Please help

[wrench13]

We take egg shells from boiled eggs and mash them into a powder and sprinkle them on Salty's wet foods (chop and various fruits). When he needs liquid meds, we add them to a small portion of baby parrot formula, which he gladly accepts a spoon or 2 of. Always a good idea to offer this once in awhile to adult parrots so getting meds are easier to get into them.

 

[ScottinSoCal]

Hi everyone. My first post. I have a Congo African Gray who is approximately 24 years old. I got him when he was 6. He is an extremely picky eater...and calcium has been a major problem. Upon seizures early on, I took him to the Vet who prescribed calcium supplements. This bird is our (my wife and I's) third child. I adore him. But I CANNOT get him to eat the things he should. Currently he is on ZuPreem and some fruits, but refusing veggies, etc. He is now having seizures again and it's killing us. Taking him to the Vet again is a risk too because the stress sends him into seizures. I am giving him powdered and liquid supplements, but I have to mix the powder with things like peanut butter or small amounts of vanilla ice cream. I need help finding healthy alternatives to mix his vitamins with. He can't do this forever. If you can help...please...give me some ideas. Applesauce was my first try, but he refuses it (even though he loves apples)...baby food has suspect ingredients....he hates yogurt (which isn't good for him either). Thank you so much in advance...I need to help my friend. Finally, if anything I wrote reveals that I'm an idiot, I beg you to just try to help the bird rather than make me feel worse. I'm doing the best I can, and this is about HIM. Thank you.

When Scooter (CAG) first came to me, she wouldn't eat her vegetable, either - especially the dark green leafy vegetables she needed to help her absorb calcium. She wouldn't touch the (vet recommended) pellets. She wouldn't touch eggs.
I started out with the eggs. Instead of giving her sliced, boiled eggs, I made scrambled eggs, cut them up into small pieces, and mixed them in with her sliced fruit - the only thing she reliably ate. She now loves eggs, and will eat them any way I want to give them to her.
Next I tackled veggies. I got baby kale (sweeter, and more tender) and minced it up very fine - almost to a paste. I mixed that in with her eggs and sliced fruit. I vary things by sometimes using baby arugula, or parsley, or cilantro (Italian parsley). She now loves her veggies. Then I started with the pellets. The vet recommended a baked pellet that was fairly large, so I broke the pellets up and stirred them in with her other food. Inevitably, she'd get a piece of pellet while she was eating something else. Now she goes for her pellets, first thing.
I save the shell off a boiled egg, and break it up into very small pieces. About once a month I make her favorite (scrambled eggs) with about 1/2 an egg shell mixed into it. Doing all this, I've been able to avoid calcium supplements, and every blood calcium level has come in normal. All this took about a year, but she's now eating a good, healthy diet with all the things her doctor says she should be eating.