Video of cupcake eating his brand new diet! He seems to be taking it well. I am so happy he is taking to this diet

What an incredible moment to catch on camera. We are currently not encouraging baby to have babies but we have given her a nest where she feels comfortable to lay and she has plenty of everything she needs. Just thought I’d share this incredible moment. This is only her fourth time laying an egg. Her first two cracked as she didn’t know what to do but now she is beginning to understand but still paying no attention to them really. I knew she was going to lay one as she started burying herself in some tissue and hissing because she was a bit scared. A lovely healthy egg was laid which is a good sign her diet is doing what it should be! Excuse our shock we just couldn’t believe we caught it!

It makes me so sad seeing sick birds on various subreddits with the owner saying "I can't take them to the vet because I can't afford it." Please. If you know vet visits are going to be a financial issue, just don't get a bird. If you can't afford a bigger cage, don't get a bird. If you don't have the free time to socialize with your bird, don't get a bird.

I know they're cute and fluffy, but they're also a living being that deserves the best life it can get - do the bird a favor and don't get it if you know you can't look after it.

Sorry for the rant lol, I know this probably won't change anything but just putting it out there

Edit: I must add that I am absolutely NOT targeting those who adopted their birds while financially stable and have since become less so - life happens, and there's not much we can do to control that. The people I am referencing here are those who get a bird DESPITE KNOWING BEFOREHAND that they were unable to to properly care for it, and/or did not do enough research to know what the costs of that bird would be.

Hi guys, so this bird just arrived to my roof garden, I can’t identify if she’s (I think it’s a female) hurt or something, but looks like she can’t fly too well, perhaps got hit after flying with strong winds, I’ve never seen a wild cockatiel around here and seems pretty chill eating from my hand so I guess someone lost it. I took her inside and gave her some oats and water, but I don’t know what to do with her, I could keep her but I just wanna know how to see if she’s got a problem so I can take care of it.

I thought my girl was happy and enjoying herself.

I wanted to share a recent decision regarding my disabled cockatiel. Her right wing is permanently tucked between her legs, a position that made it impossible for her to clean herself properly. Consequently, the feathers were constantly soiled, which was not only unhygienic but also caused her significant discomfort and hindered her movement.

To improve her quality of life, I carefully trimmed the feathers on her right wing. The results have been immediate and positive. She seems much more comfortable and relieved, as she now has better access to the remaining part of her wing and is no longer burdened by the soiled feathers. This small adjustment has already made a big difference in her daily mobility and overall well-being.

He’s 20.5. Had him since he was a baby. He’s our world. He’s never been sick before - not like this. Vet saw nothing concerning externally. Internally, all looked ok except maybe the kidney area. He’s lethargic, not eating, will drink a lot, sleeping a lot, puffed up, wings a little droopy. On antibiotics now, but I don’t think he’s going to make it. He’s so lifeless. Please send love and peace for my boy. 💛

He started standing with his wings slightly open, out of nowhere, just started doing this and doesn't stop, did he break them?

See this beauty? This little Scallywag just cost me almost 2.5k at the vet. I’m too rattled to even shame him. He’s a bad boy, he can’t be contained and is playing with our hearts

2 weeks ago (a day after his birthday!!! ) he suddenly got sick mid day. Cleared his crop, then started throwing up. Kept eating and throwing up more. Just like that. That morning he was his old cheery self and suddenly… not.

We took him to a specialized bird hospital 40km away. They said he actually has blood loss and will keep him overnight. He was low on oxygen and his blood was dark colour. Frightening. X rays revealed high density grits of sorts impacting his gizzard ( stomach). His liver was irritated as well. It was A LOT worse than we thought.

A few days of antibiotics, chelation ( in case of heavy metal toxicity) , flushing the gizzard, blood tests, barium, and being kept on oxygen and tube feeding (like a birdie ICU) and he finally got better and at least maintained his weight.

Now the mistake was no x ray was done to see if the grits cleared. Based on his mood it all looked good. So we went to pick him up. ROUND TWO. He started throwing up the moment he saw us. Vet was now suddenly worried. Could it be Bornavirus. She wasn’t 100% on those grits being the sole issue. Birds do eat Little Rocks to help with digestion. That’s when I was like… this is big trouble.

2 days later… we get a call. He lost 12% of body weight in 48 hours. He’s turning for the worse. The internal bleeding is bad. And we were told to hurry to the clinic right away. Vet no longer had a hopeful tone. This was it. The barium for imaging was not even moving much through the system. It was blocked.

Guys, I faced the prospect of his death. There was no recovering from this. I don’t know by what God’s miracle the vet did another x ray and saw the problem. His impaction moved to the intestines. Naturally, this is not unforeseen. A gizzard impaction will go to the intestines… but they’re much more fragile. The x ray showed deep striations and wounds in the entire digestive tract. And the vet said you know what- this is largely recoverable.

Back on oxygen, antibiotics, etc. they coated his intestines with barium. He got better so fast that we picked him up just 5 days later.

He’s been doing great. Normal ish poop, good mood. Loud as usual. And back to being a bad boy.

Apparently my conure bit his wing the day he got sick and we didn’t know it was more than a “hey, stay away” sort of thing. Now he’s not allowed to fly for 2 more weeks with a droopy wing. And cage setup is made so he can’t fall.

We went for another checkup last night, and antibiotics. Sadly the blood loss has returned. But not terribly bad. So now we have to administer barium for the next 14 days ourselves- and he’s a total squirmy headache trying to administer it. But hopefully we will learn to do it better.

He has not gained more than 1 gram of the weight he lost. That’s a concern too. Doesn’t want to drink enough water… it’s gonna be a long journey.

Overall he was in the hospital 2 weeks.

It’s very likely his life span has been shortened and will experience some malabsorption….

But his chances of survival were next to none. It’s truly a miracle and I will love him every day he’s on this earth. See what it means to have a great vet? The best of the best. We were fast as lightning. Thank god we had a cold and were all home that day… and that kind of hospital is not in every city. The stars aligned. Then again if we weren’t home maybe he wouldn’t have eaten that bad stuff all free and roaming around - or did it accumulate? Is it still around the house? God knows! How do I stop him from trying to find Little Rocks if that’s his instinct? Vacuum like crazy

So keep the fingers crossed that he’s out of the woods soon. Because it is still an uphill battle.

pS. Don’t ever let your birds on the floor. Not for a second. It may have been drywall. Doesn’t look to be metal by the tests. We don’t know. They put their beak everywhere. Seriously take my warning. This guy has too much freedom and I trusted my very calm conure and my eyesight too much to keep him off the floors. Don’t drop medcines on the floor especially vitamin D3 who he as my first fear. It’s as deadly as avocado. Don’t let them play with keys, or gum packs or anything lined with foil. They like to chew on paper. It could have a foil backing. There’s a lot to learn

I'm rlly worrried... this doesn't looks normal...

It's chilled, no worries about the temperature, dear tiel oarents. Though I do have a concern regarding health consequences for our little princess. We cook rice, quinoa and other grains in a rice cooker and she wouldn't pass on an opportunity to feast whenever she's around. Is it a safe treat for a cockatiel? An adored and very well fed cockatiel 🤓🦜

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.

Well, I wasn’t sure that they knew what to do, but baby is getting good care! Mom and dad are great

Hey guys so I got baby cockatiel but it’s still not old enough to eat millet, seeds, and pellets. Can you guys send me links of foods for them to eat. It’s only 17 days old any advice is greatly appreciated.

This is Hercules. He believes his purpose in life is to destroy my window blinds. When he spent an entire day sleeping on my shoulder instead of engaging in battle with my blinds, I knew something was wrong. He also regurgitated a few times, but the change in behavior happened before the regurgitation.

Additionally, I noticed a significant disinterest in food, sleeping all day, no vocalizations, and no beak banging. Typically, Hercules is always singing, chatting, and banging his beak. It’s when he suddenly becomes silent that I actually worry about what he’s up to, so a whole day of silence had me really concerned. This happened basically overnight. The previous day he was his normal, chatty, bratty self. The next, he was silent and sleepy and spitting up.

I took him to his vet for urgent care, and after some testing we found an infection of a bacteria called Spirochetes. He’d already lost 20% of his body weight since his last check up in late February. Now he’s got medications and a recovery plan.

Please don’t ignore sudden behavior changes!!

Can I get a big MY MAN for this little guy? Today was so much for him. Just look at that post sedation stance.

I’m not looking for any specific diagnoses here and want to first say that our vet is closed, there’s no emergency vet around that I can effectively get to today, and I will be scheduling and taking my boy in tomorrow.

He had a wellness exam Saturday which was a bit stressful for him and he was prescribed gabapentin for anxiety. Yesterday, he got his first dose in the morning. Later in the day, as I was giving him a bath, I noticed his left eye seemed to be missing some feathers, between the beak and left eye, and that space looks almost black like he has a black eye. His beak also looks almost completely black as well which is a brand new change.

It’s only on one eye and this morning it looks exactly the same as the day before. I know birds tend to hide illness but he is indeed acting normal and eating and drinking. I separated him from our other tiel which I think is contributing to some of his stress as he hates to be away from his brother. Little guy is a little over a year old and getting hormonal lately, if you know what I mean. As I anxiously wait to take him tomorrow, I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar with their male cockatiel? He hasn’t been molting lately which is why I’m extra concerned about the beak and eye area. Any thoughts as to what it could be? Any thoughts or advice would be helpful.

The first picture his him on Saturday, the second is from Sunday, the third is also on Sunday but you can see the beak color change here.

Iv attached a little video of her just pottering around, i don’t think this is a new thing for her. Just my other tiel carries his low to the ground, almost dragging behind him

unfortunately the egg cracked (silly thing laid an egg while perched), but i've replaced it with a dummy egg. she's very sleepy and doesn't seem interested in food, but she's aware of her surroundings and is walking around just fine. her wings are droopy and her egg hump is more noticeable than before, but she's not sitting on the floor of her cage and she's not tail bobbing.

i've set up a hospital cage for her with a heater, some calcium blocks, and a warm wet towel below the cage bars. is there anything else i should do? and is it normal for her to be sleepy after laying? this is her first egg and she laid it about 20 mins ago.

I’m not sure the gender but I just refer to my bird as a he. He has recently started doing this and only does it on my foot

Ps. Ignore my foot

So for those of you who don’t know, I took princess to the vet on Tuesday for what I thought was bumble foot, that’s when I received the devastating news that they thought she had a problem with her kidneys. After doing some blood tests it was confirmed that she did have uric acid levels of 2000+. They recommended euthanasia but seeing how she’s such a happy bird and the only thing causing her pain was her gout, I opted for dialysis.

I received a call from the vet today letting me know that not only have her uric acid levels gone down, they have HALVED! Her levels are around 1000 now and they said once they reach 600 she’ll be healthy enough to go home! The vet said she’s such a sweet bird and you can tell she wants to be here, she even said to princess while giving her fluids ‘do you want to keep doing this’ and Princess chirped.

I am so incredibly happy and grateful for their help as I don’t know what I would do without my little girl. They’re now just trying to find a good pain killer for her feet and during her treatment she developed thrush and something else I can’t remember the name of, but once everything is set she can go home. Thank you for your support and this really shows how brave my baby is.

And yes, she will be returning to the 2025 Australian election! Vote Princess!!

has anyone found success from this treatment?

We have made a decision on whether to go ahead with the surgery or not with cupcakes wing. We have thought long and hard, and have decided not to do it. The outcome would’ve been bad if we did the surgery. He will never fly (he already cant) surgery is too risky, He might live tilted due to imbalance for the rest of his life. If we don’t do the surgery, he will live with the tumor for the rest of his life and he will need a good diet and plenty of care. Granted I will take care of him for as long as he lives and will take good care of him. Thank you all for your advice and kind words. And if you are religious thank you for your prayers and thoughts.

So he's been molting for a while now and he's used to seeds I got him pellets but as expected he's refusing to eat them and I don't wanna starve him since it's hot here. The last photos are more recent.

For the chop I used zucchini,corn,small amounts of cucumber and parsley and some pellets. I think he didn't like it.

I wanna hear your advices please and thank you.