Ecletus Problem

[B3A13]

Hi,
I am new here and am looking for some advice.
I have a one year old eclectus male. He weighs around 330g but it fluctuates.
My issue is he is underweight despite veterinary assistance being taken.

I took him to the veterinarian for a check up around 3 months ago,
he commented that he was quite boney around the crop area suggesting he is underweight.

The vet is a specialist bird vet, and the only in the area we live in. He suggested we give the bird water soluble vitamins and complete a worming of the bird and gave us the equipment. We brought in a stool for checking and all was good.

I tried this every day giving him his vitamins and food, but there was no improvement. The vet suggested I revise his diet and see if it improves. His diet at the time was a wide range of vegetables every morning including sprouts, apples, carrot, celery, corn, pea, brocilli etc. just about every fruit we had in the fridge which he is allowed and he is also given vetafarm parrot pellets- the coloured variety. I gave him sunflower seeds at night after play time as a special treat.

I revised this and changed it completely, now he consumes a parrot mash I make which has cooked brown rice, arnotts biscuits, oats, saltanas, cooked pasta mixed with loads of vegetables including peas, brocilli etc too many to mention more than before though. I also changed the mash I purchased to vetafarm naturals which was a neutral colour and has a variety of chopped nuts and dried berries. He still recieved the morning fruit and the sunflowers both sprouted and seeds as a treat every night. I then noted that he enjoyed the nuts and was still a bit skinny after about 2 weeks on this diet so I purchased a raw nut mix containing all types of nuts and mixed these in with the vetafarm mash. I still continued to put the vitamins in his water. I have done this now for two months and he is still at the constant weight and feels skinny, his legs are quite small. He eats food for most of the day also.

Very confused, wondering if it is my diet or if any one else has had this issue.
First ever bird like this my eight conures eat the same diet and are perfect weight?
Thanks guys

[Pajarita]

Has he been tested for ABV? That's the first thing I would look at in a situation like this but I would not feed an ekkie so much protein (pellets, sprouts, sunflower seeds -the worst thing you can feed an ekkie!).

[B3A13]

Hi,
The vet did tests on most aspects of the bird and said that it was all clear. He took blood samples and faecal samples and tested them. He only gets the sprouts and sunflower seeds as a treat and the pellets are there if he is still hungry after my own mash.

[GlassOnion]

There is an Eclectus group on facebook, check it out. I think you will find more answers there as there are lots of experienced Ekkie folks there.

[Pajarita]

Blood work usually means a CBC and an avian chem panel, vets don't test for disease unless it's either obvious or the owner asks for it.

[Olivia Bird]

My female eclectus tended towards anorexia when she was younger, at about three she had a spell of being dangerously thin. Yet the vet couldn't find anything. I had her on an all fresh food diet at the time, veg, sprouts etc. Lots of work and it looked perfect on paper, but she wasn't thriving. I switched to giving her access to pellets 24/7 (first zupreem naturals, for several years, then harrisons) and getting a cooked morning mash. She gets seed/nuts as treats and fresh fruit/veg in foraging toys. Now she's 13 Years old and in text book perfect condition. I know it goes against conventional ekkie lover wisdom, as many do legitimately poorly on pellets, but I personally think these birds are very complicated. I don't think the 'no pellets' rule applies across the board. My female just can't maintain her weight without pellets, my male eats all fresh and is still chubby. Go figure!