Hi,

 

My bird Big Ted has just gone through an illness which was most probably canker as he has responded to medication for this (progress posted in the trips to the vet forum). Anyway, prior to the crisis of the illness (before he became acute), he would toss every food, seed and anything else offered except hulled oats or spinach. At the time I didn't know what was going on, I thought he was being super fussy/neurotic, but as he became acutely sick (whilst still trying to eat) I realised it was the hulled oats in the seed mix that he was looking for, for some reason he could eat them. He was frantic for those particular grains. So as to keep him alive over the couple of days he was really, really struggling I sifted these out of a box of canary mix for him. He is much better now, though really thin and he has started to take a little bit of vegetable today, however it is still the oats that he is relying on. He does not/will not touch any other grain. I have also tried to encourage him to eat egg and biscuit but he won't. I got him as a 2yr old bird from a pet shop so maybe he hasn't had it before, I don't know. At the moment I feel I have no other choice but to supply him with the hulled oats that he wants as he is very thin. Has anyone had an experience with a bird that is recovering but is feeding very selectively? Should I just go with the oats for a while and hope that he slowly starts to eat normally again? Or what? I am worried that he may become even more malnourished if he continues to be so selective.

Edited January 17, 201015 yr by KAZ

Hi Penny, I would suggest you offer him some millet sprays as well as his normal food. Best of luck Clearwing

Yes, Clearwing, I have a millet spray for him which he hasn't touched. He touches nothing expect the hulled oat, he will go through a whole feeder of mixed seed in order to get a few hulled oats (he throws all the other seed out and it is untouched). He will eat fresh spinach though. I am at a loss as to what to do about his feeding. Maybe it will just get better with time. I did read somewhere on the internet that Canker makes it painful them to swallow/digest hard seeds and that's why they give up eating and starve even though they are hungry. Oats seem to be a particularly soft grain, so maybe that's why he goes for them alone.