Help with Citron cockatoo

[Dayna]

I have a 8 month old female citron cockatoo. She is pretty much refusing to eat. I have made everything I can think of for her to eat. She has lost about 30% of her weight since coming to live with me. She will eat if I give it to her on my shoulder, she generally begs for a real handfeeding.

Should I give in a start handfeeding her again? She has been to the vet. She CHOOSES not to eat. She has nothing wrong with her. It appears to be all emotional. She will eat seeds, pellets, etc if I had it to her.

She grabs onto my hands though and pumps. She grabs onto my shirt and pumps, she pumps on most everything.

She really is getting too skinny and will have to start handfeeding her formula if I don't figure out something else soon. When she came to me she was eating just fine.

Also, maybe unreleated, maybe not. She now hates my husband (and every other human being on the face of the earth, she will scream like you are killing her if you try to touch her). She will hurt herself to get away from him. He had to towel her to get her home this evening (he was watching the store while I had band practice). She was bashing herself against the cage to get away from him. He has never done anything bad to her. He loves her and is quite concerned about this behaviour. She will try anything to get to me, even hurting herself trying to get out of the cage. I end up holding her more than I should due to this behaviour.

Are they related?

Any ideas?

[The Outlaw]

I would absolutely handfeed her again. You can't have her crash and burn. I would, however, keep weaning pellets, soaked in fruit juice, in her food dish. Sounds like she is regressing due to stress.

As for your husband, I really can't help you there. I know very little about toos. I think you should post something in the Ask the Experts section. Kim Bear is very knowledgable and answers mail very promptly.

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

I would absolutely handfeed her again. You can't have her crash and burn. I would, however, keep weaning pellets, soaked in fruit juice, in her food dish. Sounds like she is regressing due to stress.

As for your husband, I really can't help you there. I know very little about toos. I think you should post something in the Ask the Experts section. Kim Bear is very knowledgable and answers mail very promptly.

Thanks Nancy, I did post in the experts section (this is the experts section!) LOL. I am just so worried about having a 20 year old too that won't eat on it's own. I have heard of it happening. My vet strongly recommends not syringe feeding her. But my vet is NOT an avian vet, so I have to take her advice and make up my own mind. She also said it was time to wean Darwin, and I found out that I weaned him too early (large macaws book) and have started 1 handfeeding per day again. His behaviour has changed dramatically for the better since handfeeding him again. His aggressive behaviour was due to being insecure and needing handfeeding. That book is priceless. I wish I could find one for cockatoos.

[The Outlaw]

Dayna:

I also have that book and think that all macaw owners should invest in it. I think the principles apply to all birds. They need to feel safe and secure before they can "grow up". When they are rehomed, they naturally go through an insecure period. With your busy schedule, you probably weren't fully aware of your baby birds' needs.

Take your time. You may find that simply using a human infant feeding spoon (the long handled thin ones) will work just fine. Your babies are old enough to eat on their own, so its not about putting food down the wrong side. They will taste this food and soon enough push the spoon away. You must feel like you have twins!

[Dayna]

I have all the time in the world for them. I was just worried about spending too much time babying her. I have heard so many horror stories about over bonding with cockatoos that I did not want to make that mistake.

She did bite my husband tonight. Badly. I just need to help her through this.

[The Outlaw]

Kim:

I apologize for posting here. I actually thought I was posting to the same thread in **********. I must be getting tired. Again, I most humbly apologize for posting here before you had time to respond.

THE OUTLAW

[KimBear]

Since you've mentioned that your vet isn't an avian vet, it may be worth a second opinion to rule out any possible medical reasons your cockatoo is having difficulty weaning. It's highly likely that there's a psychological root to the behavior, but sometimes a bacterial or fungal infection can be the original culprit, causing the bird to not feel well and that stress can affect other aspects of their behavior.

In the meantime, you probably should set up an actual handfeeding schedule so that you can get some weight on her. Rather than feeding her from your shoulder, see if she will sit on a perch near the table, or on the table itself, and take soaked pellets, warm mashed foods like corn and sweet potatos, and a bit of actual handfeeding formula, from you. Offer the handfeeding formula with a spoon if you can. In addition to giving her things with your fingers, set up a little plate or bowl for her right there and see if you can get her to go back and forth between taking a bite from you, and a bite from the bowl.

Use praise to let her know that you prefer she eat from the bowl. When giving her food with your fingers or the spoon, keep your face very neutral, and don't say anything. If she takes something from the bowl, pet her and praise her with lots of enthusiasm. Giving her more attention when she eats on her own will help teach her what you would rather have her do. If at anytime you see her eating from the bowl in her cage, praise her a whole bunch.

Overall, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if you could set up a consult with me because both this and the situation with your husband isn't something that can easily be addressed here. I have several questions and would need to know a lot more before I can give you information that's specific to your situation.

Here's a general piece of advice, though. Have your husband set up his own routine with her that will help her get over her fear of him. You should be elsewhere so the bird doesn't focus on you. At first, just him being in the same room with her, within several feet of her cage, may be enough. He doesn't really have to talk to her or look at her--she needs to first settle down when he's merely near by. As she gets more comfortable with that, he can step things up a bit by getting closer, talking to her and making a bit of eye contact.

Forcing a fearful or panicked parrot to interact with someone when they don't want to is usually not helpful, so my approach involves very slow and gradual exposure to the feared person. It takes a lot of patience, but I think it's very important to minimize the bird's fear and take things at a pace they're comfortable with. There needs to be some pushing, just not too much.

[Dayna]

Kim, I will just give you a call. Could you send me an email with the paypal information to send payment to, then we can set up a time where I can talk. I own/operate a pet store so my free time is very limited.

my email is

dayna@juneaupets.com

[Dayna]

Thanks Kim so very much for the consult. It was very helpful!

I advise everyone who has been considering it, to go for it! Kim is great!

[KimBear]

Thank you!

There are lots of people out there who wonder why should anyone pay for information when there's free advice on the internet, but it really does help to actually talk to someone and address the specific needs of the situation.

You and your husband are to be commended for the dedication you have for your birds. I wish that all parrot owners were so committed. Yes, it can be a lot of work, and frustrating sometimes, but it is worth the effort.