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Post by angelicvampyre on Jan 12, 2009 13:17:34 GMT 10
Elmo is a little underweight, the vet said this and the pet store said that he had not put on as much as they thought he should have. The vet wants me to put him on pellets but they recommended this brand that I can only get through them and I would be happy to try it but they also want to run all these test to make sure that he does not have anything nasty and will not sell me the pellets till after I fork out a bunch of money for the tests.
Now don't get me wrong, if I thought for a second that there was anything wrong with Elmo I would get him tested. I know birds can hide illness but also I know Elmo, he is happy and healthy and he does not eat alot. Even his fav foods he will have one maybe two nuts and then that's it. He always has food in his bowls and gets a variety but I am not sure I want to put him through 6 different test (two which require blood to be taken from him) just because he eats less then normal.
If he was a Budgie I would give him hulled oats and millet but I am not sure what to give a King Parrot to help fatten then up.
Any suggestions?
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 12, 2009 16:30:38 GMT 10
no reason why you can't give Elmo hulled oats and millet........my ekkies and alex's get them also from time to time.
I gave my alex girls peanuts in the shell daily once they weaned, along with seed, soft mix and fruit/veges. I thought the peanuts might help them put on some weight after weaning (birds lose quite a lot of weight while weaning). I also give my ekkies peanuts in the shell too for the same reason. Plus the birds enjoy chewing through the shells to get to the nuts.
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Post by angelicvampyre on Jan 12, 2009 16:54:23 GMT 10
See I was told peanuts where a no no as there was a fungus on them that made birds sick?
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 12, 2009 20:07:42 GMT 10
I buy human grade peanuts from woolworths while shopping.......they have to be ok otherwise we would get sick. You can check the nuts too and make sure they only get the good ones.
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Post by angelicvampyre on Jan 12, 2009 21:03:05 GMT 10
My guy only get human grade nuts and veggies as well as humn grade dry fruit that is sulfur free. However he has taken to the pellets that my vet gave me.
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Post by avinet on Jan 12, 2009 22:21:53 GMT 10
I buy human grade peanuts from woolworths while shopping.......they have to be ok otherwise we would get sick. You can check the nuts too and make sure they only get the good ones. That's not strictly true - if you eat a fungussed peanut then it can be "absorbed" by your body mass of maybe 75kg without a problem. If a parrot weighing maybe only 250 grams eats the same peanut, with the same amount of toxic fungus then it is receiving a dose 300 times stronger. I would only give peanuts that are already shelled. cheers, Mike |
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Post by angelicvampyre on Jan 13, 2009 0:14:46 GMT 10
Ok think I will stear clear of peanuts, however someone told me on another board that you can offer him peanut butter VERY high in fat but still not sure I want to give him that.
Gave him twice the recommended amount for daily intake of the pellets (pays to read the pack before you surve up the food) in a seperate bowl with his veggies in the other bowl for dinner, ignored the veggie (outside of the frozen rasberries which he continued his "wall of blood" painting with) and ate ALL the Pellets, nothing left outside a few crumbs. So will add some pellets to the mix of his seed tomorrow and see how he goes and move him arcoss over a few weeks till it is only pellets and veggies. then do a weigh in about 3 weeks from now and see where we are at.
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 14, 2009 7:02:33 GMT 10
I buy human grade peanuts from woolworths while shopping.......they have to be ok otherwise we would get sick. You can check the nuts too and make sure they only get the good ones. That's not strictly true - if you eat a fungussed peanut then it can be "absorbed" by your body mass of maybe 75kg without a problem. If a parrot weighing maybe only 250 grams eats the same peanut, with the same amount of toxic fungus then it is receiving a dose 300 times stronger. I would only give peanuts that are already shelled. cheers, Mike All I can do is say what I do and what appears to work for me. I do try to check the peanuts to make sure they are not getting "old" looking nuts......so far it has not caused me any problems. As for peanut butter......I have given my birds peanut butter on toast as a treat. I did however give some peanut butter in formula to BB once.......under advise from a breeder.......and I will NEVER do it again.......BB got sick again only for a short time and maybe it wasn't the peanut butter maybe it was just coincidence......but I will not ever do it again. I will however continue to give it on their toast as treat for breakfast when I am eating toast for breaky. |
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Post by vankarhi on Jan 14, 2009 7:07:10 GMT 10
Oh and I just thought of this too. How old is Elmo?? How long has he been weaned?? You might find he will just slowly put weight on as he gets older. Erik lost so much weight while he was weaning and he weaned at about 16 weeks of age and is now almost 6 months old and is slowly putting on weight. I have not really gone out of my way to feed him anything in particular......he gets a good variety of foods from a bean mix I cook mixed with carrot and corn and peas and silverbeat and anything else I might find in my fridge, to fruit and veges, nuts (shelled and unshelled), sprouts and sometimes seed too. Plus he is discovering he likes to eat what we are eating too now.......like mashed potato he seems to love it. lol Oh and I also put some cereal like 'cherios" or what is that Ironman food called.......I just can't think of the name at the moment (I threw the box out lol) and they like to munch on that too. As they become weaned I put less of the cereal and as adults it becomes a treat only.
Once again this is my own personal experience and only meant to give you ideas of what you can possibly be feeding your bird to maybe help him to put on weight.......not given as a strict you must do advise. ;D
Oh and the reason I said "seed sometimes too" is my eclectus do not get seed all the time anymore....more so when weaning but as adults they don't get seed all the time. Whereas my alex's get seed 24/7 plus all the extras. Just thought I would explain that so there are no misunderstandings ;D
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Post by angelicvampyre on Jan 14, 2009 9:58:55 GMT 10
Elmo was 4 - 6 months old when I got him in September the breeder was unsure of his age when they sold him to the pet store so not sure when he was weaned. Will try adding a few other thing into the mix and see where that gets us
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