my 6 year old female parakeet is acting strange. she is not eating or drinking. she is sitting silent in her cage. no chirping, no toy activity, no food, water or cuddle bone. She was fine when I cleaned and fed her Tuesday. Today is Friday 4 days total change. Her feathers look fine. HER EYES ARE CLOSED AND OPEN ONLY WHEN MAKE CLICK CHIRP NOISE TO HER THEN CLOSE AGAIN.Does this describe any illness to you? I do not know life time expectation for parkeets.CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE. THANK YOU, XXXXX XXXXX MARSHA
Hello, I'm Dr. Bob.I'm sorry to read of Beth's condition.Parakeets can live 15 to 20 years, so Beth is not yet "middle aged".What do you feed her?
looking for package, one moment please. one rmoment....Thank you
I feed her "PremPar4akeet food with Omega 3 made by commodities Ltd, and
Kaytee Natural spray Millet, with fresh water,.
Okay, thank you.Her diet may well be at least part of the problem. Here is a list of recommended foods, and a website to help you persuade her to eat them: 70% high quality pelleted parakeet or budgie food, such as those made by Harrison's, Lafeber, or other reputable manufacturers, 20% dark leafy greens like kale, spinach, Swiss chard, cilantro, collard, turnip or beet greens, cooked sweet potato, squash, or pumpkin, carrots with the tops attached, dried chili pepper, yellow, green and red fresh peppers, and only 10% seeds and nut foods. Lettuce is practically all water and is of no food value in the diet, and shouldn't be fed to birds. Fruit is okay as an occasional treat, but also contains 90% water and fills the bird up with out providing many nutrients by weight. Grit is no longer considered necessary to the healthy upkeep of pet birds. Most pet birds' diets consist of far too many seeds and nuts, which are out of balance in calcium and phosphorus, too high in fat, and low in iodine and this imbalance eventually catches up with them. Sunflower seeds are especially high in fat content.While not in any way old, she is at the age at which these imbalances may begin to manifest themselves. Beside all this, pet bird food is usually not shelf dated, and is often more than a year old when purchased. Most, or all, of the perishable nutrients are gone by the time the birds actually eat it. Seeds and nuts tend to go rancid in time, and birds will usually refuse to eat the rancid foods when this occurs, picking the rancid seeds out of a mix. Check your bird food package to see if there is a "Best by" date printed on the label. You can tell a lot about the manufacturer by whether or not they date their product. Proper nutrients in balance with one another help prevent respiratory, nerve, skin, feather and organ problems, as well as behavior problems like self mutilation, excessive vocalization, aggression and excessive egg laying in females.The reason for this is that diets high in seed and nut foods tend to cause the liver to become sick as fat tissue replaces healthy liver tissue, and sexual hormones may be over-produced. It can be a challenge to get a bird to switch to a better diet, but you can read an excellent article about how to get her to eat more properly online here: www.exoticpets.about.com/cs/birds/a/birds switching.Another concern could be egg-binding. Female birds can start to lay eggs only to have them become stuck in their reproductive tracts. This is not an easy condition to determine, but can be rapidly fatal. A trip to an avian veterinarian would definitely be a good idea if she doesn't start to perk up in the next few hours. You can locate the avian specialists nearest you by going to www.aav.org and clicking on the binoculars icon.If you should have further questions, please let me know.Best regards,Dr. BobWhen you are satisfied with my answer, please click on the "Accept" button. Thank you!
Need to have my Dad read this too before I can finish cant accept yet. I will also get the information from the documents you said to read to help bird accept new foods. I will do my best to see if it helps her and will be back to you Dr. Bob.
Okay, let me know if I can be of further assistance.Dr. Bob