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14 week old CAG... Need Help.


leonidas

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He just pooped today and it concerns me a bit, he had apples yesterday, and his formula does have water, but normally he has fecal matter in his poop. today for the first time he has just urine and urates...(water and white stuff)... should i be concerned?.. could it be an internal problem?... I will monitor his poop.... to see what more he does...! but until then can anyone please tell me any ailments that this could be a symptom of?

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He will be loosing weight, and if he doesn’t there is something wrong. At his age he should be starting to fledge so he will get skinny. As babies they weigh more than their parents do but they loose a lot of the weight at fledging and then gain back some to the normal adult weight. If they don't loose the baby weight they run the risk of severely hurting themselves when they try to fly...like breaking their keel bone.

 

If he was to get food in the airway there is nothing you can do...its pretty much instant death. The crop burn and sour crop are harder to pick up but at his age he shouldn't be as much at risk for sour crop due to colder food...but too much food and overfilling/stretching the crop can cause some major problems as well.

 

I STRONGLY urge you to drop the afternoon feeding. If you go too long without giving him the chance to eat on his own he will never want to. Dropping the afternoon feeding isn't as stressful as you think it will be...you said he picks at his food even after getting meals, so this is a good indicator that he is more than ready to start the process. The nighttime feeding is the most stressful to drop and that’s why you keep giving that meal till they just don't want it anymore. My grey is 7 months old tomorrow and I still will give him a hand feeding now and then to strengthen the bond we have and to keep him used to it so just incase he ever gets sick I can give medicine to him without a lot of problems and stress. You really should test the waters and see how he does for a day or two. I would be willing to bet money that he will be fine and will barely notice you didn't feed him.

 

I know what I'm saying seems like it would be mean to do but really it's not. I breed finches and hand fed babies got it good compared to a normal wean from the parents. I researched finch weaning and my parent birds go right on track with the norm but the babies always beg for more food. They learn to eat more food at that point and grow into perfectly healthy birds, not one has been lost due to starvation. Not to seem like I am picking on you for this but the biggest cause for baby parrots to refuse to wean isn't really the parrots at all...it's the owner’s refusal to wean. It's good to feel needed by our little feathered babies so some people don't want the joy of the experience to stop and think of a million reasons to keep feeding them but it's really not doing the babies any good. You won't be forcing him into weaning, but guiding him to it.

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the pet store would not let me put a deposit down on him, and said that they will sell him to someone else if i dont buy him. They told me he wasnt fully weaned and that it is pretty easy to feed him. but i know that it isnt all that easy... the method they used for feeding him was that he would eat on his own pace... i dont mind waiting to feed him. he is a good bird. but i have seen that he does not want to eat as much of his formula even at night... i dont force feed him... like they didnt. he just doesnt want to eat it anymore. he did eat the butternut squash and apples i gave him today... however. since i have been noticing it, he has just been peeing alot, there isnt much fecal matter. and some urates. i dont no why that is... but if anyone has an explanation out there. i would appreciate it.. AND BMustee. i did not give him the afternoon feeding today.. but i wasnt here to monitor it...(my friend just had babies!)... but i will see if he eats well tomorrow... i am just giving him zupreme pellets. and some harrisons organic pellets.. he seems to enjoy them.. but does not eat alot...anyway.. please let me know what else i can to do to ensure his health. thankyou....!

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leonidas,

 

Sounds like you are really doing well and asking alot of questions. Karma to you!!!

 

BMustee is educating all of us, she really knows her stuff.

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Hi Leonidas,

 

I second Radars comment. You are doing a fantastic job and doing it right the first time. You are fretting over him like a Mom with a new born. :-) Which is GreyT!

 

Everything you have written is normal for a CAG at 15 weeks old. He will start spitting more and more of his Formula out as he begins the weaning process and will eventually just stop accepting it completely (in most cases).

 

As Bmustee has given given much great advice, he is into the fledging mode already and it is natural for them to start losing a lot of weight by eating less and less to make flight easier while he starts building up his soon to be Schwarzenegger size Pectorals ;-)

 

Regarding the gram scale. I would purchase a scale that goes to 1000g (1kg) to ensure he doesn't max out your scale if he happens to grow to a weight over 500 gm.

 

Your such a good Mom :-)

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I'm sure he is going to be eating a lot more on his own without the feeding in the afternoon. He will let you know when he is ready to drop the morning and night.

 

My grey would get really watery poop when his formula was a little to watery. It's nothing that he should be going to the vet for, but maybe thicken his formula up a little bit.

 

If you can't watch him eat, or even if you can, the best way to monitor how much he is eating is feeling his crop. Remember that he won't fill it so you should feel a little mass at the bottom of solid food.

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No problem. Anytime you got questions we are always more than happy to help. The breeder that I would go to with my questions would always say "I would rather hear a thousand "dumb" questions than one sad story"...although there is no such thing as a dumb question.

 

BTW, you a Sparta fan?

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