# Anxiety or Illness?



## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

I have a 12 year old white faced silver cockatiel who, about 6 years ago, had a major kidney problem which we linked to zinc poisoning. We were unsure of the source, but after a period of incubation and a high potency diet we were able to restore him to his healthy weight, which is around 95 grams. Ever since this scare I have weighed him daily to make sure that he hoovers within about 5 grams of that number in either direction.

Last week, I lost my female cockatiel to a long battle with a reproductive issue and other possible complications. It happened very suddenly and everyone was shocked and depressed - including my male cockatiel. My vet suggested that we get another female companion for him (caged separately) so that he could have another bird to vocalize with. This did seem to perk him up quite a bit and he does enjoy going to the corner of his cage that is closest to hers to chat with her.

When I lost my female cockatiel, I immediately took him into the vet (he was about due anyway) and he passed the exam (although his poop diagnostic test has not come in yet). When I took him in, he was exactly 95 grams. Since then he seems to have been slowly dipping down. 

Now for some additional information - I know it may not have been the best time to do so, but we bought him a new cage and immediately transferred him to it. This was because we found a very corroded part of his cage, which he was sucking on. Fearing that he might be getting some sort of metal poisoning from that we went out and bought a nice new cage. I still live with my father and he insisted on buying a huge cage which is significantly bigger than the old one.

He does not seem to want to eat anything but millet spray but sometimes I can coax him to eat whole grain bread and other "supplementary treats". Outside of his cage I can occasionally get him to eat seed but he is normally on a primarily pellet diet (Harrisons High Potency Fine, which he has been on permanently after his zinc poisoning). He's not really eating those, only grabbing one or two from his seed dish and then giving up on them entirely, which is very unusual.

His behavior hasn't changed very much except that after my female bird's death, he became sort of "clingy". He'd freak out and call to anyone who left the room - especially me because I'm his primary caretaker. I went to go take a shower and he called to me nonstop until I got back, which was unusual. I let him out more often than normal (he usually gets about 2 hours a day or more) because I felt like he needed time to grieve and be comforted. One day he slept a lot, but he'd honestly spent most of the night before that looking for his perch in the dark. The next night I made sure he found the perch before turning out the lights and he seems to have resumed normal sleeping hours. He doesn't seem terribly puffed up and he's still his hyperactive vocal self. The main thing that concerns me is his weight change, which is peaked a low at 89 this morning although once he ate he brought himself back up to 91.

I also check his droppings regularly. They appear normal except one that he just recently made while my sister was feeding him millet spray outside of the cage. It seemed to have two different colored feces - one a dark normal green and another a lighter green that looked like it had millet remnant in it. His urates and urine appeared normal and he has not made another dropping like that since.

I've brought this all up with my longtime vet but he is in the process of selling his practice and is taking a while to get back to me. The new vet who will be replacing him is not as experienced in avian medicine as he is but has expressed genuine interest in learning. She is also a really great vet with one of my cats who has a hyperactive immune system issue.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? No matter what, he's going in to the vet on Tuesday for a re-check, but if he's experiencing anxiety or depression I'd love some advice on making things more comfortable for him. And thanks for reading to this point - I realize this is a lot of information!


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

He may be experiencing stress, along with an upset GI balance. Brewer's yeast (in powdered form) can do wonders for stress and you can just sprinkle it onto some millet for him to eat each day or so. The seed appearing in his poop can be an upset to his intestinal floura. This can be fixed by giving him probiotics in the form of yogurt, benebac, or you can crush acidophilus pills and dissolve it into his water (3 pills in each gallon of water) and the water changed 3 times daily. Yogurt and benebac will need to be given orally.

As for him not eating, he may be a very flock-oriented bird and he might only eat when others around him are eating. You can try eating beside his cage and see if that sends him to his food bowl. If all he will eat is millet, then give him lots of it. He needs energy from some source until he returns to himself.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

bjknight93 said:


> He may be experiencing stress, along with an upset GI balance. Brewer's yeast (in powdered form) can do wonders for stress and you can just sprinkle it onto some millet for him to eat each day or so. The seed appearing in his poop can be an upset to his intestinal floura. This can be fixed by giving him probiotics in the form of yogurt, benebac, or you can crush acidophilus pills and dissolve it into his water (3 pills in each gallon of water) and the water changed 3 times daily. Yogurt and benebac will need to be given orally.


What sort of yogurt could you recommend? Personally I can't stand the stuff so any brands or ingredients to watch out for that you can recommend for tiels would be great. Also, aren't tiels lactose intolerant? Will a bit of yogurt be good for him despite that?


Also as general information for people who may be keeping tabs on this, my vet just called back and seems to think that Gandie (that's my bird's name) is probably stressed over the cage. He gave me a lot of recommendations for making him feel better in that direction but I'm bringing him in for a blood test tomorrow anyway just to be on the safe side. I'll keep this thread updated.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I would just get a plain yogurt..unflavored, organic if you like. Cockatiels are lactose intolerant but a small amount of dairy won't hurt them. The benefit of active digestive cultures outweighs the downside of lactose intolerance.

If he is stress over the cage, I would have only the stuff in it that was in his previous cage. Obviously he can't live in a cage with rust or exposed metal but to keep him from being overwhelmed you can take out any new stuff you got him and leave what was in his old cage. And also spend lots of time with him while he is in the cage. That may help put him at ease.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Weighed him this morning and he's down to 87 grams. :/ My vet recommended sticking a new perch up higher in his cage and he is enjoying that. I saw him eating from his food dish last night too - I'm rather shocked and disappointed that his weight is still going down. Now I'm more concerned that maybe he IS eating but it's not helping him?

His behavior is still fairly normal, although possibly slightly lethargic. It's hard to say because the past few days have been rainy and cloudy which makes ALL of my birds rather lethargic. I can't tell if the area around his keelbone is getting worse - the vet said it was fine last week and it looks/feels the same to me.

Still working on the diet supplements. I couldn't find any plain yogurt at my super market - which isn't as surprising as it sounds, they're terrible at keeping stock.

I'm strongly starting to doubt that this is just stress over his cage. I really think he might be sick. My 3:00 vet appointment can't come soon enough.

Edit: Now he's doing a weird thing that looks like yawning except he's doing it over and over. I can't imagine he's stuck yawning.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

Does the yawning look sort of like in the video below? They do this to clear the crop/esophagus, especially after preening. It's normal. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCOqC0VAPBM&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

Could your bird be losing weight from depression? Loss of apetite from depression isn't uncommon in animals... Maybe offer more of the foods he really likes to get his apetite up. It may also be possible that the GI upset is from eating less and stress/depression. I know birds can react really strongly to the loss of a mate. He probably just needs a lot of support getting over the loss.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

RedQueen said:


> Does the yawning look sort of like in the video below? They do this to clear the crop/esophagus, especially after preening. It's normal.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCOqC0VAPBM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
> 
> ...


I think it is possible he could be depressed. He had been with Sunshine for 11 years of his 12 year long life, so the loss likely hit him hard. In the days that followed her passing he wanted to be out of his cage all the time (which we entertained for the most part) and wanted to spend time with the entire family.

The only thing about the weight loss that really concerns me other than the obvious is that last night he was eating a LOT, or at least appearing to be doing so. He even went back to his pellets. However, this morning his weight had tipped even lower than it was the previous morning. I weighed him again a few minutes ago and he was back up to 90 (maybe 91, he didn't want to stay in the center of the scale which usually makes it read a gram less than it should) so that has me feeling a bit more comfortable. I'm honestly terrified that he'll atrophy or that he already is (his keel bone has always been prominent, but the muscle around it looks OK to me. A week ago when he was at 95 grams, the vet proclaimed him healthy after looking and feeling the area and I don't think he looks different from when he did then).

The yawning DOES look like the one in the video - thank you for putting that fear to rest!

Thanks for your help. Honestly I'm just terrified I'm going to lose another bird, a thought which I truly cannot bear right now.


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## Cryren8972 (Oct 3, 2007)

It sounds like maybe it was depression, and he's feeling better. Hopefully they won't find anything wrong with him at the vet's office. The fact that he was eating last night is a good sign. They can and will go days sometimes barely eating when stressed/depressed. One thing I'd like to mention though...they can pick up on your stress level. Try to stay calm with him and don't let your worries spill over. Keep us posted please. =)


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

And the seed in the poop would mean that he could be eating but not absorbing any of the nutrients of what he's eating. If he'll eat millet, since he's been losing weight, it would be a good idea to give him as much as he'll eat just for the calories in it.


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

my thoughts and prayers are with you x


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Hi everyone. Thanks again to everyone who is keeping track of what is going on.

Took him to the vet yesterday and he said that his cage droppings do not look entirely normal - some of them don't look as "full" as they should - but these only make a small portion of what was on his cage paper. The ones around his food dish have a normal size. Many of them have a greenish tinge which could indicate a liver problem, but my vet actually seemed fairly optimistic about that. Now we're just waiting on the results of the blood test to come in (either today or tomorrow) and give us a better direction to move in. There's also a poop test that will come in about 3 days.

He says I probably have no reason to be as worried as I am but it's hard - especially having lost my other bird so recently.

The good news is that Gandie handled the blood test like a pro. I thought it would really drain him but he was back to his normal self only a couple of hours later. Also, he has not continued to drop weight today and is staying in the range of 89 to 91 (usually 89 in the morning and 91 later in the day). The vet also says that he does not have muscle atrophy, which was a HUGE relief to me.

So, I'm hoping that whatever the problem is - we caught it early enough to fix it. If it is just stress, hopefully he will recover naturally.

I'll keep you all updated when I know the results of the blood test. Thanks again for all of your advice and well wishes.










Took that picture yesterday so you all could get a look at him.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Gandie is adorable. Keep us posted!


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

I just saw him freak out when he went to go take a sip of water. Prior to this, he had a water bottle but it doesn't fit on his new cage so we've been using the stainless steel dishes that came with the cage. I took him out and started feeding him pellets from my hand which he happily accepted and then scourged my leg for crumbs. Could this be the issue (or at least part of it)? One piece of millet is by his food dish but not in it and the other is up by a higher perch. He definitely favors the higher one.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

They like things (perches, food bowls) that are higher up and may prefer ones that are higher up. Is there any way to make the food bowls the same height? 

Also, what do you mean by freak out? Like flapping his wings like crazy and throwing his head around? If so, that's him claiming that water bowl as his own.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> They like things (perches, food bowls) that are higher up and may prefer ones that are higher up. Is there any way to make the food bowls the same height?
> 
> Also, what do you mean by freak out? Like flapping his wings like crazy and throwing his head around? If so, that's him claiming that water bowl as his own.


No, I'm pretty sure he was scared. He jumped backwards and ran away from the bowl hissing, his head stretched up and his crest standing up all the way. He eventually walked back towards it timidly and took another sip, but something clearly spooked him.

The food bowls are the same height but I'm going to put a couple more higher up and see if it helps. Adding a perch at the top corner of the cage seemed to really help him.

On a side note, I weighed him tonight and he was 94 grams!!! That's nearly back to normal. Still no word on the blood test but hopefully that will come out well. I'm absolutely elated that he's back at 94. Last night he went to bed at 90 and this morning he was 89, so that's a HUGE improvement.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> On a side note, I weighed him tonight and he was 94 grams!!! That's nearly back to normal. Still no word on the blood test but hopefully that will come out well. I'm absolutely elated that he's back at 94. Last night he went to bed at 90 and this morning he was 89, so that's a HUGE improvement.


This is great but just remember that his weight at night and in the morning are going to be different. At night, he has stuffed his crop full of food for the night, so you're weighing him AND the food he has eaten. In the morning, you are actually getting his true weight, this is why his weight varies throughout the day. An accurate measurement is to weigh him at the same time every day, that way you will see differences in that time.


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## SuzieQueue (Mar 12, 2012)

just a thought, my 2 dont like stainless steel bowls either, they will only eat and drink out of the plastic ones, not sure what it is, perhaps they catch a distorted reflection and freak out ... ?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It's good that you're getting this checked out medically, but I'm willing to bet it's a behavioral thing related to social eating and stress. When I first got my rescue girl Roo, she went from being with a ton of birds to being the only one, and we struggled and struggled with her weight. She lost 25 grams, was on and off antibiotics, and I actually considered the possibility of having her put down if the loss didn't stop, because at the time she seemed so sick. You can read the thread here: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=24213&highlight=weight+concerns

She eventually leveled out at just a little bit underweight in the fall. But then I brought my other bird to live with me, and the change was dramatic. She gained a little over 20g in a few months, and now she's built like a little birdie tank. So hang in there -- Your bird has been through a lot of stress and change lately, and it'll probably take him some time to catch back up in his eating and weight. Spend time with him, offer him whatever he wants to eat, and do whatever makes him the most comfortable. I know it's unsettling, but 6 g of weight loss is not horrible, and you're taking all the right steps to help him. I'm very sorry for the loss of your female, and I hope you get good news on the blood test.


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## lene1949 (May 14, 2012)

JennMichelle said:


> No, I'm pretty sure he was scared. He jumped backwards and ran away from the bowl hissing, his head stretched up and his crest standing up all the way. He eventually walked back towards it timidly and took another sip, but something clearly spooked him.
> 
> The food bowls are the same height but I'm going to put a couple more higher up and see if it helps. Adding a perch at the top corner of the cage seemed to really help him.
> 
> On a side note, I weighed him tonight and he was 94 grams!!! That's nearly back to normal. Still no word on the blood test but hopefully that will come out well. I'm absolutely elated that he's back at 94. Last night he went to bed at 90 and this morning he was 89, so that's a HUGE improvement.


I haven't yet introduced myself, but I think you are worrying too much about this bird... He's 12 years old, and you're weighing him at least twice a day, because you're afraid to loose him, as you lost the female.

I think, if you start to relax, your bird (sorry, could not find his name) will relax as well... You'll probably find that you also weigh less in the mornings than you do in the evenings...

It's very hard to loose a pet, but for the boy's sake, maybe start acting like you did, when the female was alive...


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Yes, birds can easily feed off of their owner's stress, making them more stressed than they would be on their own.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

bjknight93 said:


> Yes, birds can easily feed off of their owner's stress, making them more stressed than they would be on their own.


In front of him, for the most part, I'm still acting very normally. If he can sense everything I feel all the time despite me showing it then we might have a problem because there's very little I can do to stop worrying about him - especially when I'm around him.

Lately though, I've been feeling much better about how he is doing. The only thing that has me nervous is the pending results of the blood test.

I've gotten him to eat seed from his food dishes and drink water regularly on top of the millet he's eating so I feel pretty good about that. He still weights 89 grams in the morning but even that is a huge relief because he is not losing weight, just staying where he is.

If the blood test and poop test come back normal then it probably is an anxiety problem and we'll just do our best to make sure he gets comfy.

The vet said that if it took over a day for the test results to come in, which it has, that they likely found a borderline number and had to do a culture to investigate further. He said that if the numbers really stood out - like his white blood cell count being through the roof - it would come back in a day, so I'm actually feeling pretty good about that too.

In the meantime he's acting normally and things aren't worsening. In fact, he's eating a lot more from his normal dishes.

What was making me really nervous was that he seemed to sleep all morning the past few days. However, it's been rainy the past few days and now that it's sunny again he's active again so no worries there. In the end, all that is left to worry over is his actual weight and that hasn't been changing in a bad direction so I'm not overly concerned about it.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

If I were you I'd sprinkle Brewer's yeast on his millet to help with stress.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

bjknight93 said:


> If I were you I'd sprinkle Brewer's yeast on his millet to help with stress.


I haven't been able to find it in a store. Is that normally in a supermarket? Do you think a bird store would carry it?


In other news, the blood test results came back and he has a protein deficiency, which my vet thinks is due to the fact that he's mostly only eating millet. I put a hard boiled egg in his cage and he's eating it now, so hopefully that will help his numbers out. 

Otherwise, the blood test was normal. I'm SO relieved! In 3 weeks we're going to go back for another one to make sure things are improving.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

It can be found in the supermarket, it is not specifically for animals.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Great news on the blood test! I hope it's all up from here.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Brewers yeast is available in the vitamin section of many grocery stores (especially natural foods groceries) as well as in vitamin shops. You want loose powder not hard tablets; gel capsules filled with powder are OK since you can take those apart to get the powder out. Brewers yeast has a lot of B vitamins which are good for stress, and some minerals too.

Birds are very good at reading body language, so if you show physical signs of tension in your body he'll pick up on that even if your face looks calm. If you find yourself feeling nervous or worried around him, you can make a conscious effort to relax your muscles and breathe slowly to get the physical tension out of your body.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Brief update - my father and I scoured our super market's vitamin section for brewer's yeast and found nothing. We did find "red rice yeast" or something like that but I imagine it's not the same.

Gandie has been putting on weight on and off. My vet is concerned that he is eating too much millet so we're trying to reduce the amount that we give him. While he had a couple of sprigs of millet a day he was actually keeping weight but now that we've reduced the amount he's getting to a half a sprig, it went back down to 89 grams in the morning. I'm not too concerned about that because he hasn't dropped below that.

What I don't get though is why he won't eat his pellets anymore. My new bird (her name is Pris) is on a mix of Roudybusch's pellets and some seed because that's what her breeder fed her. Gandie has always been fed Harrison's High Potency pellets with a mix of fruits, veggies and other stuff like that (bird seed included but to a lesser degree than what the breeder fed Pris). Gandie will eat HER pellets no problem but wont touch his own - and this is with them having entire separate cages and food dishes. However, he hasn't been eating his own pellets since Sunshine died (Sunshine being my bird that passed a couple of weeks ago).

On a side note, I can't get Pris to eat them either, so we can't score any jealousy points there.

Anyone have any ideas how I can help to get him back on the High Potency diet? Since he has a protein deficiency, getting him back on it would be beneficial to him. In the meantime I'm feeding him lots of eggs and nuts.

Thanks again to everyone who's been helping! On another side note, I've calmed down about his health significantly since having a chat with my vet. He doesn't think Gandie is in any imminent danger - he just wants him back on the Harrisons High Potency.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Mix the two pellets together, he'll have to beak through the ones he wont eat (the High Potency ones) to get to the ones he does like and will end up eating them anyways.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Thank you for the suggestion. I have started mixing the pellets together.

Today Gandie flew away from my dad and hit a window - something he has not done in a very long time. He was not going very fast and had been trying to perch on something nearby, not realizing fully that the window was there. Now he is acting very sleepy but also he is doing a lot of that weird yawning motion except looking down. He's doing this A LOT but he's also preening a lot.

I don't want to rile myself into imagining there are problems when there aren't but I'm very concerned. After his collision there were absolutely no signs of any sort of trauma. No blood, hurt toes or anything like that (like I said, he wasn't going very fast as he was trying to land and even partially did).

I've read that stretching out his neck could mean he has a respiratory infection. He's already seen the avian vet recently (last week) and his throat was checked with no sign of infection, but I'm supposed to report behavioral changes. Is this a behavioral change?

Lastly, can some one tell me I'm worrying too much and that I don't have to rush him to the emergency vet? 

Again, any help is much appreciated. Thank you all so much.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

How long has it been since the collision? How much is 'a lot'? Does it appear to distress him?

Yawning/neck stretching is most commonly just their way of clearing their airway or adjusting their crop. However, if it continues it could be a sign of nausea, which may indicate a head injury. 

Most likely he is just stunned and having some minor discomfort from the collision. My birds have always been fine after crashing, although some amount of acting dazed is normal. 

Right now I'd try to keep him quiet and watch him. If he starts vomiting, becomes unresponsive, or unable to perch, then go to the emergency vet. Also if the symptoms continue for more than a few hours after the collision, I would see that as cause for concern. 

Try not to worry too much, though! I do know how anxiety-provoking things like this can be. I'm sending you good thoughts.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Apparently another thing I should have mentioned is that he ate a banana. Those apparently are mushy and can get stuck in their throats. My dad says he might have done this when we fed him one a while ago. We're not going to feed him another one.

The collision was a few hours ago. He seemed fine directly afterward and only began the head thing an hour before bed. Now he is sleeping and seems to have stopped the motion altogether so hopefully he is OK. If we see anything odd continuing in the morning he is going straight to the vet.

He's also perching just fine. He prefers the highest perch in the cage and hasn't really ventured from there since he settled down for bedtime.

Doing my best not to worry and probably doing an awful job at it but at least I have a great family to give me support and calm me down to an acceptable point. I probably wont handle him until I can get over the jitters though.

To clarify, 'a lot' means about every 10 minutes sometimes more. Aside from doing the motion itself, it didn't appear to distress him. He continued eating and pooing normally afterwards. For a while I thought it wasnt letting him sleep but that honestly might have been me because when I left the room he finally settled down and stopped the motion entirely. I'm hoping he'll wake up in the morning well rested and fine.

Thanks again!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Yeah, I think I would bet on the banana for the yawning thing. I've definitely seen my birds gag when they get something caught, and it is really alarming -- but usually not an actual problem. I think if he was really in distress, he wouldn't have settled down to sleep like he did. I hope you can get some rest too.


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## RedQueen (Feb 21, 2012)

I wouldn't worry about the neck stretching an yawning, especially if it was when he was preening a lot. My 'tiel tends to start preening after a crash or something stressful, it's their way of letting out the stress. You may also just be noticing the behavior more than you have before because you're paying much closer attention to your 'tiel because you're worried. Sometimes people tend to notice things that their 'tiel has always been doing and take it as a sign of a behavior change, when it's really just a change in what we pay attention to. I would still watch him closely, but don't freak out if he's doing a normal behavior more often than you've seen him do it before. I know it can be very stressful when you think your baby is sick, I hope everything turns out OK.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

The banana thing appears to have been it because he stopped making the strange motion after he went to bed and hasn't done it all day so far. Needless to say I probably won't be giving him any more bananas. This morning his weight was rather low - 87 - which he's been at before but it's a step backwards. However he's also very active, vocal and eating a TON so I think the drop in weight probably had more to do with him not wanting to eat after the banana got caught in his crop/throat (I'm honestly not very informed concerning a cockatiel's digestive system so I don't know where it was bothering him).

We're not going to bring him to the vet as there doesn't seem cause to be anymore but we are still going to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't backtrack any further. This is really disappointing for me as he had been going up in weight for a while but hopefully this is just a temporary thing. Either way I updated my vet via phone so she knows what's going on.

Red Queen - I am totally guilty of seeing the normal behaviors and interpreting them as something bad because I'm worried. That's mostly why I'm here - I need some one to tell me when I'm worrying too much.

He's all chirpy today though and telling me that he's a pretty birdy so things seem mostly back to normal.  Hopefully it's all up from here!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Weight fluctuations are normal to some degree.  It sounds like he's doing fine.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

Well, my vet says he should be around 95 so 87 is worrisome but he also said it's not a major problem until he hits around 85, which he hasn't yet thankfully. He's still acting normal - just weighs less with small poops.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

What is the vet's "should be" weight based on? If it's from feeling your bird's keel bone then it's based on your specific case. If it's based on average cockatiel weights then it's possible that your bird is fine. Cockatiels have a lot of variation in individual size, and a bird might be far above or far below the average and still be the perfect weight for that particular bird.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

tielfan said:


> What is the vet's "should be" weight based on?


Reading back on this thread, it sounds like it's based on the bird's previous baseline weight.  But you do make a good point.


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## JennMichelle (May 14, 2012)

enigma731 said:


> Reading back on this thread, it sounds like it's based on the bird's previous baseline weight.  But you do make a good point.


Yeah, that's based on a trend of weight measurements we've taken with him over his life. At one point he was very sick and got to 82 grams. When he recovered he hovered around 95. At another point he got a bit fat (not muscle tissue, fat) and weighed about 115. I have another cockatiel who is really buff and she is healthy at 120. 

Mostly, I just want my little guy to get back up to the weight he used to be and see his poops improve. :3


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