The last day couple of days I have noticed that Skittles has lost a little bit of weight and his breastbone is protruding slightly.

 

I have kept a very close eye on him and he seems to be his usual self, loud and active, normal faeces, a clean and clear vent, isn’t ‘fluffing up’ and he is eating normally, plus he is up to date on his worming.

 

He moulting at the moment and I wondered if perhaps that could be attributing to it?

 

Also, is there anything I could add to his diet to help him gain a bit of weight?

 

I was thinking sunflower seeds as they have a higher fat content (though little nutritional value.)

 

All my budgies are fed on a diet of seed & pellets, plus a vitamin & mineral seed mix when they’re moulting, fresh fruit and veg daily, seed sprouts and a treat of millet seed, honey seed stick or arrowroot biscuit occasionally. (And Skittles generally nicks whatever he can of my plate anyway!) Plus, they all have cuttlefish.

 

If he doesn’t gain any weight over the course of the next few days, or if he starts to look off-colour, I think it will be off to the vet.

 

Better to be safe than sorry.

:fear

Edited November 3, 200717 yr by bec33

Drematic weight loss in a budgie is a sign that there is a problem. It could be worms to mega. The best thing that you can do is to take him to an Avarian Vet and get him seen to.

I agree, I believe if I would have noticed the weight loss on Pretty things may have been different maybe not but the vet said that weight loss is the first indicator of illness.

Moulting does take a lot out of birds as they have to put more energy into producing feathers and thus will resource it from their weight or by eating more. Do keep an eye on him though and if anything looks out of the ordinary take him to the vet. Perhaps you could feed him a little extra egg and biscuit soft food and some pellets for protein.

Hi Bec,

 

I was going to suggest high protein food, like egg food, which is good for any bird moulting. Have you seen him actually eating? nothing going in would equal nothing going out and a skinny, dying bird. Worms could also cause a skinny bird. If he is still no better by now an avian vet would be a great idea.

 

 

Feathers

 

 

PS: LOVE the new sig!!

Thanks guys .

Yep, when I first noticed he was looking a little on the skinny side, I kept a close eye on him and he was eating normally throughout the day.

However, the last couple of days he has seemed to 'fatten up' a bit and is finishing his moult.

(But Skittles has never been a big budgie and I have had him since he was 6 weeks old and he is now just over a year)

I remember reading about the effects of moulting on budgies and I'm positive that weight loss was mentioned, but do you think I could find the website again? (Laughing out loud) (though it may have been a book )

Will still keep an eye on him though, just in case.

 

P.S: Thanks Feathers, I finally got it the right size! (Laughing out loud)