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Hello!

I know I've posted many things about Saywer, but I am so confused. Sawyer has about the best avian vet practice that I could imagine. However, they are at a standstill and so am I. Sawyer is about the most loving bird I could ask for. He has bonded to me more than I ever thought he would. He is out of his cage at all times I am home. He gets the best pellets, baths daily, and he's clean and has every reason to be happy. However, he has a bald spot on his leg and under his wing. He's had it for a long time and it never gets better or worse. It's just always red and chapped with no feather growth there. He also has just started turning yellow. He has always been green and turquoise (with a red head)....and now he has yellow and white spots all over. I just took him to the vet AGAIN, and all three in the practice don't know what to do. Sawyer refuses to eat anything but pellets. No fruit, no veggies. REFUSES. He also has had a blood test for every virus and cultures for every fungus and bacteria...mites included. He has been in the vet four times this year so far. He doesn't act any differently, but I'm not sure what to do about all of these symptoms! It worries me!

Thanks so much!

Christine wrote:... I just took him to the vet AGAIN, and all three in the practice don't know what to do. Sawyer refuses to eat anything but pellets. No fruit, no veggies. REFUSES. He also has had a blood test for every virus and cultures for every fungus and bacteria...mites included...

I'd be worried too ... and getting a second opinion ASAP. It's easy to have your vets fax his bloodwork and other test results and their exam findings and conclusions to any vet in the world. For the cost of a single vet visit, you can get the opinion of a REALLY GREAT vet. And quickly. I highly recommend it. If you need help identifying a really great vet, PM me for suggestions. I'll be at an avian conference all day tomorrow but will respond as quickly as I can. What do his bloodwork results show about his kidney and liver function?

Thank you. Actually I would like some vet recommendations. That would be helpful! His kidney and liver functions were totally normal. The only things that were wrong was that he had low calcium and low phosphates. So we switched his pellets....

Thanks for the help!

If the calcium level is low, there's something missing from his diet that isn't allowing him to utilize the calcium he's ingesting. Birds need Vit D to do that so perhaps a bit of time outside (in his cage and with you) might help that. The ultraviolet rays from the sun turn the preen oil that's spread on the feathering to Vit D and the bird gets the benefit of that when he preens the feathers.

What happens if you sit down with Sawyer and actually eat some of the food you want him to eat. He may not recognize fresh vegetables as edible so he won't eat them. Lovebirds are social eaters and mine absolutely have to share whatever I'm putting in my mouth. (They get their own portions, of course!) What about seed? A good varied diet is actually seed & fresh food based based with no more than 40% pellets mixed in. While his kidney and liver tests came back normal now, pellets are actually too much nutrition and can cause death by kidney failure.

For those bald patches that look chapped and red, try applying a bit of neem oil to both areas. You should be able to get it at a health food store and I, for one, can vouch for the fact that it seems to be working for one of my lovebirds who is constantly picking at new feathers as they come in.

Thanks yet again, Linda, for your ever-helpful advice. I'll be trying neem oil tomorrow on my quaker girl, who's trying so hard to grow new feathers after a plucking crisis.

Christine, one vet I recently did a consultation with is Dr Zantop, known as a vet's vet -- the one vets take their own birds to. Here's his contact info:

Donald W Zantop
2615 Bel Air Rd
Fallston, MD 21047-2827
(410) 803-9588

I called his office first and explained that I wanted to do a consultation. The staffer asked me qxs about myself (name, address, etc), my bird, and the history of her health issue. I then called my vet's office and asked that all exam reports and test results of the last 2 years be faxed to Dr Zantop for review. Dr Zantop surprised me most pleasantly by calling me just an hour after my own vet's staff faxed my bird's records to him. I thought it might easily be a week before I heard from him, so my first qx was "Have you had a chance to look at the reports and exam findings?" He said he had and his qxs made it evident he really had! I think he charged me $60, less than my own vet's exam visit charge, and his info was very clear and reasonable. I repeated what he'd said to my vet a few days later, and we progressed quickly on the course Dr Zantop recommended. It's proved very helpful and most definitely worth the expense. I hope you'll find this your case as well.

If, for ANY reason, you prefer not to consult with Dr Zantop, I'll be happy to recommend another. I've had 200+ birds of many genera/species in the past 15 years and have always felt that the more smart brains work together, the better their conclusions. With so many birds, I've had many occasions to do consultations and, other times, my vets have done their own consultations w/o telling me until afterward. Not once have I felt it was a wasted effort.

Hoping for your Sawyer to do well.

Bluesbird, got idea recommending Zantopt. He is my avian vet and is excellent and reasonable. Many avian vets call him for advice. Glad you found him and it worked out for you. Hopefully it will work out for Sawyer.

Thanks, Judy. It seems to be asper, so it'll be awhile before I'll know if my girl will make it through. Zantop's info surely helped.

Oh my. Any idea how she contacted it? Hope she recovers quickly. Keeping you in my prayers.

Asper is ubiquitous and she's an African grey. It doesn't need more reason, unfortunately. Thank you. It's scary.

I just got my 3rd lovie on the 20th of this month. I don't know everything about lovies but how I get my little Olive to eat fruits and veggies so far is to mix a small amount of pastina pasta and millet seeds in with the veggies plus I give him Kaytee Natural Benefits Pellet Food...I actually take a small amount of the millet off the branch and mix it with the pasta, veggies (or fruit) and then put a very small sprig on the bottom of the dish with the mixture....It works wonders as he turned his nose up at everything I gave him before that and Olive was going to the dish. Now Olive chows on the veggies ...Its a matter of seeing what your bird loves the most and toying with it.....Pasta helps provide the carbs birds need. But Im liberal when it comes to giving him this as I don't want him to just eat that and not his pellet foods.

What I take off the branch is just the seeds. Put the small sprig on the bottom of the food dish and put the mixture over the sprig with just enough of it in sight to peak Sawyer's interest in what it is. Don't know if Im right but it also helps with forgaing