Umbrella Cockatoo Not Eating Well

[JRKRACING1]

Hi,

We have a Umbrella that is over a year old. She doesn't eat well at all. Most of her food is on the bottom of the cage. We offer her fruit and pellets. I think she eats more fruit and no pellets. She just looks skinny.. Any ideas??

[mmr]

First off that is a too for you! They waste about 3/4 of the food you put in thier bowl. Are you monitoring how much she is eating? How much did she weigh at your last avian vet visit??? Do you have a picture of her now so I can see how skinny you think she is? Too's usually aren't weened till about 1 or over 1 years of age. Perhaps you still need to be hand feeding it 1 time a day! How long have you had her?

[chapala]

I would try feeding her, in addition to the pellets and fruit, some sprouted or cooked grains and recommended, more easily digested legumes (mung, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, dried pea), and vegetables. You might look into Shauna's Mash diet on Feeding Feathers Yahoo forum. What type of pellets are you feeding? You could try another brand, a natural one - Harrison's, Zupreem or Roudybush. But she may prefer some real food, presented in a balanced diet, in addition to the other food.

[GlendaNS]

Grind some of her pellets up and mix a spoon full with warm water. Feed her this out of a spoon. I do it every night for all mine.

[RubyMuse]

Hi,
First: take her to a vet, get a weight on her as soon as possible, and get some bloodwork done to make sure she does not have something like metal toxicity or something she has swallowed (I once saw xrays of an umbrella that had swallowed massive amounts of small bits of plastic that had begun to accumulate but that no one realized was happening because he dropped most of it onto the cage floor).

Compare the actual weight to the target weight for the species. Visual weight estimates are dangerous because birds fluff feathers when ill as a means to keep warm which they have trouble doing when they are unwell. Don't ever go on a visual where weight is concerned.

After ruling out medical etiology improve the diet. Fruit is not a great thing in mass quantities. Things like apples and bananas are not that useful. Opt instead for mango, papaya, tangerine, nectarine and veggies like kale, sweet potatoes, carrots, red or orange peppers, etc... look up a list on what is nutritionally worthwhile. Improve the pellet: Harrisons's is the best in my opionion although I also feed Roudybush, Lafebers, and Zupreem. I do not feed seed.

Nuts (not peanuts) are good like walnut, peacan, almond, and pine nut.

To get a bird to eat, let them see you eat something. Birds in the wild learn this information from watching their parents - this is how they learn what to eat and more importantly, what not to eat.

Update us on how it goes!

[mmr]

[QUOTE=RubyMuse;1452800]Hi,
To get a bird to eat, let them see you eat something. Birds in the wild learn this information from watching their parents - this is how they learn what to eat and more importantly, what not to eat.

QUOTE]

Have youlet your too eat with you off YOUR plate? They are social eaters and what Rubymuse said above is great advice!