upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Friends, I had a very shocking event this morning, and I take full blame for it. It's been 13 days since I weighed everybirdy, and when Ginger got on the scales this morning, her weight had dropped to 71 grams. That is an 11 gram loss in 13 days. I think I know what caused it too, but will have to monitor her weight and see if she starts coming back up, or if she continues to drop, but the problem I believe, is a change of food. I won't know for sure till a couple of days, but all are back on their normal diet.

The bad part is the fact that I cuddle Ginger off and on all day long, and did not notice her loss. Please, if you have scales, be sure to use them at least twice per week or more, and if you don't have scales, by all means, get some. They are one of your first defenses in warding off illness or problems.

You are absolutely right about having a scale. With all those feathers you just can't tell if they are losing weight. I weigh my birdies every week. When I first got them I weighed them every day till I knew they were gaining weight and got to their appropriate weight range.

I hope your little Ginger will regain her lost weight soon.....keep us updated on how she is doing.

I hope Ginger will be ok, Sam. Do you think you have to go to the vet? Yes, keep us posted.

Wow, never would have thought that they could lose that much weight. But you know, as small as they are, you really can tell that they have lost or gained.

Where have you guys gotten your scales and what do they look like? Can I just get one at Petsmart or Petco or do you have to get one on-line? I really want to get one.

When I first got my bird I never really even knew about weighing him until I came here-----then there was the issue of him not being tame which made it kinda hard. My bird was small when I first got him, but he was young, and I figured he'd get bigger----he has gotten bigger, but just not very much, so I've always had the urge to get a scale to weigh him just to see how underweight he might be. As soon as I had him tame enough to come out and be more comfortable with us and being out of his cage, I got my scale. I looked in stores that were suggested here, but those digital scales are really expensive, and being right after christmas when I started looking was not a good time to go spending more money! but anyway I found my scale online-----that is where they are the cheapest, and my scale is a small one-----but that's ok, he's a small birdy! the scale is very accurate, I have tested it out, but the bird has to stand still for several seconds for the numbers to stop changing and get a reading from it. My scale, like most, you can put something else on it if you want, then hold a button to put it at zero. I took a small perch and had my boyfriend cut it down smaller and just taped it on top of the scale------alot cheaper than those scales you can buy that come with perches, huh! but it worked! The only thing is that you have to make sure that the birds tail is not touching the table or whatever you have the scale on-----my birds tail was so long it would touch, so I had to put the scale up on something a little higher. Here is where I bought my scale----http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=1
Seeing as I don't want to stress my bird at all when it comes to taking him out because I am trying to get him more comfortable with it, I can't always just weigh him whenever I want-----but I do think I could weigh him twice a week easily, but as he gets more comfortable being out I would like to do it more often.
All my best wishes to ginger!!! I hope she is just fine!

Also Lisa, here is another site-----there are three on the bottom of this page that are very low priced and nice scales..........
http://www.wholesale-scales.com/index.p ... 0a&page=10

Thanks Guys! Both sites look great!!

Hoping really hard for Ginger to recover real fast, Sam. It's scary. I've had 2 tiels lose more and recover, so feed that girl!!!

Paca

FWIW, those some of those scales are identical looking to what I saw in the Bed Bath & Beyond store where I got mine. I did not see that type shown, but might be the same thing. Most definitely cheaper than BB&B store for sure. Kim, none of mine liked the scales when I first started weighing them, but after about 2 or 3 days, they knew nothing was going to happen, and I can take them out and sit them right on the platform and most will sit still long enough to get a stable reading. Missy is the only one who I have trouble with wiggling She's such a hyper child.. sometimes I think she needs a tranquilizer pill, but she's just now getting used to full flight, and she's into everything everywhere. Talk about nosey.. she wants to know what's in the freezer, the fridge, cabinets, on the kitchen cabinet, etc. I think the more you do it, the more they will realize nothing is going to hurt them, and it just becomes routine.

A vet visit may be in order by tomorrow if she doesn't stabilize today or regain a gram or two. I'm monitoring her very closely.

Beginning to think she will always be my "problem child"

Awww, yeah, I guess you will always have watch her weight, but that's not too much trouble though! I had to laugh at what u said about missy-----that was funny. Woody is not any more uncomfortable about being on a scale than he is just being out of the cage! He's ok with it, he don't even know the difference because I have that perch on it! so he does ok! It's all just a matter of his comfort level going up while he's out of his cage----he is quite comfortable now, but only as long as he is on me-----(too bad we can't put a scale on our shoulders huh!) while on his own sometimes he still gets nervous, but most times does ok on his play gym.

It is especially important to weigh them when you are changing their diet. You did the right thing to switch Ginger back to the old diet immediately. Next time you try, convert slowly, slowly raising the proportion of new food to old food, you may not be able to ever eliminate the old food from her diet. A dead give away if your baby is underweight is the breastbone---that is what you need to concentrate on to know if they are losing even if you are not weighing them daily. if it protudes too much, or is too sharp--the bird is losing weight. Take good care of Ginger!!

Marley lost 18 grams in 2 days due to illness, so I know how quick these things can happen.

Ginger's drastic weight loss was due to a shot of prednisone last week, causing her to both have a touch of polyuria and letting food go through her digestive tract too quickly. She is back on forumula as of today as a suppliment to her regular food. The diet change had no bearing on her loss, but it just appeared that way. She does have an allergy to something, but we've not figured out what yet. Still, the weight will take some time for her to regain, but vet feels comfortable she is not suffering from some organ problem, primarily because she's still so young. We'll see how the supplimental feeding goes.

I ordered one of the scales from the Wholesale site listed. It came in 2 days!! We had fun weighing all the animals! Mine range from a 36 gram hamster to a 172 gram hamster!! Casper is right in the middle. She is now 100 grams. She has gained 5 grams since her doc visit in December. Now that I have it, I can keep an eye on her weight.

Thanks for the recommendations!!!

Wow, that's great lisa! I have not weighed woody again yet, but I will again soon. I am trying to give him some more sunflower seeds, maybe that will get a few grams onto him! He loves them and his mirror has a little dish under it and he loves it when I put some sunflower seeds in there for him.

Lisa,

Wow! Casper does not look like she weighs that much from her pictures. I would have figured maybe 85-90 grams at most. Just goes to prove you can't look at a bird, or even heft them and get any close idea of what they weigh.

Kim,

You're doing the right thing with the sunflower seeds so he'll gain some weight, but I'd not let it get to the point where Woody only wants the sf seeds. He can certainly stand to gain some weight tho.

Update on Ginger.

Today is the 5th day she's been getting supplemental formula of 3 cc's twice a day, and I think it's working, but her weight loss was so much faster than her gains. This morning, she was up to 77 grams, so it's going to take a long time at this rate to get her back up to the 90's where she needs to be. I just hope nothing else comes up that would cause her to lose weight again, as she just does not have any reserves now. It's just steady as she goes now....