Hi all,
I wish I had better news to tell but unfortunately this is not the case. Even though behaviour wise Mofu, my red rumped parakeet, continues to be within her usual self, she continues to lose feathers at a break neck pace.
This has been an ongoing battle for almost 3 months now, since retrieving her Mofu has been "moulting" her coat which only seems to continue to not grow back. There is no plucking occurring, everything falls out naturally, but the growth in her next set of feathers are near to nonexistent.
We have changed her food entirely to pellets now, and she is offered fresh veg every day, but will hardly touch the veg. She gets a small pinch of seeds, cuttlebone fish, oyster shell shavings, and even wheatgerm oil supplements. I even bought baby food (vegetable puree) but no dice, Mofu is the literal worst eater in existence.
I'm certain the signs shown are from her not intaking enough additional nutrition to maintain plumage growth, but when it's all on hand and she won't even eat it, what else can I do? She gets a daily spray as asked by the vets to help along with the pin removals (which she still hates avidly) and yet she only seems to get worse and worse in coat condition.
I've taken her to 4 vets now, and it drives me mad that they all say that aside from her bedraggledness that she's in perfect shape. I can't wrap my head around it. How can a healthy bird look the way she does? She looks like a poodle.
The only part of her plumage that has grown back fully is her bottom, as she lost those about 4 months ago back when she would always have faeces hanging from her vent (the situation hasn't reoccurred since fortunately).
Her feathers on her head (originally from a head injury) was the first to fall out, and to this day she still has a very bald head. She has only recently grown a couple of new feathers on her head, but nothing compared to what she's lost. Currently her neck is moulting, and I've noticed that all of her primary feathers in only her right wing all fell out recently, which has put her off any attempts of flying.
I physically can't believe that she is healthy, all things considered. She was tested and cleared for mites, negative'd on Feather and Beak disease, but she's looking more strangled chicken than anything else. I have to be missing something. I've never experienced this extreme situation with a bird before. What should I be doing?
I wish I had better news to tell but unfortunately this is not the case. Even though behaviour wise Mofu, my red rumped parakeet, continues to be within her usual self, she continues to lose feathers at a break neck pace.
This has been an ongoing battle for almost 3 months now, since retrieving her Mofu has been "moulting" her coat which only seems to continue to not grow back. There is no plucking occurring, everything falls out naturally, but the growth in her next set of feathers are near to nonexistent.
We have changed her food entirely to pellets now, and she is offered fresh veg every day, but will hardly touch the veg. She gets a small pinch of seeds, cuttlebone fish, oyster shell shavings, and even wheatgerm oil supplements. I even bought baby food (vegetable puree) but no dice, Mofu is the literal worst eater in existence.
I'm certain the signs shown are from her not intaking enough additional nutrition to maintain plumage growth, but when it's all on hand and she won't even eat it, what else can I do? She gets a daily spray as asked by the vets to help along with the pin removals (which she still hates avidly) and yet she only seems to get worse and worse in coat condition.
I've taken her to 4 vets now, and it drives me mad that they all say that aside from her bedraggledness that she's in perfect shape. I can't wrap my head around it. How can a healthy bird look the way she does? She looks like a poodle.
The only part of her plumage that has grown back fully is her bottom, as she lost those about 4 months ago back when she would always have faeces hanging from her vent (the situation hasn't reoccurred since fortunately).
Her feathers on her head (originally from a head injury) was the first to fall out, and to this day she still has a very bald head. She has only recently grown a couple of new feathers on her head, but nothing compared to what she's lost. Currently her neck is moulting, and I've noticed that all of her primary feathers in only her right wing all fell out recently, which has put her off any attempts of flying.
I physically can't believe that she is healthy, all things considered. She was tested and cleared for mites, negative'd on Feather and Beak disease, but she's looking more strangled chicken than anything else. I have to be missing something. I've never experienced this extreme situation with a bird before. What should I be doing?
