"Fat" conure!!!

[hiriki]

Hey yall!

So, my conure Birdie had her yearly wellness check recently. She's a jenday. She's been going to the same clinic for the past decade almost, but we had a different veterinarian this time--what with the general shortage of vets, scheduling appointments has been difficult in general, and it's sometimes simply impossible to see my regular doctor! I trust the clinic, so more and more I've been telling the front desk staff they can just schedule me with any vet with availability... anyway. that's all to say this is the first time Birdie has seen this particular doctor.

This veterinarian called my sweet baby Birdie........ FAT!!! (lol)

Birdie's weight has been remarkably consistent from year to year, I don't have the paperwork in front of me but she's usually in the ballpark of 115g. No other vet has ever expressed concern, so I wasn't going to really worry about it, but the fact is this vet was right--if you look at her keel area, the keel isn't even visible. It's just round lol. Also, her diet does need some work... she has refused to eat pellets since her cagemate passed suddenly, so she's been eating nutriberries, and while I've been told that nutriberries are "fortified," it's still essentially a seed diet.

Even if I do switch her to a pellet and chop only diet, though, history shows that she probably wouldn't lose weight. With her late cagemate Bitty, she ate only pellets and chop, but apparently ate so much of it that she maintained that 115g weight.

Thoughts? Should I be concerned about her weight, or just focus on the substance of her diet (more pellets and chop, less seeds)? To get her back on pellets, I plan to make some Birdie "muffins" incorporating them but I haven't found a good recipe yet.

TIA!

 

[clark_conure]

Can it fly around the room? a little exercise keeps my birds slim.

 

[hiriki]

This conure is my most prolific flyer!!! She flies from her cage to my desk to the couch, she gets some flying in every day, and yet she's packing on the grams!

 

[clark_conure]

Meh birds fine then. My sun conure is and Quker are like 101 grams each. A jenday is much bigger....I'm sure its healthy.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

With my birds I give them unlimited chop but then measure out how many pellets and seeds they get and it seems to work pretty well since I also like to give them extra treats sometimes. My conures each get about a teaspoon of pellets and a teaspoon of seeds, one popcorn kernel (it's their most highly valued treat and I get one just for parrots with beetroot or chilli flavour), maybe some sunflower seeds (once or twice a week for training), and lots of fresh veggies and fruit everyday. The fresh veggies are broccoli, peas, carrots, sweetcorn, pepper, spinach and the fruits are low in sugar berries like blueberries, strawberries and currants. I feed them chop mixed with pellets through the day (measured out and all the birds pick at it), but they never eat all of the veggies though they have the opportunity to have as much as they want, and then the seed is for dinner but there's always a bit leftover which they eat in the morning. Once a week they get a rice and vegetable mix with some egg and different spices, and sometimes I mix dry oatmeal in with the chop because they love that.

I would put her on a diet because it's healthier and easier than letting her eat everything and then having to deal with health problems down the line. Unlimited chop is a good way to do it as if they're hungry then they get to eat all the healthy things instead of gorging on seeds. Plus I think conures really enjoy eating fresh foods, at least mine do! They both ate nearly half a large bell pepper the other day and seemed to enjoy every mouthful!