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| Advice Wanted; I think my celestial parotlet is not very well | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 30 2010, 04:32 PM (1,307 Views) | |
| Stuart | Mar 30 2010, 04:32 PM Post #1 |
Newbie
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I have a celestial parrotlet, he is not quite a year old, The past few days he has been wobbly on his feet and he constantly wobbles / teeters when he stands still. He always stands on two feet and his flying ability has lessened, not that he was a great flier to start with. He has free roam of the living room with constant access to his cage that is stocked with cockatiel mix, tropical parrot mix (noticed he pinches some of the parrot he shares the house with), millet spray and clean water. He usually has some sort of honey seed treat hung up too. He sleeps on his own in the room so has approx 6 - 8 hours of complete silence a day. The room has big french doors so he gets the sunlight as it comes and goes. He shares the room for 16 - 18 hours a day with a 10 year old yellow head amazon parrot. They seem to get on ok, get on is in not bother each other too much. I wouldnt say they are friends but for the majority of the time they just go about their own business and just ignore each other. We dont smoke in the house so he is never in a smoky atmosphere. He wasnt that good at flying when we got him (sometimes bumping into things and flitting about randomly) but recently his flying looks even less controlled. I think he is eating ok but not really sure if he is eating enough (only had him couple of months). Any suggestions as to what could be making him ill, if indeed he is ill and ideas as to how to make him better / care for him better, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks blue2 blue1 |
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| Stuart | Mar 30 2010, 04:56 PM Post #2 |
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Newbie
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http://parrotlets.org.uk/topic/7244784/1/ This is a link to a picture of him, taken when we got him. He dosnt look any different now really, apart from he's become mr wobbly! Thanks |
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| kevinp | Mar 30 2010, 05:08 PM Post #3 |
Administrator
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the only thing to suggest is that you take him to the vets for a check up, if hes wobby and not very good at flying banging into stuff and such I would restrict his flying until you can find out if he has a problem, one of mine died after flying into the wall and I wouldn't want another to do that. Does he get any veg or fruit in his diet ? |
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| LauraR | Mar 30 2010, 05:15 PM Post #4 |
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Like Kev said, if your little guy is having balance problems you should take him to a avian vet. It would help his overall health if you add vegetables and fruit to his diet, but he probably won't take to them right away. He also should be getting about 10 hours of sleep a night if that's possible. But I wouldn't think any of these things, diet, sleep amount, would make him wobbly. Best to get him to the vet right away! Let us know how he's doing! |
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| Bonnie | Mar 30 2010, 05:27 PM Post #5 |
Administrator
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Well I will delete the other posting I put in welcome but I really think he may have eaten some paint chips with having free roam of the room. Check your cage to make sure there is no rust on it also. |
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| scooby | Mar 30 2010, 05:56 PM Post #6 |
Admin
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I can add much more to what the other have said but i would deffinetley get him checked by an avian vet. |
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| Stuart | Mar 30 2010, 07:43 PM Post #7 |
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Newbie
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I did used to give him fruit - apple, orange, grapes, cherries, small tomatoes but he never touched them and they all ended up going off and being thrown away. I will start again trying to get him to eat more fruit though. I have put him in his cage with a selection of fruit, dried food and fresh water. I am going to take him to the vet first thing tomorrow. I will let you all know how he gets on. Keeping my fingers crossed that he pulls through. Thanks again. blue2 blue1 |
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| dellald | Mar 30 2010, 11:31 PM Post #8 |
Member
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How did you get on at the vets. I hope he's going to be allright. |
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| theexbrit | Mar 31 2010, 03:12 AM Post #9 |
Co Admin
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Hope all went ok at the vets. All the above is great advice, the comment about the paint is a good point. When they can fly freely in a room you have to make sure they aren't chewing any toxic materials such as paint. The only other things I can add would be not to leave the millet in the cage all the time, millet doesn't have much nutrition but they love it. He may be eating too much millet & not getting enough vitamins, etc. Same with the honey seed treat. Just use the millet now & again, as a treat. You could try giving him some unsalted corn (Jolly Green Giant, etc) my guys love that, also some other veggies, carrots, legumes, etc. There's a good safe-foods list in this section if you look around (sorry, I don't remember exactly where it is). The hours of sleep may need to be extended too. 6-8 hours is usually not long enough according to most experts. They say 10-12 hours or even a little more is usually the norm. I wouldn't worry too much about him having silence to sleep, in the wild it's usually more noisy at night nodding They actually like some noise, silence usually means there's a predator around. Him not being a good flyer when you got him could be something to do with his age, mine seemed clumsy at first but they got better with age. The wobbling when standing is the worrying thing & it's good that you took him to the vet. Also, I don't know what toys he has but make sure he has plenty of "chewy" toys, parrotlets love to destroy things!! Again, hope he's ok & just have a look around the room to see if he's been chewing anything toxic. |
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| Jan | Mar 31 2010, 07:48 AM Post #10 |
staff member
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Hows he doing now? |
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| scooby | Apr 1 2010, 01:05 PM Post #11 |
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Admin
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Yeah how is stuart doing? |
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| Bonnie | Apr 1 2010, 02:53 PM Post #12 |
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Administrator
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I hope all is well you make us nervous when you don't come back to let us know :question: :question: |
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| Stuart | Apr 1 2010, 10:57 PM Post #13 |
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Newbie
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Hi everyone Sorry I didnt reply yesterday. I phoned the emergency vet a couple of hours after posting my first message and they said that with such small birds its difficult to determin exactly what is wrong with them because they often show many of the same symptoms regardless of whats wrong, fluffed up feathers, unsteady on feet, weight loss etc. They said the best thing to do would be wait till the morning and if he hasnt improved, take him to the local vet. He did seem a bit better in the morning though and yesterday when I got back from work he was hanging from the bars inside his cage, which he hadnt been doing for a while. The other night when I went to bed he was just squating on the bottom of his cage and almost lying on his side, things didnt look good for him. However, now he seems like a different bird, not back to normal totally but definitely happier and more steady on his feet. I wonder whether, because I never forced him to go in his cage, he hadnt been eating and drinking enough? He spends most of his time hanging on the inside of the curtains. I am going to try putting him in his cage at nights for a while so he is surrounding by food and water. With regards to the 6-8 hours silence I referred to - that is simply the time that I am usually asleep upstairs for. However, Im out at work for 9 - 10 hours 5 days a week so he has the chance to sleep all day long if he wants. Like I said, he shares the living room with a yellow head amazon parrot but they dont seem to bother each other, Thanks for all your advice, I will keep him topped up with fruit and veg, i'll give sweetcorn a go too, see if he likes it. Good point about the millet spray not being very nutritous, maybe i should just give him a bit of that a couple of times a week then, or maybe a tiny bit each night when I go to bed. Anyway, the main thing is he seems to be getting better. I had a look round the room and I cant find any signs that hes been chewing paint or anything so its still a mystery as to what caused him to go all wobbly. Ill get him some toys for his cage but he doesnt seem particularly destructive. Hes had cuttle fish in his cage since we got him and hes never paid it any interest, Probably just a case of trial and error to find things that amuse him. Do parrotlets ever get tame enough to just sit on your finger? My amazon parrot (charlie) will sit for ages on your hand / shoulder etc but if i gently cup stuart in my hands i can stroke him and he seems relaxed but he flies off as soon as I open my hands. Thanks again blue2 blue2 blue1 blue1 |
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| theexbrit | Apr 2 2010, 03:28 AM Post #14 |
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Co Admin
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Great to hear he's doing a little better. It may be the food & water thing as you say, that's the trouble when they have a lot of freedom, it's hard to monitor what they're eating, etc. Usually a birds droppings can give a good sign of what's wrong, can you observe any of his poops? If so, how do they look? Are they runny or is there even much of them? That will give a clue as to how he's eating. You can get parrotlets to sit on your finger, etc. Mine both fly from their cage to sit on my shoulder, arm, hand, etc. It's best to start when they're young & it may take some time, but it's not hard to do. A big negative in your case is Stuart's ability to fly, this makes him very independent & harder to train. Both of mine (nearly 4 years old) were clipped for the first year or so while I was training them & now they're fully flighted but will always come to me. :wub: |
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| kevinp | Apr 2 2010, 05:42 AM Post #15 |
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Administrator
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Glad to hear he is looking better, but I will disagree with your vets opinion, dealing with a small parrot is no different than dealing with a large one they show the same symptoms and can be treated exactly the same as any large Parrot . All parrots are hard to deal with as they do not show any symptoms until they are very ill, when they will fluff up, they do this to protect them selves from predators. :) |
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