# Proper weight gain?



## Holachica (Aug 23, 2010)

Holà to everyone,

I live on the beautiful Island of Majorca, Spain and we share our lives with two adorable cockatiels. Amadeus who is now 1 ½ years old and outed herself as a hen by surprising us last fall with some eggs and our new –hopefully- littel boy Mozart. 

Mozart is appr. 12 weeks old and I am a bit concerned about his health. We got Mozart about 6 weeks ago and until recently he needed one additional syringe feeding per day. We gave him Excact as told by the pet shop. Ever since we have gotten Mozart he has not gain any weight. He did not loos any weight, but he dos not gain any either. He is playful, starts to sing, wants to be cuddled and if he is not sleeping or trying to land on my head he eats. We feed him a high quality seed mixture, spray millets, additional vitamins. 

His weight is alway constant around 82-84 grams. Mind you Amadeus has exactly the same weight, but for her it seems to be just perfect. When I hold her, I can feel the breastbone, but it is not visible when she is sitting on a perch. However, when I hold Mozart, the breastbone is very sharp with no meat on either side. His whole appearance is more skinny compared to her, who is a nice well fed bird. 

Do cockatiels gain their weight later? Is there anything else I can give him in order to get him a little more weight? 

Unfortunately, there is no avian veternarian on this island and I am more or less on my own. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Best regards from Majorca

Rita


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

I would probably continue to offer the formula once a day if he will take it. Feed 10% of his body weight (8cc). Feed him the formula until he begins to refuse it. When he is refusing the syringe then he is weaned. If a baby is forced to wean before they are ready, they will lose weight. At 12 weeks he should be fully weaned, but some birds may take longer than others. If the breastbone is sticking out that far with no breast muscle on either side, this little guy is underweight. Is he eating his seed pretty good? If he is eating well and still not gaining, he may have an intestinal parasite such as a roundworm or tapeworm that could be hindering his weight gain. Does he seem healthy otherwise?


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## Holachica (Aug 23, 2010)

*Inproper weight gain*

Thank you for your reply. My little guy refused the formula about 3 weeks ago. I called Kaytee and they told me that he is propably weaned. 

As for worms, I collectes his stool for three days and had it sent to a lab to check for any parasites before I introduced him to my girl. The results came back negative. 

Besides from the lack of weight gain, he seems to be healthy. He is very active and compared to my girl, who is even tempered, he gets overly excited about everything. When he shoots throug the room -no you can not call this flying- his nostrils turn red. But after he calms down, they look normal again. Is this normal for a cockatiel? 

He must use a lot of energy. His wings are totally clipped by the pet shop and still he takes off and flies. 

It's just the weight issue that botheres me. I am glad he is not loosing any. 
Do cockatiels fill in later? 

When I bought my little girl, she was only 68 grams and almost 6 months old. The conditions here at the pet shops are not the best to say the least. All the chicks are hand-raised and kept on dirty newspaper shreds. Proper hygiene is obviously never heard of. But they are far better than the breeders who sell their birds on the markets along with live chickens and ducks. 

Best wishes to All of you
Rita


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## kfelton0002 (Mar 12, 2010)

Maybe he will slowly pick up weight over the next couple of weeks. Just make sure you offer his favorite foods. I have learned that if a bird will eat nothing but millet, then provide them the millet (or sunflower seeds... whatever they like). Don't leave the seed in the cup to force him to eat the other seeds "when he gets hungry enough." I'm not saying you do this, but it is a common practice. Some cockatiels will starve before they will eat something they don't like. Make sure to change the feed every day. 

As for the red nostrils, this is the equivalent to a person getting a red face from running up a flight of stairs or exercising. Since his wings are clipped, he is having to flap his wings a lot more than if they weren't, causing him to work a lot harder to fly what little he can.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It does sound like he's too thin - he should have more "meat" around the breastbone. If he likes sunflower and safflower seeds you can offer him more of those since they're high in both calories (fat) and nutrition.


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