Hi everyone,
I'm posting this on behalf of my sister, who has an African Grey parrot - approx 7 years old I think - who recently has gone off his food. We feed his Harrisons Parrot Food every day, some days he'll eat 10-15 pieces, other days he doesn't eat anything. He also has seeds and fruit, but the vets advised we feed him this Harrisons food as it has all the vitamins and nourishment they need.
She's had him to the vets a couple of times - a specialist in African Greys near Harrogate - and they first diagnosed an infection and gave him anti-biotic injections and kept him in for a couple of days until he was back on his food. They also took bloods and did lots of tests too. He also gave him some anti-biotics to put into his food.
When he came back home, he was eating like a horse! But then about 2 weeks later he's back to eating some days and not at all on others. So, she took him back to the vets, and they did more tests, but say he's healthy - apart from being slightly underweight due to him not eating every day.
The vets did say a few things could be the cause...
1. His cage was moved to the other side of the living room around about the same time as his eating habits changed. He said this could possibly have affected his mood and led to this change in feeding. So, she's moved the cage back to where it was originally - but he's still not eating properly.
2. "He" might possibly be a "she" - although we've had no tests to confirm it. We've always called him by a boys name, but the vets think his feather colouring and shade suggest it's a female.
3. He/she could be reaching sexual maturity and that can affect their mood with the change in hormones.
4. He has been preening a lot lately, so that might be an indicator that there are changes in his hormones - apparently, this can be a sign that he's looking for a mate and so he's making himself look good!!
Other than these suggestions, both the vets and us are at a loss as to what's causing it, but my sister is understandably very worried about him. He appears healthy in every other respect - he's whistling, talking and still active enough, playing with his toys etc.
So, can anyone please offer any advice as this is causing us some concern. My sister might take over answering any replies, she had problems creating a new account, so I set it up for her!
Many thanks in advance,
Steve (on behalf of my sister)
I'm posting this on behalf of my sister, who has an African Grey parrot - approx 7 years old I think - who recently has gone off his food. We feed his Harrisons Parrot Food every day, some days he'll eat 10-15 pieces, other days he doesn't eat anything. He also has seeds and fruit, but the vets advised we feed him this Harrisons food as it has all the vitamins and nourishment they need.
She's had him to the vets a couple of times - a specialist in African Greys near Harrogate - and they first diagnosed an infection and gave him anti-biotic injections and kept him in for a couple of days until he was back on his food. They also took bloods and did lots of tests too. He also gave him some anti-biotics to put into his food.
When he came back home, he was eating like a horse! But then about 2 weeks later he's back to eating some days and not at all on others. So, she took him back to the vets, and they did more tests, but say he's healthy - apart from being slightly underweight due to him not eating every day.
The vets did say a few things could be the cause...
1. His cage was moved to the other side of the living room around about the same time as his eating habits changed. He said this could possibly have affected his mood and led to this change in feeding. So, she's moved the cage back to where it was originally - but he's still not eating properly.
2. "He" might possibly be a "she" - although we've had no tests to confirm it. We've always called him by a boys name, but the vets think his feather colouring and shade suggest it's a female.
3. He/she could be reaching sexual maturity and that can affect their mood with the change in hormones.
4. He has been preening a lot lately, so that might be an indicator that there are changes in his hormones - apparently, this can be a sign that he's looking for a mate and so he's making himself look good!!
Other than these suggestions, both the vets and us are at a loss as to what's causing it, but my sister is understandably very worried about him. He appears healthy in every other respect - he's whistling, talking and still active enough, playing with his toys etc.
So, can anyone please offer any advice as this is causing us some concern. My sister might take over answering any replies, she had problems creating a new account, so I set it up for her!
Many thanks in advance,
Steve (on behalf of my sister)
