changing diet

[Gus]

Hi am having such trouble using this site have not been able to get on for a long time . Have had some problems with gus this last week he has begun plucking his chest feathers ( he has always plucked his legs ) have been to avian vet and the have done his bloods x ray and endoscopy and i need to change his diet he is such a fussy eater has been eating seed for the last 21 years and in the last 2 days am trying to get him to eat more veg and get him to try harrisons food . He is NOT having it at all and am at my witts end ,do i leave him without seed until he gets so hungry he tries other stuff or what ??? He loves his bird lamp by the way and he now takes liquid calcium .

 

Any advice is appreciated . if anyone knowledgable is on msn perhaps you could pm me your address and have a chat with me there . in case i cannot get on here to read replies . Thanks for reading

[lovethatgrey]

Sorry to hear that you and Gus are having such a stressful time. Changing his diet will take a lot of time, patience, love, empathy and commitment on your part. I'm confident that he is worth it. I do not recommend that you try to convert him cold turkey. You'd only be imposing more stress on him. I would suggest instead that you always have his usual food available with a bit of Harrison's added. Slowly and gradually you can decrease the seed and increase the Harrisons over a period of many weeks and possibly months. Always have fresh clean water available and NEVER try to starve him into trying the Harrisons food. That would be unecessarily cruel in my opinion. Be prepared that he will ignore, reject, discard, snubb and possibly toss out the Harrison's food in the beginning for that should be expected. He is 21 years old and will have to unlearn a habit that has been around for probably most of his life. It is an unfamiliar food and he will need to discover that it is edible and good for for him. Maybe try to make meal time a fun, enjoyable and animated event. Perhaps you can sit by his cage when you eat your meals too. Regarding the vegetables I would recommend having a separate bowl for all of his wet food. Let him explore and play around with it. It will look very foreign and scary to him but that is ok. In time.. Curiosity will get the best of him and he will end up sampling when he is ready. Eventually you might want to try making birdie bread and birdie Mash. A lot of parrots love it and mine love mash. I would recommend if possible to purchase a birdie skewer to hang the fresh vegetables on and to also purchase Harrison's Power treats. My african grey Emma loves it.

On another note… never allow any fresh food to rot or go stale in Gus's cage either.

 

Being a great parront will require a lot of work on your part but the rewards will definitely be worth it. You did the great first step by posting on here and bringing Gus to the avian Vet.{Feel-good-00020114}

[judygram]

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with the site but there are some technical problems going on right now and hopefully they will be resolved soon.

 

It will be a difficult task to get Gus off a strictly seed diet but you can gradually get him over to a more healthy diet but like lovethatgrey said it will take a lot of time and patience, this will not happen over a period of weeks or maybe even months, Gus being 21 years of age he is set in his ways and not easily changed.

 

Lovethatgrey gave you some excellent advice and I won't repeat what she said but to say it can work with patience and persistence.

[Gus]

thank you so much both he is about 29 we think . the probs with getting on site are due to my provider i think. it has always been difficult for me to stick around here . I have the power treats for him . I think they must be poison lol as he wont touch them but he does find it amusing to see me scoffing them tee hee lots of good advice which i shall put into practice . will let you know how i get on with him . once again thanks is nice to have feed back lots of folk think i am barmy fussing after a bird i cannot tell you the amount of people that have told me it would be easier to put him down :angry:

[danmcq]

The others have given good advice on trying to convert him over to pellets.

 

You could try only having the seed mix out for him for only 20 minutes in the morning. Then take it out and replace with veggies like carrots, broccoli, kale, mustard greens and maybe a small portion of fruit like apple, grape etc,.

 

Also, place the pellets in there. YOu may need to try different types of pellets like the Kaytee fruit blend, spicy blend etc. YOu can also try soaking the pellets in apple juice to soften them up and make them a little more appealing at first.

 

Those people that suggested him being put down are whacked. I guess thats a side effect of this "Throw away society" attitude we live in.

 

It's GreYt hearing from you again GUs. :-)

[Gus]

have been out today bought him a skewer and am playing with him with all kinds different fruit and vegetables i don't know about him but i am definatley going to be healthier before long. got him a new toy and have some picky type toys on order . i also picked up something called anti -pek pump spray for preventing plucking and self harm by johnsons . haven't used as yet thought i would get while i was there and post and see what anyone on here thought . i can return it no problem . any ideas . thanks again for taking time to read

[judygram]

I doubt the spray you got to help prevent plucking will work so you might as well return it and get your money back.

 

I know people like you are describing and don't give them a second's thought, they are not bird people and will never understand so save your breath, we on the other hand do understand and you are in good company here.

[Gus]

well it is a slow process but i was just on the telephone and Gus ate 2 fresh garden peas then picked up his baby sweetcorn ate the end of it and chucked it onto the floor woop woop no signs of feather plucking again as yet the radio bird light and copious amounts of cardboard must be keeping him occupied . have also had lots of ''us '' time whilst watching tv in the evening .