Eating only sunflower

[AndreiS]

Hi! This is my first post on the forum.

 

I don't own a grey but saw one in a pet shop who seemed sick and who, as the title says, was eating only sunflower. I talked with their owners who are in fact a vet clinic (where I used to take some of my sick birds) who own a pet shop across the street from their headquarters. The bird is kept in the main space of the pet shop, in a big enough cage but under constant strong artificial light (from room illuminators), in draft (customers entering continuously) and noise (same customers talking to the shopgirl). His droppings are light green (not toward yellow, but like you would mix green and white painting colors) and viscuous, like some diarheea, a homogenous paste of uniform color, not mucoid.

 

They told me they tried to make him eat something else but he doesn't touch anything but sunflower. The bird cannot be handfed or manipulated in any way as bites anybody and has an extremely strong beak, really dangerous. If someone aspproaches him he also start screaming, sort of agressive yeld, very loud and impressive but scaring the customers. The owners apparently were not puting at least calcium, vitamins in water, neither probiotics or acv. I typed, printed and handed them a four pages text about grey diet and fat liver disease, translated from the websites dealing with this domain / subject. They seemed reticent to receive advices, probably because they arte vets (but have no experience with birds).

 

I feel pity for that poor bird and want to help him, even in the conditions the owners are not cooperative. If I could receive some practical advice from you, I can go and handle them another text and they may want to follow the advices.

 

I know how useful would been some photos with the bird and especially with the droppings. Unfortunately, I was not inspired to take some photos when I was there and I'm afraid would not be prudent to do this now, as this may cool the relationship with the owners even more, making them even more reticent.

 

 

I have no experience with parrots but I'm rescuing pigeons for more than three years, I keep over thirty at my home and know to a certain degree their problems, how to hand feed etc, so I will understand your indications and find easy to put them in practice, if I can convince the owners to let me do this.

[Dave007]

Hi! This is my first post on the forum.

 

I don't own a grey but saw one in a pet shop who seemed sick and who, as the title says, was eating only sunflower. I talked with their owners who are in fact a vet clinic (where I used to take some of my sick birds) who own a pet shop across the street from their headquarters. The bird is kept in the main space of the pet shop, in a big enough cage but under constant strong artificial light (from room illuminators), in draft (customers entering continuously) and noise (same customers talking to the shopgirl). His droppings are light green (not toward yellow, but like you would mix green and white painting colors) and viscuous, like some diarheea, a homogenous paste of uniform color, not mucoid.

 

They told me they tried to make him eat something else but he doesn't touch anything but sunflower. The bird cannot be handfed or manipulated in any way as bites anybody and has an extremely strong beak, really dangerous. If someone aspproaches him he also start screaming, sort of agressive yeld, very loud and impressive but scaring the customers. The owners apparently were not puting at least calcium, vitamins in water, neither probiotics or acv. I typed, printed and handed them a four pages text about grey diet and fat liver disease, translated from the websites dealing with this domain / subject. They seemed reticent to receive advices, probably because they arte vets (but have no experience with birds).

 

I feel pity for that poor bird and want to help him, even in the conditions the owners are not cooperative. If I could receive some practical advice from you, I can go and handle them another text and they may want to follow the advices.

 

I know how useful would been some photos with the bird and especially with the droppings. Unfortunately, I was not inspired to take some photos when I was there and I'm afraid would not be prudent to do this now, as this may cool the relationship with the owners even more, making them even more reticent.

 

 

I have no experience with parrots but I'm rescuing pigeons for more than three years, I keep over thirty at my home and know to a certain degree their problems, how to hand feed etc, so I will understand your indications and find easy to put them in practice, if I can convince the owners to let me do this.

 

Unfortunantly. there's very little that be done while the bird is in a public place every day with lots of people around who have loads of ideas and opinions concerning the well being of the bird. All of the things you'd like to change need to be done in a stable private home and only by immediate family members. Convincing others (especially a vet) to do something is not an easy thing to do. Many people bring home pre-owned birds and have pretty good success rates in some of the areas you speak about. It's up to you. Wanna take a chance? REady to give that bird a one on one life? Give it genuine happy life? It's up to you. Good luck with your decision.

[AndreiS]

Thank you for answer. Anyway, any idea what can be the cause of eating only one thing? At pigeons, when I noticed this behaviour, it was because they suffered of an enteritis caused by coccidia or e. coli (diseases frequent at pigeons in my area) and could eat only soft seeds like sunflower. I treated them for these diseases and now they eat normally. Could be the same with the african grey from the pet shop?

[Acappella]

I don't know about a physical cause for eating only sunflower seeds. I do know that sunflower seeds are like McDonalds French fries for birds, yummy but with virtually no nutritional value. The situation you're describing is very close to the one that I rescued Dorian from. He was also in a store, but his response to customers coming too close to his cage was to freeze like a statue instead of being aggressive. It hurt my heart to see him in this situation and I joined here to learn more about African Greys. The more I learned the more I realized how bad his situation was. I finally made an agreement to buy him after it became clear to his owners that Dorian and I had connected. (He would always come to me when I came in the store and began to coo to me and regurgitate for me). Do you think there's any chance that your birds current owners would ever agree to turn him over to a new home?

[AndreiS]

I don't know. I thought at buying him, but:

 

- The vets may have doubts about me, as I am kind of atypical person (they know that I spend most of my time and money rescuing pigeons) which is perceived with suspicion (craziness)

- I don't have the money

-I wouldn't be able to provide him good conditions, as I would have to keep him in cage in a room where pigeons fly freely, including outside during warm seasons, which may depress him. Also, my house is infested with coccidia and e. coli (possibly also with other diseases), there is almost always a treatment ongoing with the 30+ flock. That means he surely will aquire those diseases, as happens with all the birds that I rescue. But while I have the skill to keep the pigeons in good condition, with other species completely unknown to me there may appear problems leading to death of the rescued.

[Dave007]

I don't know. I thought at buying him, but:

 

- The vets may have doubts about me, as I am kind of atypical person (they know that I spend most of my time and money rescuing pigeons) which is perceived with suspicion (craziness)

- I don't have the money

-I wouldn't be able to provide him good conditions, as I would have to keep him in cage in a room where pigeons fly freely, including outside during warm seasons, which may depress him. Also, my house is infested with coccidia and e. coli (possibly also with other diseases), there is almost always a treatment ongoing with the 30+ flock. That means he surely will aquire those diseases, as happens with all the birds that I rescue. But while I have the skill to keep the pigeons in good condition, with other species completely unknown to me there may appear problems leading to death of the rescued.

 

Well, this new addition to your original post, I'd advise you not to get any type of parrot.Mixing a parrot into an area that has possible diseases and constant medications and loads of feces that parrots can eat will surely cause the parrot to get sick. You wouldn't get anywhere as far as living one on one with a parrot. I totally agree with the vet. For your situation, stay away from parrots of any kind. Sorry, but you'll be putting that parrot into a dangerous environment. Parrots aren't mde to live around pigeons or any other ground birds that will eat anything that's nearby.

[AndreiS]

In the first post, I may have not been very clear: I didn't say I intend to buy / get the bird at my home but to receive some advices on this forum and communicate them to the owners. I will tell them is good for the bird to be kept in a private environment, a well warmed confortable room, not in a public place.

 

Also I will tell them to let some food, other than sunflower, even if the bird doesn't eat. What exactly should be this food, maybe you can tell me. I've read some recommendations for the nutrition on some websites, but it was not clear what food is a the best for african grey (a hyerarchy of some sort).

 

I emphasized (in the paper I wrote for them) the importance of supplements: vitamins, probiotics, minerals (calcium in first stance) and apple cider vinegar. Is any other supplement I should recommend?

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

This bird needs a forever home. I would advocate for that, rather then giving them advice. Thank you, for taking an active interest!