She Hates Getting Her Face Dirty

[Thomas J.]

Or should I say her beak. I can't get my CAG to eat anything soft. Well heck I really can't get her to eat hardly anything other than Zupreem pellets and her usual seeds and things. She's been with us now for about three weeks as a re home. I don't think she's ever had anything else other than a seeded diet. Everything I try and give her just won't work but especially soft mushy food. After a taste she usually goes to her perch and starts wiping her beak all along it so as to try and remove any evidence of that gross mushy stuff.

 

Have any of you been there done that with your CAG? I'm kind of optimistic though because she has made a lot of adjustments in just three weeks, all for the better. I just would like to start getting her on some better healthy food soon.

[judygram]

If it makes you feel any better my birds will wipe their beak after eating and on me if they get the chance but its possible your grey was never offered anything soft so she is unfamiliar with it. Since she is eating mostly pellets and seeds then she needs to be offered fresh vegetables, she may not eat them right off but keep offering them for she might eventually try them and like them. It will take time to get her converted to a more healthy diet but keep at it.

Also some greys may just not like the consistency of soft foods so stick with firmer ones.

[Luvparrots]

My Ana Grey also hates a dirty face. She will wipe her face/beak if she gets even a dab of food on it. She will eat moist food, some anyway but must wipe her face after every bite. Go figure!!!

[Thomas J.]

Well that's good to hear. I had a feeling that wiping her face was probably something they all did, just had to ask here to make sure. As for keeping at it, that's exactly what I intend to do no matter how long it takes. I'm up for the challenge. :-)

[Lovemyparrotwithallmysoul]

Mine hates dirty face too and even if its something she loves she wont go on eating if it means messy face...she loves bananas but finds them too messy to i liquidise it and feed through a syringe x

[BenzMama]

We rescued a 45-yr old Amazon from a very bad situation. His 'diet' in his former home was french fries, steak, peanut butter & a few pellets which he didn't eat. (The wife said 1 TBL of pellets would last him 3 months!) We began his 1st day offering Sullivan a variety of fresh/cooked foods. The old man didn't at first know what to make of them! He would also immediately wipe his beak as if to remove any trace of this 'foreign' stuff. We just kept offering. In no time, he discovered the variety really was "tasty" after we'd invite him to "try some?" as that's what we always told him at feeding time. Now? He is willing to try anything.

 

And our 3 greys? What each may relish 1 day is flung out of the bowl ~ or off of my plate! ~ the next time. I simply keep the variety coming & try to offer many different textures. As they also watch VERY closely, you may want to 'taste' (real or pretend) to try it yourself & make a very big deal over how good it is. Just consider it like the servants royalty had taste their food first in days of yore to make sure it wasn't poison. Yep ... it is very much just like that!

[JBeck]

[Thomas J.]

I finally got her to eat some soft rice and some chicken. I had to keep putting it in front of her to taste it and was somewhat surprised when she kept going for it. I guess persistence is going to be the name of the game here. She is also coming around to eating Tops pellets a little at a time as it's mixed in with her other pellets and seeds. The next item will be to get her to try some fruit. So far the few fruit items I tried didn't work so I'll have to see what I can do about that.

[BenzMama]

Glad to hear she likes the rice & chicken! Progress! As she's obviously been used to just seeds/pellets, you may need to expand the variety with adding textures to bridge the gap between hard & soft offerings. You can also try raw & cooked (sweet potatoes & broccoli immediately come to mind) to see which she may prefer. Trial & error. We've also included chunkier toddler baby food for our son to serve in addition to seeds/pellets while we've gone on vacation. They'd be offered that before he went to work & then share in his cooked supper. Ben can't cook for them twice a day like Mama does ...

[chezron]

Soo different than our grey. He seems to have no concept that he has food on his face. Sometimes it is completely comical just HOW MUCH food is on his beak! I bet your grey will be eating all kinds of mushy stuff soon! Fingers crossed!

[birdhouse]

Phenix ate peanuts & sunflower seeds before he came home. It was extremely difficult to get him off them. He would actually get angry if his food got his face dirty.

 

Trial & error & a lot of time went into finding a solution for him. The first things that worked were

 

peas cooked or raw, eventually in the pod

corn cooked or raw, eventually on the cob

green or wax beans raw, a couple of inches long so they were easy to handle

raw celery stalks with wet leaves, woven into the bars

diced very green bananas

peppers, diced or cut into small sticks with the seeds

carrots snapped off the bird sized end

raisins

diced apple with skin

 

I'd put a little of one or two things in his cup in the morning without any other food in the cage. I'd sprinkle it with sesame, hot or fresh pepper seeds. He'd eat the seeds & pitch the rest like it was poisonous. About a half hour later, I'd clean up & put out some more veggies but no seeds. Once he got hungry, he'd usually go back & give it another try. If he didn't eat anything, I'd give him a dish of "real" food about an hour or so later.

 

Cherries were the first thing he thought were worth getting his face dirty. Then grapes. Also he liked drinking out of my cup, so I could get him to try fruit & veggie juice that way.

Edited February 26, 2011 by birdhouse

[Thomas J.]

It almost sounds like Phenix and my bird came from the same place. My grey is all into seeds and peanuts. I guess I should be happy that she at least likes the Zupreem pellets to some extent. I know this will probably a long road to hoe getting her to eat some of the better things for her, but as long as I can see some progress from time to time, I'll remain optimistic knowing that someday we'll get there. :-)

[Butttaxi]

I think it is so cute when our CAG Rorschach wipes his beak, he is pretty ocd with having a clean face too. He is pretty good with eating most things I give him and when I know he doesn't like something I eat it first, make a fuss and pretend he can't have any. This usually works and makes him want it more. I still haven't been able to get him to eat bananas and he isn't a big fan of carrots either (cooked or raw) He will pick them out of his dish and throw them.

[birdhouse]

... I guess I should be happy that she at least likes the Zupreem pellets to some extent. I know this will probably a long road to hoe .. but as long as I can see some progress from time to time, I'll remain optimistic knowing that someday we'll get there. :-)

 

Phenix was sick for the first years, so it made changing his diet even worse. Originally, I got him individual seed & gave him one type for each meal. I don't even know where to buy just hemp, rape, canary etc seed anymore. We totally skipped pellets once we finally start transitioning to anything else. He wouldn't even bother flinging them. He just didn't recognize them as food, at all.

 

Now, he's one of the best eaters going. He will happily try everything I hand him.

[Thomas J.]

Now, he's one of the best eaters going. He will happily try everything I hand him.

 

 

Sure am glad to hear you got him back in good health and whats more is that he's eating plenty of good stuff I assume. I'm hoping to someday have my girl in that same position, eating just about everything I try and give her.