# Cockatiel Not Eating Properly , Please advice :(



## suhel.desai (Mar 20, 2012)

hey Guys,

I am a bit worried about my male cockatiel Mickey. He has not been eating properly since yesterday. He is 6-7 months old. Althought he is chirping running around in the cage he just doesnt seem the usual self. He used to get excited on seeing me or my mom near the cage and used to run near the door asking to feed sun flower seeds or just give him scritches.
Since yesterday he seems to sleep a bit more with his head behind and not eating much. Even when i give his favourite sun flower seeds he jst nibbled at few and then lost interest ususally he just hogs if i give him sunflower.

I checked other symptoms like runny nose or vommit but nothing like that. He also seems to chirp loud and clear and runs around then goes to sleep.
But its jst that he is sleeping bit more than usual. Also am concerned that he isnt eating as well as earlier, Also since he isnt eating much he is not pooping that much either his poop seemed fine till yesterday today since he drank more water than food it was a bit watery

Any help what should i do? should i wait couple of days to see if he becomes ok or should i rush to vet immediately?


P.S He still wants head scritches when i put my hand near him and also seems to do break grinding while sleeping now


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Just some thoughts and questions.

Do you have any spray millet? Many times when a tiel won't eat anything else they will nibble on the millet.

Has anything changed, such as a different brand of seed? Any changes in the room he is in such as painting, new carpet, scented candles etc?

When looking at the poop look at the white part. it should be white. If it is discolored such as a yellow ochre, or green it could be a sign of a bacterial problem. If it is very thin and chalky and gritty looking when dried it could be a problem with the kidneys...such as being in a draft too long.

Do you have a small scales that weighs in grams? If so, you might want to keep track of his weight. If there is a problem a tiel can start to rapidly lose weight within a 24 hour period of time. Weight lose can be as much as 1 gram every 1-3 hours.

If his actions and your gut instinct says go to the vet, please go just to be sure.


----------



## suhel.desai (Mar 20, 2012)

Hi Srtiels,

Thanks for your revert. Well we dont really get those spray millets but i have kept the seed mixes which are imported here and they do have millets and all other seeds.

I did change the brand but it was much earlier may be more than 2-3 weeks so if its happening now it shouldnt be that right? Also the other tiel Mini has eaten that too but she is absolutely fine.

Nothing else has changed at all at our place, everything the same. 

The white part also seems fine but its much lesser today. yesterday when he pooped couple of times his poop was hanging so i just checked to confirm if there were any signs of worms and there were none and it seemed normal.

unfortunately i dont have that small weighin scale with me, the one i have is analog one which wont help much.

I have put him to sleep early today, will see his behaviour tomorrow morning and will take him to vet if it continues to be the same.


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*I did change the brand but it was much earlier may be more than 2-3 weeks so if its happening now it shouldnt be that right?*
--------------------------------

_Possibly_ this might be the problem. When you changed the seed did he take to it right away, and eat just as much or more of it than he did with the prior seed he had? 

If he ate his old/first seed better, you might want to get some more of it and see if he has a better interest in eating.

As to the new seed, was it an *all* seed mix, or was it a mix that had alot of other non-seed food added to it? If it was a mix that had other stuff added, which he didn't eat, then he would slowly lose weight. Mixes like this force the bird to just pick out what they like, and the amount of seed is less, so they don't get enough nutrition in a days time.


----------



## suhel.desai (Mar 20, 2012)

Its not just plain seed mix and has other things as well but its more of seeds only. I did check if they both eat properly when i got it and they have been eating it well since i started giving it to them.

Also i just dont keep them on that and i give lotta other things like sprouted beans, shredded carrot and beetroot mix and other veggies which they both eat.

Today i kept both mung beans and shreded betroot but he just seemed to nibble at them little and then went back on the perch.This he never did before as he loved the betroot. Thats what made me more worried


----------



## suhel.desai (Mar 20, 2012)

Just an update...Mickey looked fine today morning was running aroung the cage and chirping looking at me. I fed him some sunflower seeds from my hand. He did eat but lil lesser than usual and then went back on his perch. Looks bit better than yesterday...will see if he eats well today.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Is he molting? Are there a lot of feathers around the bottom of the cage?


----------



## suhel.desai (Mar 20, 2012)

Hi roxy,

No he isnt molting. He seems to bttr today was eating ok too.
Still am tryin to get a digital weighin scale so tat i can keep track.


----------

