Too fat?

[xxxSpikexxx]

how can you tell if your cockatiel is too fat and if he is how do you get him to lose weight? Also if you have a gram scale where did you buy it and how much was it? Thanks for the info.

[atvchick95]

I'm not too sure how you'd get them to lose weight, other then cut back on anything fatting they eat ( seeds,etc)

But I do know that www.drsfosterandsmith.com sells scales for birds I've seen it in every magazine I get ( it normally has a budgie sitting on it for the picture) but I never paid attention to the price

[Laura]

I read one way to tell is to feel the pectoral muscles; if they bulge away from the center keel bone, then the bird is probably overweight I find the best way to tell is by weighing them, average weight is usally between 90-110 grams, Georige was getting a little bit chunky I just cut back a little on the seeds no millet or treats and gave her more pellets and fresh vegetables I got my scale from walmart and it was under 20.00

[Aly]

Weighing them is really the easiest and safest way. Like Laurago said their weight should be somewhere between 90g to 110g the most. Like humans, "ideal" weights can vary- one way to visually tell if a tiel might be starting to put on weight is looking at their chest. An underweight tiel will have a very visible bone in the middle of their chest; overweighed tiels sometimes have a line down their lower belly. If your tiel is overweight it's sometimes cause by an all seed diet. Add pellets along with seed and offer a variety of veggies everyday. Overweighed tiels are very prone to weakened immune systems and tumors so it's important to weight your tiel on a regular basis.