'dirtiest' as well as all the greens [I don't ever feed spinach because it's too high in iron, or collard greens, mustard greens and parsley because they are too high in oxalates].
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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