Took Buddy (who is almost 4 years old) to the Avian vet 8 days ago with a large lump under his wing near his left leg. Diagnosed a fatty lipoma and weighed him at 65g which the vet said is overweight. Quite a shock because Buddy is very active. Hubby and I are retired so when we are at home Buddy has run of the house and is always out playing/flying etc.

 

Anyway Buddy was put on a diet, seed for only 30 minutes twice a day, pellets all the time, increase vegies, no fruit at this stage, vitamin grit and vitamins daily in his water (no more seed sticks and no more millet sprays).

The vet anticipated a drop in weight to 63g - 1^st week, 60g - 2^nd week and 55g - 3^rd week.

 

Won't touch the pellets even when I tried crushing them. Won't eat any vegies that I sprinkled pellets on. Devours his seed when he gets it but certainly doesn't eat for a whole 30 minutes. I tried sprinkling crushed pellets over the seed and he just shook the bowl and kicked at the food until he got rid of it. Doesn't even seem to be enjoying his usual vegies without pellets on them.

 

Had his first weigh in on Monday and he was down to 59g already which I thought was extreme for the first week. Avian vet is away for 3 weeks so the vet nurse said to increase his seed again slightly. He is still really active and flying around even more (maybe due to the weight loss) but my concern is this big weight drop so quickly. I don't want to kill him through diet.

 

Any advice/past experience is welcome.

It's good that the nurse said to increase the seed. I too think that gradual weight loss is better. I almost think that cutting out the seed sticks and millet would be enough of a change. Those things are like bird "junk food".

 

I don't like how it seems that vets always want to push pellets on them. But at least this approach is using both seeds and pellets, and not just cutting out all seeds. Also, it doesn't surprise me that he can't eat for the whole 30 minutes. His crop can only hold so much, so it sounds like he stuffs himself as quickly as he can, then stops eating.

 

Perhaps you might want to let him have three 30 minute periods of eating seeds per day instead of two. Or give him a measured amount and let him nibble on it throughout the day.

 

I don't really like the idea of forcing a budgie to eat certain foods (pellets) by starving them from the foods they are used to. I don't know that binging twice a day and then going hungry the rest of the day is healthy. If you want to try to "force" him to try pellets, maybe you could remove all food at bedtime, and then in the morning, put in just pellets for a while, to see if he will try them out of hunger, and then after a while, give him the seeds and veggies back so that he isn't forced to go too long without eating.

 

Just like with introducing any new food, some budgies will not try it until they have gone weeks with it in their cage and gotten more familiar with it. So it may take a long time before he is willing to even taste the pellets.

 

Budgies usually eat about 1-2 Tablespoons of seed per day. You could try getting a measurement of how much he would eat freely, and then ration his seed so that he has enough to keep up a good weight, and not plummet too fast.

 

Can you get a scale and weigh him at home? It seems like weekly weighing is not often enough, if he loses too rapidly.

 

These are just some ideas. I wouldn't necessarily advise going against your vet's advice, but if he is losing more extremely than the vet intended, and the vet isn't going to be around for three weeks.....

Edited April 12, 201411 yr by Finnie

Hi Finnie,

 

Thank you for your reply. Buddy had another weigh-in on Monday and for the second week he only lost another gram (down to 58grams). I think all the changes caused stress and then the big weight loss in the first week.

I crushed up his pellets and got him to nibble a bit out of my hand and hubby's hand. Then I got him to feed out of his bowl while I held it but once I put it back in his cage he isn't very interested. I'm just hoping that once he loses weight it can be controlled through a combined diet of seed and pellets. If someone said I had to give up the one food I really enjoyed and had to exist on something I didn't like I wouldn't be happy so I don't like the thought of him having to give up seed altogether.

 

He is back eating his vegies, though, which is a good sign. We are giving him seed 3 times a day at the moment until we see the vet. I was surprised about having to cut out millet sprays as I thought they were healthy.

 

I'm looking at getting a set of digital scales so we can keep an eye on his weight in the long term.

 

I just hope that whatever we are doing helps reduce/shrink his lipoma.

It's a good sign that you can get him to try the pellets. Maybe he will learn to like them more, as he gets more familiar with them.

 

Good luck with the diet. All you can do is try. I have heard that Milk Thistle powder can help treat Fatty Liver Disease. I don't know if this would be in that category, or if the Milk Thistle even really works, but it's one idea.