Cockatiel not gaining weight?

[jessandbeaker]

I had a sudden realisation the other night when I was hanging out with Beaker that he hasn't gained any weight at all since we got him at 8 weeks old. He is now 5 months old. When the vet weighed him back in January he was 79g, now he is 80g. The heaviest he;s been at any point is 82g. I know this is just within normal weight range, but as he's still so young, shouldn't he be growing?!

We've been struggling to get him onto a pellet diet - we've found a brand that I've seen him eat, but it's only a pellet or two and then back to the seeds - and I'm wondering if I should just let him more seeds so he can get some weight on. Or take him to the vet.

Any ideas? Cheers in advance!

[marie83]

Do you know what weight of food you usually give him and how much of that he usually eats? If not can you start monitoring that as he may simply not be eating enough, giving him more if he isn't eating all he has got anyway wont work.

Has he had a vet check and basic diagnostic testing? I would expect a weight gain between 8 weeks and 5 months old tbh, if you had got him at 12 weeks I wouldn't be concerned there was only a very slight gain but at 8 weeks I would have expected more weight gain.

Cockatiels dont tend to grow much after about 3 months old but do bulk out a little usually. I've had a pretty skinny 'tiel but that was normal for him, he was skinny all his life and no amount we fed him bulked him out.

[jessandbeaker]

I normally give him around 20g of food total a day - 10g in the morning and 10g at night, plus treats, veggies, etc ad hoc (although he rarely touches anything except the air-poppped popcorn and millet). Right now we're at 7-8g pellets per meal and 2-3g seeds. I do weigh his food and he only seems to be eating a gram or 2 per meal, even when the seeds I give him weigh more than this There is always a lot of leftovers, usually pellets but sometimes a few seeds as well.

[cml]

Birds grow quick and don't really grow at all after about 12 weeks. If yours grew quicker than usual, he might not gain more weight. I am guessing that its okay, but as Marie's said, a vet trip will not hurt, even if it turns out to only calm your nerves !

[marie83]

Ok well I would suggest getting him a vet check to start off with, better safe than sorry.

Honestly its hard to say exactly how much he should be eating but that sounds pretty low.

Harlie usually eats between 7-10g of pellets/seed daily but she is quite a big girl and I'm not exactly sure what her ideal weight is as we have had difficulties handling her to weigh her daily. I'm not really sure what my others used to eat as this was before I started weighing the food as I used to free feed.

I would also start feeding the pellets, seed and veg in seperate bowls for the time being as it will allow you to see exactly how much of what he is eating. Also limit the treats for the moment and keep a close eye on what you are giving him for training etc as he may be filling up on the treats so much he doesn't want to eat his meals. Take whatever information you gather on this to your vets appointment

[Michael]

20g of food per day!? Are you kidding me? that's 1/4 of the bird's total weight. Could you imagine eating 25lbs of food per day? The bird doesn't have to gain weight to be healthy. Unless you have a specific reason to suspect that the bird is ill or it is losing weight, there's really nothing to worry about. They don't "grow" since the age you get them at. Some birds will develop tendencies to become overweight but with my experience thus far, their healthy lifetime weight is about the weight they come at as a weanling.

If your bird eats 1g per meal, you can save a lot of food and improve nutrition by just providing 2g per meal instead of 20. That way he'll be less picky by eating out only his favorite seeds and will have to eat some of the less favorite healthy ones. Monitor that the weight doesn't drop by more than a few grams when doing so. Offer pellets but don't sweat it too much. Cockatiels don't necessarily need pellets in their diet as they are low-nutrition consumers in the wild as it is. If you have a fancy mutation cockatiel (any kind other than plain grey), you may even risk kidney/liver disease by feeding pellets entirely because of genetic deficiencies. Offer vegetables and pellets but don't worry too much about making the bird eat them.

[jessandbeaker]

Ha! Fair point, although in my defence I was mostly following manufacturer's guidelines and advice I found online

[Michael]

Well obviously the manufacturer wants you to be wasteful and use 10 times as much food per meal so you'd have to buy more sooner

[Eric&Rebecca]

It depends if the bird is healthy or not more than average weights. Eddie weighs just 85g but vet says he is healthy, he is just a small tiel. He said he has seen 95g birds that are obese and 110g birds that aren't. Birds can just be chunkier than others. Its more if there's a drastic change that you need to monitor

[marie83]

It depends if the bird is healthy or not more than average weights. Eddie weighs just 85g but vet says he is healthy, he is just a small tiel. He said he has seen 95g birds that are obese and 110g birds that aren't. Birds can just be chunkier than others. Its more if there's a drastic change that you need to monitor

This i agree with but she said the 'tiel is only eating 2-4g of food a day is what worries me.