I got my M2.....help please

[brinstrong]

I just takled to the lady who gave me Muggs. His diet consists of baked patato with lots of butter and salt, canned green beans, and a sugar cookie in the morning. She said he will not eat anything else. No pellets or seed. She said she took him to a vet and the vet mutilated his wing feathers, I personally I think mugs is biting them off but, she said a vet did it to him and they have never came back.I also believe his diet has everything to do with what is going on. on her drive to meet me, muggs wouldn't eat or drink water so she gave him sweet tea to hydrate him, she does not understand that caffeine is a diuretic and may cause dehydration. Also he loves soda????? I know he cant have it. I have to get more nutrients in to muggs, the question is are ther any suggestions. I thought of adding soft pellets to the baked potato for now and vitamins to his water, for now untill I can get his diet under control. Her sister had muggs for 3 years before she died and all she did was syringe feed him, nothing els. Now betty( the lady who gave me muggs) had to have someone wean him off of that and betty has had him for 10 years. Feeding him apples and oranges on the way home wont happen because Betty said he absolutely wont eat it and never had. I have to travel 8 or more hours with him today and I am concerned for him. I need a lot of advice for muggs. I am going to do everything I can for muggs, and this IS his last home. I already love him and I think he is liking me too.

[FloorCandy]

Wow that is the worst diet I have ever heard! Thank goodness you have taken him in. Perhaps you can mash some banana into the potato as well? My CAG loves the aloe juice I mix with water to spray him with sometimes, you can try spraying him with that (50/50 with water) to help his feathers a bit. I would think the best you can do is just keep offering new things until he starts to like them, also, let him see you eat them as well, I know my CAG will not eat certain things if I put it in his bowl, but if he sees me eating, and I offer some, he goes crazy for it. My guy hates greens, so I try mixing with various things, like today I mixed chopped Kale with oatmeal and apple sauce, he didn't like it, but took a few bites, so maybe next time he will take a few bites more. Good luck!

[Congobongo]

Get him on a good pellet and add fresh veggies and fruits. Just keep offering these and DON'T give him the bad stuff. A baked potato isn't bad as long as it is not slathered with butter and salt. Just the plain baked potato.

I know this may sound cruel but, I wouldn't offer anything else but a good pellet, some fresh veggies (broccolli, green beans, sugar snap peas) fruit (banana, apple, seedless grapes) After a day or two, he will eat what he is given and eventually look forward to it. And he will get healthy and happy.

In the interim you could add bird vitamins to his water.

I have U2's, CAG's, a Blue and Gold and a Green Winged. They all came from all sorts of environments. When their previous owners would say 'he loves pizza' I would just say OK, cool. But I would only offer them the good, healthy food they should have. And they all eat all their pellets, all their veggies and all their fruits!

I will mix things up and hard boil and egg or give some plain pasta or a whole grain peice of bread now and then for variety. But it is always something that is good for them. And they enjoy it and are all full feathered, bright eyed and healthy birds.

I recently took my B&G in for a general health check and the avian vet just gushed at how healthy she was and how all her results were either spot on or better. He did say she is one of the largest B&G's he's ever seen and to 'watch' how many peanuts she got per day! So, I did cut those back a bit!

[Muchi]

I've found that this site is incredibly helpful with diet tips; not just recommended diets but how to convert your bird to them.

As with pellets, I found that Luen was more easily weaned onto them if I mashed them with a little apple juice... Obviously though that could only be left in for about an hour otherwise bacteria would have been a problem.

Very hard to go cold-turkey with birds, but that diet's so appalling I wouldn't want to continue it, even to wean Muggs off :c

Some people claim that by eating the food in front of the parrot and pretending it's great the parrot becomes curious. The key then is not to offer any for a while; make Muggs reeeeally want that pellet. My apologies for the taste of the pellet if you try this though, they're bland at best.

Some people find that (naturally) brightly coloured fruits/veges attract the birds' attention more and they're more likely to try it. Others find that the best method is to pop all the good stuff into a food processor. And on a bright note, if Muggs is used to potato perhaps trying to provide sweet potato for vitamin A in the future won't be too difficult.

Try substituting the sugar cookie with birdie bread. I'm sure you can find someone on here with a great recipe that won't be too hard to convert to a 'biscuit' looking thing if need be... Maybe Muggs will be more willing to eat it if it looks similar.

Water is a pretty major issue - try anything you can from water bowls to water bottles to even syringe-feeding Muggs a bit. Maybe mix a little organic fruit juice in for taste.

Sorry I can't help more.

[brinstrong]

We made it home and muggs made us laugh the whole 8 hours. He is a wonderful bird. I was giving him a look over and I am not so sure if he is plucking his feathers, the wing feathers look mangled like he has been eating them down about an inch of the feather is there, just the shaft. She told me that a long time ago she had a vet clip his wings and did a bad job and the feather shafts never fell out. This sounds strange to me, can that happen? If so what do I do? She said I should pull them out and maybe a new feather would grow out. They look eaten to me. From my observation this is what I believe to be the problem, tell me if I am wrong.....His diet is bad, bad, bad, and he is eating his feathers for nourishment. He is extremely small for a M2, could be a lack of protein issue. I will take some pic. to show what I am talking about.

[Astrid660]

MY U2 was plucking when I adopted her last year. She had a poor diet, the lady fed her from her mouth!! which I could never do.. I mean chewing the food and then passing it to the bird. and Trooper seemed to be in poor feather from all the smoking going on around her and her poor diet. Now almost a year later her feathers all look much much better.
I hope you can improve Muggs' condition. I don't think you should starve him into accepting new foods, but at the same time, that previous diet is so horrible, I hope for his sake you can get him eating something healthier ASAP! Good luck. Patience, I'm sure he'll come around to the healthier foods soon. It's probably similar to how I feel if I had eaten a whole box of poptart. you start feeling horrible, like "wish I had some REAL food" and acting all grouchy/ high on sugar.
I wouldn't pull any of his feathers. Talk to the vet, it sounds like a bad wing trim but I'm not sure without seeing a pic.

[chapala]

Obviously to everyone, his diet is horrible. With good nutrition, a lot of changes can happen. Persistence in offering the new, healthy foods, and cutting out the terrible junk she was feeding him, will go a long ways to converting him to a healthy diet. Remember that first thing in the morning is the best time to offer the new food, with no food in the cage at night. In addition to plain cooked potato, you might offer plain, cooked sweet potato to get some beta carotenes into the bird. Have you scheduled a vet visit yet? Since the bird has had such a bad diet for so many years, you'll want some test results to show whether there are any major health problems that need addressing.

Good luck with him!

[brinstrong]

Ok here are the pics of Muggs feathers






When i got Muggs in my care I had to sit for awhile and I just cried for him. He should not be in this kind of condition, some people need to carefully consider the time and affection all the birds need, it angers me to no end. I traveled many hours to save Muggs so that I can give him a better life. He is so sweet, I sometimes wonder why we are allowed to keep such a beautiful animal in captivity. There are so many wonderful bird owners, but there are a lot of owners that THOUGHT they would have the time and as it turned out they did not want to bother after the novelty wore off......It saddens me so much. I would just like to put them in a cage and yell at them for 100 years. Look at this face

[Greycloud]

Poor baby. He is really beautiful and so much facial expression. He is definitely chewing those wing feathers. Your mission is a big one but I have faith that you can bring this guy around and get him back into good health. Good luck and keep us updated.

[silvercb67]

God Bless You for taking Muggs in & giving him a real home.. Please keep us updated on his condition.