Sick Amazon, please help!

[amazon19]

Hi,

My uncle passed away last year and we decided to adopt his blue fronted Amazon parrot (he's six years old in June). My husband and I have no experience with parrots or birds of any kind, so it has been an interesting experience.

When he first arrived, he could not be touched/handled at all and ate a seed only diet. Shortly after he arrived he started displaying odd behaviour. Every week or so for about five minutes he would become disoriented. His beak would open and one of his eyes would close. He would rock his head back and forth as if light headed, but remained perched and there was no convulsing of any kind. Initially, I phoned a local vet who advised it was probably behavioural rather than illness related as the bird would snap out of it and go back to his normal (vocal) self.

Since then, I have converted him to a pellet diet and he has come along way with his aggressive behaviour. He will now let me scratch his head and he comes out of his cage often, without biting. That being said, he is not wholly tame and dislikes strangers. Over the past ten months, the odd behaviour in terms of his 'ill moments' have been sporadic, at times he would have a funny turn every couple of days, then he would go three or four weeks without an event. Recently, the behaviour has become a little weirder. Now, when he has a turn his beak is open, one eye is wide and one closed, he lifts one foot and holds it mid air and doesn't respond to anything. He is completely disoriented during this time and cannot focus. He has at times tried to reach something with his foot during these moments but he loses foot-eye coordination. These moments last 5-7 minutes and afterwards he is singing, dancing, whistling, eating fine.

He hasn't lost any weight, poop is fine and behaviour otherwise is normal. I have no idea what's wrong, he doesn't seem to be having a seizure as he doesn't really move when he has a turn, never mind twitching etc.

Please help, I've become so attached to him and I don't know what it could be.

[liz]

Have you taken him to the vet. Prey animals hide illness. If he is showing it then there are deeper problems.

[Pajarita]

Please take him to a vet (not the idiot that told you it was behavioral!) and have a complete physical done on him (CBC, Chem panel AND bile acids - I would also do an ionized calcium test) ASAP. What you describe is NOT behavioral, it sounds like very mild seizures (and that's why I would do the ionized calcium test) and you need to find out what is the problem before it gets worse. Also, please reconsider free-feeding pellets - they are not really good for amazons because the protein is too high, the moisture is too low and the fiber is not enough for them. They need to eat a fresh food diet with very low protein, super high moisture, almost no fat and very high fiber.