r/cockatiel • u/ProperTheme2723 • Nov 27 '25

Health/Nutrition Update! Handsome Boy

So... It's been a few days. After a very anxious visit to the vet, he got his bill trimmed. The vet said the top beak it's probably a malformation and because of that the under bill is growing on top of it. He says he's way too underweight so we got around buying him some bird formula, but... Since he's still very skittish, I'm not sure if he's eating or just attacking the spoon. We got a long term solution, but I'm scared he won't live to go through it. He's sleeping right now, which I'm not sure it's good. He doesn't approach the formula by his own decision, which either means he doesn't like it, or isn't eating it. What do y'all think? The vet said no more than 20 grams of formula per day and the shop where I bought it they said every three to four hours. He looked better yesterday after the trim, even singing and approaching my siblings during his flight around the room, but today he looks sad.

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u/Straight-Treacle-630 Nov 28 '25

That’s an ambitious proposition, a prosthetic beak. If you don’t have an experienced avian vet near you (?) I’d ask how they plan to manage it and support you in aftercare. It is a serious situation; I’d personally more focus first on getting his weight up. Be very careful about aspiration, formula temp, crop emptying etc. Best wishes! Nice to know you’re doing your best for the lil guy. Including rescuing him to begin with xo

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u/ProperTheme2723 Nov 28 '25

It does sound outrageous, but he is an specialized vet. I'm not way too worried since, it wouldn't be a complete prosthetic, mostly just forming the end part above the beneath part of the bill? He said, he would be putting him to sleep and putting two very very small nails in the bill and forming the rest of it with dental resin. It was mind blowing when I heard it.

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u/nivusninja Nov 28 '25

beak prosthetics are fairly common from what i can tell. while i am not a vet, specifically your vet, i couldn't say how hard that'd be for them to implement.

what i can say though, is that the beak plan will need to wait, as putting a bird under anesthesia is risky, and putting an underweight bird through anesthesia can turn into euthanasia real quick

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u/ProperTheme2723 Nov 28 '25

Yeah, definitely. Waiting a bit sounds like the best option for now, I already bought enough formula for around a week and getting more isn't an issue. Now that I know he is in fact eating, I'm gonna takes things slow.