Feather darkening

[snuffkin]

Hi guys, thanks for the help. Made an appointment to see our avian vet so I will keep you updated!
I think the pictures were there from the beginning.... maybe photobucket went down or something.

I'm glad you think his feathers look in good condition Jayebird, at least we can rule out stress as the main cause at least. So i'm assuming diet and eagerly awaiting the vet visit. Vitamin A packed breakfast for Snuff today

I'm going to try Harrisons as it's been recommended to me a lot on here and by our vet and seems like the best way forward.
Would you say I needed the adult lifetime course or high potency course?

Thanks for the help,

[Shelby]

I believe the high potency formula is meant to be used for small amounts of time for specific health reasons. But it's a good idea to ask your vet's opinion.

[cml]

I think shelby is correct, you should go with adult lifetime!

[marie83]

It does say on the pack to feed the high potency for the first few months before changing to the lifetime but I think thats for birds that have really had a rubbish quality of food prior to feeding the harrisons. Harlie was on an all seed diet for several years, no fruit, veg or anything so I had her on the high potency for a while before switching to the lifetime. Although Ollie was on a seed based diet he ate a good variety of fruit, veg, sprouts and healthy human foods as well as the seed so we put him straight on the lifetime.
Both birds have done extremely well with the change of diet.

[snuffkin]

Finally got to see our avian vet today

His feeling was that Snuffkin's problem was more than likely dietary and encouraged our switching over to Harrison's pellets and also recommended we give him Avimix vitimin supplement on his veggies too.

He also suggested we have a blood test done to rule out beak+feather disease etc and identify what vitamin deficiency (if any) was present. So Snuff had his first bloodtest and seems to have coped with it rather well as soon as he had got his balance back

The only bad news is i couldn't afford the extra £35 to have the gender test he offered at the same time - but i'd rather keep that a mystery anyway....


I will keep you posted on the results,
thanks for everyone's advice

[snuffkin]

Had our results back today,
Snuffkin has low protein and calcium levels - does anybody have suggestions as to what we can give him?

We switched to Harrisons adult complete lifetime in the last week, and started with avimix mineral supplement on fruit and veg daily - i also give calcivet weekly in his water and provide cuttlefish etc.

I suppose it's too early with the diet change to know if it will be enough to correct the deficiencies.

Any suggestions?

thanks

[marie83]

I'm no nutritionalist but what your doing sounds fine. Does he get fresh fruit and veg too? Sprouted seeds with a couple of days growth on it is good for additional protein. Calcivet is a good supplement for birds, most bird keepers and vets recommend it. Is your vet going to do a retest for deficencies after a period of time to make sure the diet change is providing what he needs?

[snuffkin]

Thanks Marie,
Yes he gets fresh fruit and veg daily (broccoli, kale, sweet potato, carrot, apple, banana, peppers etc), but i have never tried sprouted seeds. I may look into this!
My vet actually recommended that i administer the calcivet by syringe right into his beak as i couldn't be sure he was eating all of it on veg. Done this once so far and he took it well At least i know he's getting the full dose for now.

I'm expecting a call back tomorrow to confirm the beak and feather disease results which hadn't come back yet, i'll make sure we sort a follow up test for the future!