Howdy from AZ

[heyteach]

Living with my widowed brother. He has a blue and gold macaw that is about 37 years old that was captured in the wild as a baby. It is a female, as proven by a couple of rounds of egg laying. That has stopped with advice from the vet.
The bird had started to have "episodes" about a year ago of losing her grip on the perch, flapping wings, and even falling. Clearly disoriented, would be panicked for a bit, then recover. What it reminded me of is some neurological disorders and I wondered if coconut oil would help the bird. I did a bit of research, saw it was safe. The bird is a picky eater, maybe all are, this is not my field. Eventually found if I popped popcorn in coconut oil and then also tried to sop up a bit more of it in the popped corn, that the bird would eat.
Yoda went from having episodes multiple times a week to none. After about a month, the new trend was established. Since then on an occasion or two, an episode has occurred. At least on one of those occasions the day before and of Yoda had eaten little. No idea why, might have felt a bit off that day. Apparently last night she had another episode.
There are two "avian specialist" vets out here now (was a third the bird had been to in the past, but he's not around now). I've been unimpressed with them and we took Yoda to another vet who had high recommendations from a vet tech I know. He addressed a serious problem the two specialists could not figure out. (He had been married to an avian specialist and learnt a lot about birds over many years but he is very clear he is NOT an avian bird doc. Still when I go in there with my dog or with the bird, it's rare that there are not other birds in the office, so he's working with them consistently and successfully from what folks are saying.)
He is traditionally-trained and I don't think nutritional things are top of his mind for treatment, but he is open to working with what we do with our pets. I doubt he'd know the answer to the questions I have.
First, I am thinking some CoQ10 in the form of ubiquinol might be good for Yoda. However, I have no idea what dose to try to get into her. I am inclined to try the Dr Mercola ubiquinol liquid pump version, but that doesn't give me a bird dose.
Second, if anyone has any ideas what might be wrong with Yoda, I'm open to hearing them and seeing if there is something we can do to improve her health.
A bit more info re: diet.
She gets Zupreem Natural chow. Most days a Nutriberry. Always some popcorn with the CO. Bit of banana daily. After that, diet will vary a bit: some cheddar cheese, peanuts, almonds, grapes, peanut butter (nothing but ground peanuts no sugar or salt), apple, pear, walnut, filberts, brazil nuts, watermelon, may be forgetting things she'll eat. Obviously not all of that, but she gets one or more "extras" per day of those things. Small bits. Bird is not overweight--around a pound I guess. Vet doesn't feel overweight nor underweight. She's been in a huge cage for about 4 years now (moved in with my dog, so need safety). Now more active than when just basically sitting on a large stand--will climb about. Also now has more toys than ever before--a "swing" made from a tree branch and some chain; keys; tree limbs; tree limb bits that hang down on a chain. As I'm disabled, I'm home with the bird and talk to it, check on it, give it a treat (like a grape), etc. She had surgery for an egg that was partly formed and stuck inside about three years ago, so clearly lots of blood work then. Nothing was out of line. This is a non-smoking house. Bird gets exposed to a decent bit of sunshine from the windows.
I would "play" with her more but as she's aged, she's become more of a one-person bird and I can't afford many more bites in my hands. Brother reports she's crankier than before.
BTW, water is RO water so should not be anything nasty in there. Cage cleaned nightly. Brother plays with her nightly and more on weekends when he's not working all day.
Right now focused on getting her healthier. She's not "sick" per se, but I'd like to greatly improve her health and definitely stop the occasional "episode."
If anyone asks questions, may be a while before I can respond as there is an excellent chance I won't know. I know little about birds. Did the CO experiment only after verifying with vet that CO would not hurt her. I wanted a dispassionate view from brother about whether there was progress or not, no coloring of anything knowing I was trying to correct the problem. He could not figure out why she had gotten so much better until I told him a couple of weeks later. Anything new would be run by him and possibly the vet as well.
Thank you for any help you can provide.

[liz]

The thing that glared out at me is she gets way too much protein that could cause liver desease. She is not getting enough colorful vegetables. If they are alien to her just eat some in front of her.
Limit her iron intake. I read all packages. you can share almost anything you eat before salt, sugar or butter.

I cracked my wrist and am very tired of typing. Others will reply soon.

[heyteach]

Thank you. Will show brother. I try to get her to eat veg--think that's the best for all of us, but this is one picky bird no matter what. Amazing ability to throw things she does not like, as well as drop them or refuse to even try them.

[Wolf]

Seizures can be hard to diagnose the cause for as they can be caused by vitamin deficiencies, injuries toxic materials, disease and the list just goes on. There are a few things in your post that may have a causative effect and bring on seizures. You mentioned a swing that has a chain, what is the chain made of? You mentioned keys and if you are speaking of keys such as we use for our household locks, automotive keys and such, please remove them as they may be causing heavy metal poisoning. I like that you are using tree branches in your birds cage and probably for other perches as well, What woods are these as some tress are toxic to your bird. Here is a link that lists things both toxic and non toxic to your bird, it goes into foods, plants, trees, woods, household items and so on, This is a valuable reference to keep on hand, the actual list begins on the second page of the post.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12521 I hope that this can help you to eliminate some of the possible causes of these seizures. Please keep us informed of what is happening with your bird, any changes in symptoms or frequency of seizures and so on. I am researching this issue in my medical books and will keep you informed of what I find that seems to fit in with the symptoms as you share them with me. Also, since there has been blood work performed check to see if it gives a value for vitamin B-6, please.

[heyteach]

Thanks for the thoughts. Nothing is galvanized. Check wood for non-toxic. Not sure about the blood test results; will have to see if I can find them or else call vet's Monday. Will re-read response and see if we are missing something at home.

[Wolf]

Birds find many metals to be toxic not just zinc, basically if it is not stainless steel or anodized aluminum it is best to not let your bird have it, as far as metals go.

[heyteach]

Good to know. That could be something that is wrong. I know the food/water cups and such are stainless. I did actually pick up what you said. I'm just exhausted right now (I'm not well) so was not as clear in my reply. I do appreciate your concern and knowledge.
If Yoda were human I'd be thinking besides removing anything that is a problem of also looking at ubiquinol, glutathione, and milk thistle. I have no idea where to get the info for birds; the vet we trust is not into this sort of thing; Net searches have not given dosage info. I've read so far that the ubiquinol and milk thistle are OK for birds; haven't found out yet about glutathione, but never see dosages, which is frustrating. Though natural trumps allopathic, too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

[heyteach]

Brother came home. Said based on what we've read elsewhere and here that the keys will go; looking to replace chains with known stainless steel; cut cheese; will continue to offer veg, but realistically probably won't eat that.
Wondering about bird cage construction materials. Noticed online that wrought iron is popular, especially for large cages. What cage materials seem appropriate? (Bird has been known to chew on bars as well.)
Still would appreciate information on possible things and dosages that could help with overall health.
Thank you.

[Wolf]

I have a budgie that has liver issues that I treat with Milk Thistle, I get 100% alcohol free Milk thistle from the health food store and it comes in a 2 oz. eye dropper bottle. Since this budge has a mate with him I have to give enough for both of them to ensure that he gets enough so I put about 1/4 of the eye dropper on their soft food in the mornings. It is very difficult to find dosages, but there is at least one posting here that give a dosage. I will look for it as well as looking in a couple of other references that I have and get back to you as soon as I have something.
Wrought iron is used for lots of cages, but then they are all powder coated to keep the bird from ingesting any iron particle or rust. Many birds have problems if the get too much iron in their system.
Getting a bird to eat a proper diet can be very difficult, especially when it is an older bird, this is something that is best taught to them while they are young and just starting the weaning process as this is when its parents would have taught it this. Still we do the best we can with what we have to work with. Picky eater or not we can still take advantage of certain predispositions that our birds have. One of these has to do with eating, for a parrot the eating and sharing of food is a social event as well as a bonding activity. We can use this as well as the fact that birds also learn from us and other birds by watching us. So the best way that I have found to teach a bird to eat a greater variety of foods is to sit down with them at their mealtimes and bring along some foods that we want then to learn to eat and start nibbling on these foods and making a bit of a fuss about how good this food is. Your bird is going to get curios and will eventually start asking for some, but don't give just yet. You want your bird to think that you don't want to share it because it is so good you finally give in and share a little piece when the bird starts demanding some and even tries to take it away from you. It may or may not eat it at this time but do not give up and it will eventually start eating some of it.

[liz]

Wolf is right about how to introduce foods but then there have not been any times that he got it wrong.

Example: I accepted a cockatiel that was having seizures. He did not have any while in quarantine and communicated with the other birds at a distance. When I added him to the flock they taught him what was good to eat. He has not had one seizure with me.

Example: I rescued a skinny, dirty and scared BF Amazon. For the first year of life was deprived f almost every thing. All she knew was seed and water. She would not try any new food unless she saw Rambo with it. It has been 4 years now. She wants to try anything that someone else puts in their mouth. Since she is free flight we have had to give her a place at the table. She starts with an empty plate and wants a spoon off our plates so she is sure to get the same thing we have. She had started eating her food one day and just loved the pasta. I had to leave the table and she took that chance to get a larger portion by raiding my plate.

Example: Rambo came to me when he was 15 and already set in his ways. His other human gave him good foods but also gave him a lot of junk. We had to stop eating junk food in front of him.
He wanted to try other food too. If we did not share he would steal it.

My Sweetie, cockatiel, came to me with an adventuros personality. She taught the other 3 by example. By the time she passed and left me the other 3 took over teaching any the new ones coming in. I know you think I am weard but my aunt and I live alone and she is a critter woman too so we are the humans that belong to the critters.

If he is not free flight then drag his cage to the dining room table. Take food from your plate for him and really enjoy your food in front of him.

Taking away his cheese is a good start but seeds and nuts are also high protein. I read all labels and use my search for foods without labels to make sure they are okay.

I rescued Harley and Marley, the 2 budgies that Wolf now have. They both seemed very healthy but Marley plucked. After a few months I decided I must not be doing as much as should be done to stop Marley's plucking. Of all things, Harley who seemed perfectly healthy is the one with liver damage.