# Good thoughts, please?



## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I moved Roo's next vet appointment up to tomorrow because she's been really uncomfortable this week with her remaining scabs (from before she was rescued) now that she's molting. She also has a lump on her wing which may be a feather cyst, so we need to get that checked out.

I have a great vet, but I'm really scared he's going to tell me she needs surgery.  If you could just keep her in your thoughts tomorrow, I'd really appreciate it. This bird has been through so much, and she is so sweet. I just want to make her happy.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

hope everythings ok! tsuka had some sort of feather cyst once, it was weird

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=17319&highlight=feather+cyst


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## clem&peeps (Nov 17, 2009)

Keeping little Roo in my thoughts and prayers


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I read his thread when I was searching for info last week.  It definitely helped to know that you were able to treat it at home, and it wasn't a huge problem. Roo's is right below her elbow joint, so at least it's a smaller follicle than a primary. It's only a couple millimeters, so I'm hoping we may have caught it early enough to not need surgery. It just seems like she's had one issue after another since I adopted her.  She also came from a smoker's home, so I'm wonder if she has some of the same feather issue Tsuka does.

Thanks for your help.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

well tsuka is improving so theres hope  it does get better no matter what

fingers crossed she gets better!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks.  Two months ago Roo was almost completely bald and too weak to stand on a regular perch, so she's definitely improving. I'm just afraid of possibly putting her under anesthesia, especially since she's still not in the best of health.

Does Tsuka have any kind of respiratory issues from the smoke? Roo has a little nasal discharge that happens a few times a week. We think it's an allergy, because she's had two courses of antibiotics, and labs that came back clean. I might ask for an antihistamine tomorrow since it would help her skin, too.


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## clawnz (May 28, 2009)

My thoughts are with you.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Hope everything is ok


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks, guys. We're going to the vet in an hour. I am so worried about what he'll tell me.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Hi enigma, how's your birdie now?? Is everything alright ?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

yes tsuka has respiratory problems from the smoke. he pants and wheezes easily


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Sending you our good thoughts from the North East! Can't wait to hear how the appointment went.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks for the support, everyone!

Roo did have a tiny feather cyst, but because it was at a small follicle, the vet felt that lancing/cleaning was the best option. If it recurs, he's going to teach me to do it at home. He feels that surgery on such a small area would cause more damage/stress than good. I'm very happy with this outcome, although I hope it won't recur.

Other than the cyst, he said that Roo looks great and is healing really well. It's just going to take time for her to get where we want her to be.


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## calex89 (Oct 28, 2010)

im so happy neither of you have to go through the extra stress 
as we have all seen, Roo is a fighter and she will be 100% in no time!
keep us updated on how she is doing


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thank you so much.  She is such a good girl. Still the sweetest bird, despite being treated horribly by her previous owner, and then poked, prodded, and medicated by me.


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## calex89 (Oct 28, 2010)

she knows your there to help her 
she looks really sweet and loving going by the pics and the videos ive seen of her!
hope it all gets better soon


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

DallyTsuka said:


> yes tsuka has respiratory problems from the smoke. he pants and wheezes easily


Have you ever tried him on an antihistamine? My vet said I could try children's Benadryl in Roo's water, but I haven't done it since she doesn't have the discharge all the time, and I don't want to make her groggy. I'm curious if it would help, though.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

calex89 said:


> she knows your there to help her
> she looks really sweet and loving going by the pics and the videos ive seen of her!
> hope it all gets better soon


Thank you.  I'm glad Cappy is finally feeling better too.


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## calex89 (Oct 28, 2010)

enigma731 said:


> Thank you.  I'm glad Cappy is finally feeling better too.


thankyou very much


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

no i dont think allergy meds would help with tsuka its like an asthma

thats so good shes alright


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks.  I think Roo might actually be allergic to her own dander, as crazy as that sounds. But she doesn't get the discharge too badly as long as I keep up with her showers. I think we're just going to leave it at that for now.


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

Iam glad Roo won't need surgery  Mabey you could get her a hepa air filter with out an ionizer. It might help


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I'm definitely looking into that possibility, but I had been trying to save all my money in case she needed surgery. Now that I know she doesn't, I think I'll go back to researching them.  It would probably help my allergies too, since we live in an older building that can get kind of musty sometimes.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Unfortunately we need more good thoughts.  If you've been reading my other thread, you know that Roo has slowly but steadily been losing weight despite eating well and acting healthy. My vet isn't able to see her today, but he's going to try to work her in tomorrow. Please hope we can figure this out. I'm irrationally(?) afraid she has something horrible like PDD or cancer.


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## munnith (Aug 28, 2011)

don't worry enigma, roo is gonna be fine soon  we wish roo a good health and a quick recovery


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Im sure roo is fine


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

She lost another 2 grams in 2 days despite my doubling her sunflower seeds and giving her a ton of pasta every night. I have no idea what's going on.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Poor little one.. she's having a rough road! Still keeping you guys in our thoughts!


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Man! I sure hope everything is ok!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

The vet is not sure whether theres anything wrong, but he wants me to bring her in so he can weigh her on his scale and look at her body condition. More when we get back.


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## Boshia (Jul 3, 2011)

How is everything?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Pretty much the same. Fecal exams were all normal. The vet tried to take blood but wasn't successful. We're going to try a week of Baytril and then reevaluate. Waiting is torture.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

You guys, this is killing me. I want to believe the Baytril is helping, but I can't stop thinking that if it isnt, this is probably the last week of her life.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I really hope she gets better as she has suffered enough


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

There should be a hugs button. You guys are still in our thoughts and fingers are still crossed for you. Hopefully she will battle whatever it is.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thank you. The hardest part is that she still seems active and happy, but I can't stop thinking that if she keeps losing weight, she could be dead in a few days. I just keep cuddling her and crying. And this is a huge week at school, too. It'll be a miracle if I don't completely break down at something.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Is she eating alright and eating plenty of fatty foods and treats


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

She is, that's what's making this so hard to diagnose. She has NO symptoms, but she's down to 77g. At least that's only 1g since Saturday, and she definitely ate less that day after being anesthetized and poked and prodded at the vet. He did say that she's not emaciated at her current weight. I'm just terrified the losses won't stop. Today is day 2 of Baytril, so I'm hoping it'll help and she'll either stabilize or start gaining soon. She is still a hyper little ball of energy. Again, it's so hard to believe she could be sick from looking at her. I know they hide symptoms, but she is the most active bird I have ever seen. That has to be a good sign, right?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Iv only given baytril to cookie twice since he wasnt feeling too good and it made him alot better in a few days


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It worked really well for her last time. That was the only time she's gained weight was when she was on it. So we're hoping that'll help. Otherwise we might try treating for giardia and yeast. 

I think I need good thoughts for me as much as for her. If she dies his week, she'll die happy and loved, but I don't think I'll be okay.  I know I should have a harder shell with rescue birds, but she is just so special I can't not love her completely.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Aww dont say things like that


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I wish he had been able to get the blood sample. I feel like by the time we can try again, the results might be too late to help her.  She has to stop losing soon, right? She acts so happy and healthy all the time.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Her next visit is this week? then maybe don't weigh her until then


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It's Friday, although I'm hoping she'll just get better and then I can push it off to next week. As it is I'll have to miss class to take her. I think I'm going to weigh her every couple days, because I want to be able to tell him if there's a pattern.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I was weighing cookie everyday and it got me down all the time but now its once a week and i feel alot happier, he was 74-75g but now he is 81g and im not stressing as much.
Keep fingers crossed for friday


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Was he that small when you got him? How long did it take him to gain? The vet and I are really hoping this might still just be her adjusting, but that's seeming less and less likely.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

He was small when i got him and i tried all sorts to put his weight up but nothing worked
i just continued giving him foods and weighed him once a week and i noticed he put on weight as he looked more fatter


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

The thing that worries me about Roo is that she just keeps losing. If she was 75 and stable that would be fine. But where does it end?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I do think it stresses you more if you weigh everyday... if she is active and eating ok then its a good sign


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I know. She's been active and eating okay the whole time. The vet asked me to weigh her every day this week, though. :/ I think I won't do it again until Wed though because I have an exam tomorrow morning and I don't want to be thinking about her weight the whole time. The vet visit was weird. He named all these things it could be, then said he doesn't really think it's any of them and we really just need to do bloodwork. He wasn't even going to do the Baytril except I asked. I really don't know what to make of it.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Baytril is good and it made a difference to my cookie when he was ill


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I know. We just don't know if this is bacterial. Although I'm inclined to think it is, because the other possibilities are giardia, yeast, liver/kidney issues, or PDD. Usually those things have other symptoms by the time they cause weight loss, right? Plus last time she was losing weight, the Baytril solved it. So I tend to think it's unlikely that one month later shed have a totally different cause of weight loss. But at the same time, I also feel like I'm grasping at straws.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

if it helps... munch had yeast. she was active and spun and thats why we had overlooked it... we dont have an accurate scale so i couldnt tell you if she lost weight before we noticed the yeast. when it hit, she didnt eat for 2 days and she lost weight fast. it took her a few months to get up to a good weight and she weighs more than she did now than before she was sick. so weight loss is usually the first sign along with abnormal droppings of illness but the dropping is more noticable. i think it is very good you are getting her weight loss checked out, you can never be too careful. it might be nothing, it might be something. either way its worth looking into, right?

yeast can be found with a crop swab and testing from that i believe. you could ask your vet to do one of them tests too to see if something is going on in her crop. test for bacteria in her crop


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I did ask about yeast, and he seemed really certain that she doesn't have it. But I will definitely push that question on Friday if she's not improving. If she's being put under for blood anyway, I would think a crop swab would be easy to get. Although she's now had four gram stains on different occasions, and they were all negative for yeast. I know false negatives are common, but that many? I almost wish she looked sick, because at least then we'd have some idea what to do.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

then if they've come back negative for yeast theres a good chance thats not what it is, but i was just throwing out there that some birds are still active regardless if theyre ill or not.

did they test for other bacteria in the crop?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I definitely appreciate the suggestion. Yeast is one of my big suspicions as well, but I guess we'll see. And no, I don't think so. I think he just looked for yeast or other parasites in the stool. He wanted the bloodwork to examine the possibility of infection, but after that failed he didn't want to traumatize her with any more tests until later this week. Hence trying the Baytril. I'm still hoping it'll just work, and then we won't have to do other labs. She only lost 1g the past three days instead of a gram a day, so that's positive, right? Plus she didn't really eat after going to the vet on Saturday, so some loss there isn't really surprising.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

if the weight loss slowed, its a good sign


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I think it did. Plus I figure if the Baytril is going to work, itll probably take a couple days anyway.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Sending good thoughts to roo! It's so scary when you think there's something wrong. Hopefully, all is well and she'll start gaining weight.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Is it possible my anxiety/watching her too closely is causing the weight loss? The first couple grams she lost were a surprise, but they were easily explained as normal fluctuation/new routine. And then she was stable for two weeks. It wasn't until I really got freaked out that it sped up. Am I making things worse by trying too hard?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Birds are sensitive to our body language and can tell when we are stressed. This puts stress on them in turn, but I doubt that it would be so severe that it would make her lose weight. She isn't behaving like she's anxious or scared.

Still, it will be better for both of you if you can manage to relax, especially when you're at home with her.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I do think having my parents in the house this weekend plus spending five hours at the vet probably made her eat less the last couple days. The next two will be very telling, I think. Shes eating more millet today, although she still seems to favor her seed mix over it. But it has to be a good sign, right?

This is just such a weird situation, and the part of me that works in diagnosing patients just keeps turning it over and over. Giardia and yeast are possibilities, but chances are the tests she's already had done would have detected those. Kidney/liver issues should show up in her droppings or behavior prior to causing weight loss, which again didn't happen. PDD is rare (vet said extremely rare in cockatiels according to his experience) and also she should be sicker. So most likely that leaves us with bacterial infection...or nothing actually wrong. In that case, either the Baytril will treat it or she'll spontaneously get better. If only I could convince myself.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's not so much a matter of convincing yourself, but rather to accept that you've done everything you can and what happens next is out of your control. Worrying won't do one single thing to make the situation better, and it can only make things worse for both you and Roo. In situations like this, I find that denial is very useful: in the back of my mind I acknowledge that something awful could happen, but I choose not to worry about it until it actually does happen and in the meantime I try to go on as if everything is fine. When scary thoughts arise I remind myself that the bad thing isn't happening at the moment, and blow it off. It works surprisingly well for me although I know that not everyone can pull this off. But you can try it, and if it works just part of the time it'll make your life easier until you see how this turns out. She's eating and acting lively and that's a good sign.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thank you. I really appreciate everyone being so patient and supportive with me.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Somebody please tell me I'm being ridiculous? Today Roo seems to be eating a TON, but instead of being happy about that, now I'm freaking out that she's eating too much and that could be a sign of more serious illness. I don't weigh her again until Thursday, because we're trying not to stress her out this week. It's so hard waiting and not knowing whether she's still losing. I hate anxiety.  Being a psychologist in training does absolutely nothing to lessen it.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

OK, I'll tell you: you're being ridiculous!  Eating a lot usually isn't considered to be a sign of illness in birds, although there can be situations where a bird that's lacking a specific nutrient overeats to try and get what it needs. We can't completely rule that out given Roo's history, but it seems likely that something was inhibiting her appetite before (bacterial infection and/or the disruption of having visitors) and now she's making up for it.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I think my real fear is that it'll turn out that she's eating a ton but still losing weight and then I don't know where that would leave us. But I know, I need to just chill until Thursday and trust that this is a good sign. She never has eaten enough to gain weight with me, so maybe I'm finally seeing a normal intake from her. The rescue described her as "a little pig" and I have never observed THAT much of an appetite. So this would be much more consistent.

As far as lacking a specific nutrient, I think that might be why she loves her veggies so much. I doubt she ever got adequate vitamins at her previous home. But I don't think that would have just changed her appetite now.

BTW, she refuses to eat anything with the milk thistle in it. So I've resorted to just giving her a couple drops by mouth. It's not as much as the vet wanted, but I think his dose sounds excessive, and I figure any amount will help.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> The rescue described her as "a little pig" and I have never observed THAT much of an appetite.


She might have made up some of her deficits at the rescue. And/or the stress of moving to a new home plus bacterial infection threw her appetite off. 



> I've resorted to just giving her a couple drops by mouth.


How stressful is this for her? If it's very stressful you might want to call the vet and ask whether the possible benefit is worth the negative impact of the stress.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I don't think it's too bad. I have to towel her to give her the Baytril anyway. She cries when I give it, but she's back to eating/preening/playing normally within 5 minutes of me putting her back in her cage. I think the first time I gave it, I just went too fast for her.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

tielfan said:


> She might have made up some of her deficits at the rescue. And/or the stress of moving to a new home plus bacterial infection threw her appetite off.


Do you think she could still be adjusting? Next weekend will be 2 months since adopting her. But I have changed a lot of things about her routine. All in an attempt to get her healthier, but maybe I went too fast.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Speaking of nutrition, is she eating Nutriberries? They're nutritionally equivalent to pellets but look like seed balls, and most cockatiels love them. You can request free samples at http://www.lafebercares.com/contact.html There are several different kinds so be sure to ask for cockatiel size.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> Do you think she could still be adjusting?


I've bought healthy handfed baby birds that took 2 months to really settle in and feel comfortable. So yes, she could still be adjusting. But she came from such a deprived background that "too fast" probably doesn't apply. She desperately needed some major changes in her life and she got them.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Oh, I don't feel bad about the changes, I just would really like for that to be the explanation here.  She's very curious and outgoing, though, so she hasn't really seemed overwhelmed by anything I've done. Still, I know reduced appetite could be a subtle sign of stress like that. Or she could be so caught up playing that she's eating less. She also seems to spend an inordinate amount of time preening, but I think if I had spent 4 years of my life with no feathers, and then was molting for the first time, I'd be pretty agitated too.  Interestingly, all the feathers that she grew in at the rescue have stress bars on them. The ones she's getting in with this molt don't. 

She loves Nutriberries, but I have to crush them up and add them to her seed mix for her. I make it about 50/50. She doesn't really understand the whole ones -- she'll pick one up, bite it, and then drop it on the bottom of the cage. I had been adding some pellets in there too, but I stopped when she started losing weight, because I thought maybe the pellets were deterring her from eating as much as normal.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The pellets won't deter her unless (a) she's actually afraid of them or (b) you're giving pellets in place of some other food, instead of in addition to the other food. If she has plenty of the stuff she normally eats then the worst thing that can happen with the pellets is that she'll leave them sitting in the bowl. My birds seem to like having something to reject, and will sometimes start eating a food they previously rejected if I give them something that's even more rejectable.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

That's an interesting thought. She mostly throws them out of the bowl. I think, though, that I'm just going to leave things as they are until we figure out what's up with her weight (or it stabilizes). Right now I've just got too many variables going on. It would be so nice if she'd eat the Harrison's high potency, but she just HATES them. It doesn't matter what I do. I've tried offering them alone, offering them when she's out, mixing them in her seed, grinding them up smaller, soaking them and adding them to rice...nothing. She just throws them out of the cage or flings them at the wall.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

My birds learned to eat Harrisons but it took a long time. I made a habit of offering them small treats that I was holding between my thumb and index finger, and occasionally slipped them a pellet this way. At first they would spit the pellet out and look mad, but eventually they started eating them. They still don't eat a huge amount of Harrisons except for when they're breeding. They like it very much as a baby food - they eat the dry pellets then drink water to soften it up for the chicks.

They accepted Zupreem Fruit Blend faster than they did Harrisons, although the Zupreem took time too. I've heard that birds generally prefer the fruit blend over other types of pellets. The artificial coloring is deplorable of course, but a less-ideal pellet that actually gets eaten is better than a more-ideal pellet that gets flung out of the bowl.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

But do you think a less-ideal pellet is superior to Nutriberries? I'm unsure of whether I should even try with more pellets when she loves those so much. The rescue tried to put her on the Zupreem fruit blend, and she wasn't having any of that either. Of course, she also wouldn't eat regular seed or veggies for them, so maybe I should try again.


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## elinore (Jul 22, 2010)

When Maggie got sick and needed to put on weight fast, the vets gave me baby bird formula to give her. I would mix it up so it was like peanut butter consistency. She really enjoyed it, plus it was a non-stressful way for me to get medicine into her (I would add it to the formula and she would eat it all down which was so much better than my having to force it down with a syringe). I have no clue if this would be applicable in your situation, and would definitely do some seroius research about it, but perhaps it's something to ask your vet about?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

elinore said:


> When Maggie got sick and needed to put on weight fast, the vets gave me baby bird formula to give her. I would mix it up so it was like peanut butter consistency. She really enjoyed it, plus it was a non-stressful way for me to get medicine into her (I would add it to the formula and she would eat it all down which was so much better than my having to force it down with a syringe). I have no clue if this would be applicable in your situation, and would definitely do some seroius research about it, but perhaps it's something to ask your vet about?


I think that'll be our next step if she's still losing weight in the next couple days. She's still active and eating and her body condition isn't horrible, so the vet didn't want to add anything that aggressive yet. But it's definitely good to hear that this can help.  My biggest fear is that she'll lose too much weight before we figure out what's going on. But you're right, formula may be a way to buy time if we need to. Hopefully we won't need to.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> But do you think a less-ideal pellet is superior to Nutriberries?


I would classify Nutriberries as a less-ideal pellet. The company says they have the exact same ingredients as pellets, just not ground up as fine. It also has preservatives and sweeteners (corn syrup) like most other pellets, so it isn't as perfect as Harrisons. 

Of course, you can't really describe Harrisons as "perfect" either since so many birds refuse to eat it.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Personally I've had the greatest success with Roudybush. My 'tiel and lovie at my parents' house love those. I think that would probably be best-case for Roo since I really, REALLY don't think the Harrison's is ever going to happen with her. She actually runs away from it when I try to hand-feed her one, and normally she's all about chasing my fingers and asking for scritchies.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> She actually runs away from it when I try to hand-feed her one


That's funny. Does she scream "Eww, cooties!" while she runs away?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

She might as well. ;p As an aside, my mom decided last weekend that whenever Roo flock calls, it sounds like she's saying her name. So now every time I say "What's your name" or "Roo," she flock calls at me. Smart bird.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I'm taking Roo off milk thistle tonight. She hates it and I really dont think she has a liver problem. If tomorrow's weigh in isn't good, then I'll put her back on. I doubt missing one dose will hurt.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

<holds up the banner for Roo's weigh in tomorrow> GOOOO ROOO!!  I just requested the Nutriberries sample. Good idea! I finally got my Tiels to eat Zupreem fruit pellets when I bought the Parakeet blend instead of the Cockatiel one. Someone had suggested that because the pieces are smaller and it worked.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks! She's got so many people cheering for her it has to go well, right?  She LOVES Nutriberries. Picks every last bit of them out of her mix first thing.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Roo is back up to 79g this morning! I think the Baytril is working, and will be rescheduling our follow-up with the vet for next week. Thanks so much for all the good thoughts! Keep them coming until she's a big fat bird!


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Yay Roo! Glad to hear she's doing better. Will keep sending positive thoughts.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Thank you! I'm a little anxious about pushing her followup back a whole week, but I'm off from school/work next Friday. Plus I figure as long as her current meds are working, it's better not to stress her sooner.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Im so glad she is getting better


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Yayyy Roo! That a girl!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> 'm a little anxious about pushing her followup back a whole week, but I'm off from school/work next Friday. Plus I figure as long as her current meds are working, it's better not to stress her sooner.


Keep an eye or her weight, and as long as she doesn't start losing again the delay should be OK.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I will, although as long as she continues eating more and acting better, I don't plan to weigh her again until the middle of next week. I think that's healthier for her and me.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Roo continues to do well on Baytril. Today she is back up to 80.5, which means she's gained back 4 of the 4.5g she lost during this episode of illness. I would ultimately like her to get closer to 90g, but for right now I'm thrilled. We have a follow up with the vet on Friday, and will discuss strategies to prevent this kind if infection from recurring in the future. 

The scary part here is that the vet wanted to treat her for giardia, despite us having no proof of it or bacteria in her stool samples. We only got Baytril because I pointed out that it worked the first time she lost weignt, and essentially begged. 

Moral of the story: WEIGH YOUR BIRDS. Even if they look happy, healthy, and active. Write it down. Keep a record of their health, and what helps when they are ill. Its a lot of work, but it could save their lives someday.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Yay Roo! I'm glad she's doing better!


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