Leia

i respect your opinion. thanks for your advice lovethatgrey. i guess i'll just feel my way arround the situation. Leia seems alot happier and calmer today and is eating well. so hopefully it will stay that way and i wont have to worry about sunflower seeds again. i always monitor my birds weight and everyone that has seen her so far says she looks very healthy compared to other greys they have seen, so im sure she's fine. she hasnt lost any weight either and her dropping seem very healthy too.

"A bird fed only a 100 percent pellet diet, is not a healthy parrot, regardless of what pellet manufactures may claim. In fact, I may get flack for this, but I believe it is cruel and health detrimental over a long period of time to do so." I understand your concern but i really dont feed my grey only pellets, i feed her a variety of different veges which change from day to day. i simply provide the pellets along side to provide a more well rounded and balanced diet because pellets are supposed to have multi vitamins and minerals included in them. i know you werent implying i feed my grey only pellets, but i am just claryfying matters. also as i have said on more than one occassion, i did try to wean my grey off the sunflower seeds slowly, but she just demanded more and was not interested in any of her other food. so given the circumstances i di what i thought fit for the situation. I met 2 year old grey that was a recovering bird that had liver problems and was about to be put down. its really sad and a serious condition for any of our birds tgo have. i'd rather not rriisk that by giving my grey even the slightest chance of getting liver problems.

Thanks karunk, your advise did help, but i think my situation is alot more severe than your greys situation. Having read the article that love that grey posted a link to, i appreciate that sunflower seeds have alot of nutritional value. But in my greys situation, she became more demanding when she got a taste of it, and i gave in not knowing the dangers. i have done ALOT of reading on sunflower seeds, and some say its good, some say its bad, some say only good in balance. But the general feeling i am getting is that our birds dont get half the ammount of exercise birds in the wild get, therefore sunflower seeds are more harmful to our birds if we cannot exercise control. And in my case i cannot exercise control because the minute my grey gets a taste the mood swings and tantrum begin. i cannot allow her to have it because of the possible liver damage it could cause. The article was written by Alex's owner i assume, and alex died at the premature age of 31 due to "natural causes". I am no1 to judge, but my mind questions what the natural causes could have been. Also the article mentioned that sunflower seeds act as a calming agent and good for deppression, anxiety and mental health. Well my grey is acting like a recovering addict right now. so in my view it was acting as a drug for her. I respect all those that are able to exercise control in providing sunflower seeds for their birds, but my case is different. My bird is addicted to sunflower seeds and evn though i used to put other foods along side the sunflower seeds initially, she did not touch them and waited for her next batch of sunflower seeds. initially i thought its ok, as long as she is eating. but now i regret ever having bought the sunflower seeds in the first place. Thanks for all of your advise everyone.

Oh I forgot to mention that I don't think we get the zupreme fruity pellet here in Africa. We get other makes, I guess I have to keep trying until I find one that works for my grey. Thanks for sharing though

Thanks for your advice everyone. In reply to tycos_mom, I'm really glad someone understands what I'm going through. I agree that it's best they don't get a taste of it at all, but I wasn't so wise previous to this. I guess some greys are more persistant in getting what they want than other greys. An update for everyone else, I visited the avian vet today to ask if I'm going about this the right way. And he said sunflower seeds are very very damaging for greys in terms of liver problems. They are ok for other parrots like cockatiels, but in his view a grey should not have even a little because once they get a tasteof it again, it will lead to the same problems when taken away. He says I'm doing the right thing by stopping her completely, I just have to be strong. She will go on a hunger strike for about 4 days and throw tantrums. That is typical grey behavour. But eventually she'll realise she can't get her way and eat the food that's there. Just thought I'd share what he said.

in reply to lovethatgrey, I hear what u are saying about gradually reducing the mix. I've tried that previously to this thread. My grey is very used to different types of food. I give her a different veg each day, ranging from boiled carrots to cauliflower to rice to cucumber, chillies, green pepper corn, only but to name a few. Along side that I used to put pellets in her other food bowl and ofcoursr water. 2 weeks ago I bought the mix thinking I'd treat her once in a while. But after just the 1st day she decided she is no longer eating any of her other food and kept making a loud quaking sound (nagging) continuously until I gave it to her. But then I realised she's wasting all her other food and just eats that. Because of that I decided to stop her totally. I went to visit my avian vet today, and he said that is typical grey behaviour. She will go on a hunger strike for 4 days and throw tantrums but he said it's really for the best because of the liver problems that sunflower seeds cause. He said I shouldn't even give her a little because once she gets the taste again, it's back to square one. I think ur greys are probably much more easy going and laid back compared to mine, mine can be quite spoilt. But I'm hanging in there and praying she come right.

Hi everyone. I'm concerned about what I am feeding my cag. Initially I fed her pellets and a variety of fruit and veg along side the pellets. She used to enjoy her food but still wanted her handrearing porridge at night at the age of 4 & 1/2 months. She stopped the porridge when I introduced a nut and seed mix which I initially wanted to give her occassionally. But she kept nagging everytime I put food into the cage until I gave her the fruit and nut mix and would only eat the nuts and seeds and leave the pellets out. But I'm concerned that it's too high in fat and will lead to weight and liver problems in the long run. I've tried stopping her, this is the 2nd day but she keeps nagging despite the fact that there's softened pellets and nice veges in her cage which she previously used to love? I need some help? Want to know if I'm doing the right thing by stopping her from eating that?

I’m talking about a mix that they sell at the pet stores with mostly sunflower seeds and all types of nuts and a few dried fruit and pellets. But the balance is not right because there are too many sunflower seeds and nuts in the mix. I bought it as a treat thinking id give it to her once a week. But she started demanding it and hasn’t stopped crying for 2 days since ive stopped. She tosses all the other food she previously liked. And shes persistant in her demanding the nut mix.

You see the problem is that i’ve tried to slowly reduce the amount by only give her a little along side healthy food, but she refuses to touch her veges or pellets at all and once her nuts and seeds are finished she cries for more my quacking and moving her head up and down. I know thats a food cry. She continues to do that until i give her more. But i realised its a problem when she became reliant on it as her only food source. I decided that moderation is not working and stopped it. But ever since i have, 2 days now, she quacks and whistles continuously for hours on end and every time i put food in her bowl she rushes to see whats inside and when its not the sunflower seeds she continues to cry. I thought she would have stopped after half an hour, that she would get tired of crying but today she cried for 7 hours literally nonstop, no exaggerations. She’ll follow me around the house, crying to be carried and when i carry her she screams in my ear. I tried putting her in her cage and covering her to calm her down but that does not work, she carries on as soon as i open it. Its as if she is a drug addict having withdrawal symptoms. Im starting to question whether the supplier could have drugged the food. I know it sound far fetched, but shes really acting strange. I know she cant be sick, she just wants that mix.

I would like to know exactly how unhealthy sunflower seeds and nuts are? I bought a fruit, nut and seed mix for my bird as a treat, but ever since i've fed her them she cries and nags for me to give it to her every day. i've read and been told that too much sunflower seeds are bad for caged birds because they are high in fat and lead to liver problems. the problem is that when i try to stop her, she nags and nags. i dont know whether i should just give it to her, but my heart tells me that it may make her suffer later on in her life, and im doing her an injustice by giving in to her? but i dont know how to deal with the nagging. am i doing the right thing?

Hi everyone. I'm concerned about what I am feeding my cag. Initially I fed her pellets and a variety of fruit and veg along side the pellets. She used to enjoy her food but still wanted her handrearing porridge at night at the age of 4 & 1/2 months. She stopped the porridge when I introduced a nut and seed mix which I initially wanted to give her occassionally. But she kept nagging everytime I put food into the cage until I gave her the fruit and nut mix and would only eat the nuts and seeds and leave the pellets out. But I'm concerned that it's too high in fat and will lead to weight and liver problems in the long run. I've tried stopping her, this is the 2nd day but she keeps nagging despite the fact that there's softened pellets and nice veges in her cage which she previously used to love? I need some help? Want to know if I'm doing the right thing by stopping her from eating that?

Wow, I had no idea crows were so intelligent, territorial and united. Since I've had Leia I've learnt so many wonderful & interesting things about birds, as well as scary things. : ) I wouldn't like to keep leia house bound, she loves to go out so I really hope the crows have forgotten. But reading up on crows and reading your responses It is said that they never forget a face. Hope they don't keep persisting on driving us away coz that would be scary. But since the incident, it's been 24 hours, I haven't been out since but the area seems pretty clear arround the house. I wonder how they communicate so effectively to be able to collect a mob within seconds literally. It's amazing. First there was 1, then 2 or 3 and then hundreds!!!! :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: Post edited by: Leia, at: 2009/09/06 08:52<br><br>Post edited by: Leia, at: 2009/09/06 08:57

How old is he? I'm not as experienced as other members on the forum as my Cag is only 4 months old, but from what i've experienced and read their likes and dislikes keep changing. ask the breeder what he was giving your cag. Maybe he prefers that? I know my cag doesnt eat as much as she used to but seems very healthy and playful and is maintaining her weight. Because you say he is his usual self, maybe you should give it a little while longer. Monitor his weight and his droppings and see from there. I also read that their nostrils must be clear and eyes bright and healthy. If there are any other changes in behaviour that concern you maybe you should visit your vet. Hope its nothing serious though. Goodluck

Thanks for your advice guys. My husband thought i was being dramtic and said that crows are scavengers, they dont hunt other birds. He finds it surprising that they dont bother with the smaller flinches and other birds flying arround, and said why would they bother with leia. But i told him he wasnt there and i really think they would have attacked given the opportunity. But they dont seem to be hanging arround anymore, i just hope they arent clever enough to remember where we live. the doors and windows are usually closed but i get annoyed sometimes when someone in the house forgets it open. like today theres a painter here and he leaves the door open every time he comes in and out. I'm sure its a territorial thing as well, they've probably never seen many parrots so they a little curious as well.

So is it a bad thing if i massage my birds feathers in the shower until she does get as wet as posssble? she sometimes does not get wet at all in the shower and i assumed it was bad so i massage her feathers so that the water reaches the skin.