Yellow Naped Amazon - weight?

[ravvlet]

So, all the avian vets in our town are booked out well in advance. We managed to snag an appointment for Sammy before we picked him up, but even so it’s not until April 15th.

What’s got me worried though is I finally convinced him to step onto the scale perch today and he’s only weighing in at 569. I was told by his owner he’s overweight, but that’s well within normal range, possibly even a little low given how much larger he is than Kirby, who weighs in at 463.

We haven’t changed his food; we have simply added some TOPS/Harrison’s to the (really garbage) seed mix + Roudybush he was getting before. I haven’t seen him eat anything though. I know he tried the beets yesterday (I offered him fresh veg 3x yesterday) because he had a “beet poop”, but I don’t seem to ever see him chowing down on seeds or anything? I mean, Anytime Kirby has food in his bowl he’s *at the bowl*, lol.

Is he just adjusting to the new house? He’s only been in our house for a day. If we have to I can take him to the emergency vet in Bothell; they can usually do same day and they have at least one certified avian vet on staff, but if it’s NOT an emergency I don’t want to waste their time as they’re the only emergency vet that handles all exotics in the Seattle area (and it’s drop off only/an hour drive one way).

He is active, talkative, and his body condition seems ok, although I haven’t been able to touch his chest - visually though he doesn’t look underweight. Here’s a photo for reference. I know he needs a nail trim - his previous owner swears he prefers having them ground down so we’re going to let the vet take care of it next week.

 

[saxguy64]

He looks gorgeous! Weight is tricky, sort of. There's a lot of variation from one bird to the next, so an "average" number might not be where he should be. The vet will check and tell you if he's under, over, or at a good weight, and then you have a frame of reference for what's normal for him. My girl is a little on the chunky side but not by much. She's a big girl at consistent 650, which I never understand since she eats almost nothing compared to my ekkie. She is kind of a perch potato though lol.

 

[ravvlet]

He looks gorgeous! Weight is tricky, sort of. There's a lot of variation from one bird to the next, so an "average" number might not be where he should be. The vet will check and tell you if he's under, over, or at a good weight, and then you have a frame of reference for what's normal for him. My girl is a little on the chunky side but not by much. She's a big girl at consistent 650, which I never understand since she eats almost nothing compared to my ekkie. She is kind of a perch potato though lol.

Yeah, thanks!

I think I’m just nervous after we lost our ‘tiel to not eating enough. But it’s probably just that he’s settling in, or maybe he lost weight since she’d taken him to the vet - or maybe like you said, he’s on the smaller side for a YNA (which is difficult for me to imagine, he seems so LARGE!).

He was really sweet about it! He even asked for a step-up, which I was told not to expect from his previous owner, who swore no one but her could handle him. He’s been begging ALL of us (even the kids, although to their chagrin I’ve told them no) for pets, and my partner took lots of breaks yesterday while working to love on him. I checked on him several times yesterday to change out his veg or check his food bowl and petted him every time too.

I gotta say, the honeymoon period is great, lol! I wish we could move him into the parrot room already so he could play on the playstands, but we are honoring a quarantine period and doing a lot of hand washing to keep Kirby safe just in case.

 

[ravvlet]

Well, he hasn’t pooped much today. Tried to bathe him again (we do daily for our other ‘zon on vets orders) but he wasn’t interested. He did however get so worked up after I accidentally knocked over his food bowl and had to leave go get a refill that he tried to strike me several times once I came back! Wow he moves fast. He got my thumb but didn’t bite hard, so I’m not sure what he’s on about. I called the vet to ask to be put on their cancellation call list. The tech agreed it could be that nicotine is leaving his system?

Anyway, him trying to bite me made me feel a little better about his energy levels! It was reassuring to see him so amped up even if I did get nipped. He seems most active when I come to check on him - he lets my partner pet him but is pretty quiet in her presence.

 

[SailBoat]

As a group the Hot Three vary widely in Weight and size. Partly due the huge size of their natural range and the number of variations with in their species. The status of one's Hot Three is determined by their mid-chest and whether they are carrying additional weight or have large chest muscles (a flyer).

This time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is common for the group to look puffed-out as they transition from a Full Winter and Hormonal feathering. As part of his upcoming New Parrot Examination, your Avian Vet should determine his weight status by physically placing hands on the chest.

Our DYH Amazon is an active flyer and constantly surprised our Vet as to just how strong he is.

Relax and enjoy your member of the Hot Three!!

 

[ravvlet]

It’s crazy how different his temperament is to our other Amazon, who seriously mostly naps all day. Sammy is constantly showing off the minute I enter his room, blowing kisses at me and such. It’ll be really fun to see what Kirby thinks. Hopefully he’s not too sour with me!

 

[ravvlet]

Oof, he loves me, he loves me not...Totally went nuts when I came to clean his cage tonight. My partner accidentally covered him before I had a chance to clean, so I removed the cover and he spent the entire time I was in there grumbling and striking the cage sides anytime I came close. Huh. He didn't have a problem with me cleaning the paper out, as long as I didn't touch the top half, so I was at least able to do what I came for. I wonder if he was startled? She says he's never done that to her, but I seem to always surprise him.

 

[ravvlet]

Tuesday he was at 569, and Wednesday he was at 570. However, much to his chagrin, we have begun the process of working on getting him eating healthier last night- and the first step was taking his food bowl with seed/pellets OUT at night.

His weight was down to 553 this morning; I am a little worried, but I’m going to wait until tomorrow morning’s weigh in. I suspect he was munching on seeds or pellets at night or before I come at 9am to feed him breakfast.

I know his previous owners never took his food bowl out (and never washed it- it was ceramic and cracked in places, and covered in poop dust, and it literally disintegrated in the sink when I washed it). He was not well pleased this morning about having to get a weight before breakfast.

We are also implementing the “chop rule”, which is to say, we don’t put the bowl with pellet and seed in until an hour after we offer veggies. I’ve also been adding benebac to his food these last few days - Kirby is on a daily dose of benebac in his chop per vets orders so I have extended this courtesy to Sammy.

He’s a very grumpy boy! Had to get my partner to get him onto the scale- I’m going to laugh (and cry a little haha) if he picks her as his favorite as a result of quarantine and then I have to live with him! It is what it is though. He still for the most part will behave for me and that’s just fine.

I’m pretty sure the rule about weight is 5% right? And 17 grams is a lot, but it’s not 5%; and I suspect the change is largely due to taking all the food out at night so that the bowls can be washed and put back in.

His new cage comes today which has shallower bowls that I think he’ll find easier to navigate- the replacement bowl we got after the one he came home with melted in the sink is very deep and he seems to struggle and knock it over sometimes! So excited for a real cage!!

 

[ravvlet]

My partner tried to weigh him and, well.

He wouldn’t let go of the stick. I can’t stop laughing at this bird sitting on his actual butt.

He’s up to 562 after eating some. Still lower than he was yesterday but not as bad.

 

[ravvlet]

At 551 today, so I think the difference was just having the bowl out.

We are still offering a mix of his original seed mixture (Vitakraft MENU, which has sunflower seeds AND peanuts, so I need to replace it ASAP) & pellet all day, plus fresh veg 2-3x a day. He’s been poking at the pellets, and has dropped a few on the floor of his cage as well as leaving some pellet dust behind so I think he is at least trying them. We are also doing daily baths. He still smells a bit of cigarette smoke.

I did a brief forum search and found Tropimix, Goldenfeast, TOPS, & Dr. Harvey’s as recommended mixes for ‘healthy seed’. Having looked at the ingredients list I’m leaning toward TOPS. I suspect the vet will need us to cut seed entirely as he’s likely got liver issues, but I’d like to have a seed mix handy that is healthier than what’s left of what he came with as somehow, the container ALSO reeks of cigarette smoke - and I’d prefer not to buy another bag of Vitakraft, lol!

Would it be ok to switch out the Vitakraft for TOPS or would he likely reject a new seed mix as much as he’s ignored pellets? I don’t want to make it harder on him; in fact, I thought perhaps by having a healthy seed mix we could take the transition a little more slowly.

 

[Henderbird]

I’ve been researching a little into parrot diet and avian diet brands and I think TOPS is a great choice you’ve made!
I think we can never tell the future of things especially when it comes to our parrots. So go with your gut instinct and if all goes well, great! But if it doesn’t then there’s always new ways you could transition your little guy! But yes I agree that you could transition a little more slowly because you already have a healthy seed mix handy.

 

[Cottonoid]

I switched from the seed Cotton ate at the rescue to a blend made by my parrot store and he went straight for it. I think if there are enough seeds that overlap so he has a few that are familiar, he might be fine? Or just mix them together for a week then slowly reduce the old seed? (I wouldn't do that transitioning to pellets of course)

I found it wasn't too hard to see that Cotton was eating all the seeds when I had them mixed, but I admit that's a whole level of extra, sifting through hulls and ignored pellets 😂

 

[ravvlet]

Thanks. I have transitioned a parrot off seeds before (Kirby) but I’ve never had to deal with needing to throw out the seeds they came with - but the container reeks and I don’t think it’s supposed to smell like this, so I’m not comfortable feeding it to Sammy long term; and I don’t want to give money to a brand that is marketing unhealthy products for parrots.

 

[ravvlet]

Oof, we did not get a weight this morning. He on no uncertain terms was not interested, and kept telling us so. I foolishly didn’t listen, so he tried to fly to his cage but ended up on the floor and climbed my leg, haha. I then extended my foolishness by offering the step up perch, which he was at that point quite upset with, and now I have a really cool hole in my jeans and a bruised/bitten and bleeding ankle.

Well deserved. I apologized profusely and gave him his breakfast. I think we are going to take it a little slower. The TOPS seed mix comes in Monday, but until then/until I know I can reliably get a weight on him we are going to just offer him plenty of his old food so I know he’s at least eating something!