Skinny Amazon, any advice? (update)

[greenfeathers]

"GB" is a Chaco Blue-fronted Amazon parrot.

Quite sure she's a hen, never DNA tested though. When I got her she had an open leg band with a USDA quarantine facility number... so I'm suspecting her age to be 20-30, and I'm suspecting that she is a wild-caught import. (correct me if that's a poor assumption)

She has quite the story, but the short version is that she was abandoned in a cardboard box and my vet ended up inheriting her. He already had several birds and no spare cage, so he brought her to the clinic and adopted her out... to me, as it turned out.

She had plucked her feathers out, wheezed when she breathed, was skinny, unsocialized, and very rarely made noise - but when she did, they were very unpleasant noises (crying, creaking doors, and something that sounds like a child getting beaten).

I've had her for a while, her feathers have come back, she rarely wheezes anymore, and she seems happier but I do not think that she has gained any weight - and in fact, she may have even lost some. Her keel bone is very prominent from sight alone, and she is VERY finicky.

I've tried a few different diets... I offered her some pellet-berries and later nutri-berries, which she refuses to touch. She would rather starve herself, it seems. I currently give her a seed/nut/fruit/veggie mix with a large variety. It seems like I'm wasting it... I can't determine one ingredient that looks like she eats it willingly.

Of course, every time I eat I offer her whatever it is I happen to be eating in the hopes that she will get some more calories ingested... she DOES like oatmeal, brown rice, apples, peanuts, and pistachios. She tried some turkey today, as well.

Does someone have any advice on how to put weight on a depressed, pessimistic, finicky rescue bird? I would LOVE to be able to get her on a balanced diet, but at this point I would just be happy with calories.

Also, side-questions: the wheezing had me worried initially, but she has had two full exams from my vet since I have gotten her (one upon adoption, another two or three months later) and the vet keeps telling me that everything is clear and clean and that she "looks" good. She is very wild and so attempting to administer oral antibiotics just in case might do more harm from the stress, than good. I am curious if the wheezing could be an effect of being exposed to something like cigarette smoke over a long period of time. I have an air purifier in her room and she quite rarely wheezes anymore - but sometimes I hear it, and I don't like it.

Second side-question: she makes a faint, high-pitched whistle, like a straining noise, when she poops. She always gets the job done, but she seems constipated. Advice, experience on that one?

A lot of questions, I'm sorry, but I want to help her to the best of my ability. My macaw is happy, healthy, and sassy and I would like her to be able to be so someday, too.

Thank you so much!

[liz]

Myrtle didn't pluck but she was very dull colored and had rough feathers. She was so skinny that her breast bone stuck out.

She had been living in fear for 24/7 for about 6 months and was only given seed and water. She didn't know anything else. The woman I rescued her from said she never made a noise and never came out of her cage. (The grey in the cage right beside hers wanted to kill her. Of course she wouldn't come out of her cage.)

Once she realized that she was safe and that I would not make he do what she didn't want to do, she started watching the other animals in the house and began to loose her fear. Fear is a big problem.

Myrtle had the advantage that when she saw Rambo eating she would try it too. I gave her everything I could think of free choice. She even ate the RoudyBush pellets that Rambo wouldn't eat. She is a little overwieght right now. She has a dip in her chest where the breast bone used to show.

Don't let her think all your attention is on her. Just let her ease into your life of her own. Give her as much freedom as you can. Myrtle's cage door has not been closed since I brought her home.

I don't know if any of this will help you but I thought I would tell you about my scared and skinny girl.

[greenfeathers]

Thank you, I have had her for nearly 6 months now and at first I tried to put as little pressure on her as I possibly could, like you said. She really has started to perk up with her personality... she tries to take a bath in her water bowl sometimes, she does a natural chirp every now and then, and she acts happy and eager when I bring her oatmeal or something that she really likes.

Since she has gotten more comfortable I have got her to step up on a perch and she comes out with my macaw for an hour or two every day. I really do think that she's coming out of her shell slowly but surely... I'm pleased with her behavior so far, I just wish she would eat more. I should have seen a gain in weight since I have gotten her...

Or maybe she HAS gained weight, but since she has grown her green feathers back, it just looks worse because her green feathers lie flat as opposed to her fluffy white downy feathers that she plucked herself down to?

Perhaps her starting point was skinnier than she looked? I should have had her weighed, I just know that she is very underweight still.

I would love to know if there are any sorts of foods I should try that might be extra-nourishing or that most birds really like, or both... some sort of manufactured feed that comes highly recommended for a finicky bird... or if I can make some sort of change like altering her light artificially, or... I don't know, something to get her to perk up and eat.

[liz]

I give min RoudyBush pellets. They are a balance food without color or preservatives.
What did the vet say about her lack of enthusiasm for food? Did he weigh her when he had her?

[greenfeathers]

My goodness, I completely forgot about posting on this forum; I'm sorry! :S But I have an update and more questions!

I recently did my research and found a different vet to take her to, one that specializes in birds and came highly recommended to me from the only certified avian vet in my state.

Took her in, told him about the symptoms (underweight, not much of an appetite, come-and-go wheezing, sleeps a lot, feather plucking, seems constipated). He gave her a full physical exam and told me what the other vet had said, that she checks out perfectly healthy upon exam, aside from being extremely underweight. He took some blood for testing, and a day or two later, the results were in - absolutely normal.

Back in to the vet. This time, X-rays. Once again, absolutely normal. While the vet seemed very concerned about her symptoms, he told me that, due to the results of his evaluations, he couldn't tell me she WASN'T healthy. His best guess was that her problems are most likely caused by years and years of being feed a very poor quality diet and being kept in a small cage - he wonders if perhaps her pectoral muscles have atrophied from disuse, and that's why she seems terribly skinny, yet doesn't gain or lose any weight between vet appointments.

He also agrees with me that due to the research I have done on her leg band, she is most likely wild-caught and probably getting fairly old. He says I might just have an old bird that's had a rough life, and you've got what you've got.

In the meantime I have been switching around on foods and have finally switched her over to pellets from Totally Organics. She eats them - just as unwillingly as she eats anything else. I've found that she eats them much more willingly when she's out on her perch in the family room, and so she gets to be out several hours per day.

While I haven't seen any improvement in her weight or symptoms, I'm pleased to say that she seems to be coming out of her shell a little bit, and showing little bits of personality. I can get her to eat people food (cracker, my other bird calls it) and so she shares just about every meal with me - apples, strawberries, brown rice, eggs, carrots, tomatoes, sweet corn, pasta, cheerios, oatmeal, bread... whatever I can get down her throughout the day.

I'm also planning on building a large outdoor flight aviary for both birds this spring so that they can be out in the fresh air all day when the weather is nice. I'm hoping that a depressed wild-caught bird would flourish in something like that. We'll see.

Anyway.

Am I missing anything? Did the vet do all of the tests he should have? Due to the symptoms and results of testing, does anybody have any idea of a condition/disease she might have, that the vet didn't think of? Am I doing anything that sounds like a bad idea? Thanks again.

[brfussne]

What kind of exercise does she get? Is she flighted or clipped? If she is clipped, let her grow her feathers back out for some exercise. It would also do her some good if you could take her outside and get her some sunshine. I recommend getting her an Aviator Harness!

http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/cart.cgi ... child=8774

[GlassOnion]

Avitech is a very well known company that makes excellent supplements/vitamins, and there is one called AviGain for underweight birds. Look on www.mysafebirdstore.com There is a large selection of Avitech products.

[greenfeathers]

Thanks for the information on the supplement, I'll look into that!

Regarding flight feathers - yes, she is flighted, however she can't fly (due to her lack of muscle tone, I suspect). If she gets scared (or brave) and flutters, she drops to the ground like a rock.

Regarding her exercise, aside from the large amount of time that she sleeps, she seems to be a fairly active bird. In the mornings she does laps in her Macaw-sized cage... climbs to the ceiling, climbs upside down on the ceiling to the other side, down to a perch, back to the other end, repeat. Sometimes she hangs upside down in the cage and flaps her wings to stretch out and exercise. When she is out on her perch, she stretches up high, stands on her tiptoes, and flaps.

The weather right now isn't good enough to let her outside, but I plan on having a large aviary built by the time the weather gets nice, so she ought to get plenty of sunlight, fresh air, and room by then.

[brfussne]

You could buy her a full spectrum UV light for those colder days?

[liz]

If you need a weight gaine just add peanuts and sunflower seeds. You can use them as treats just give her a lot of treats.