Situation guide
Birds hide illness — appetite loss is a same-day vet matter.
A thin parrot has usually been ill for a while, because feathers hide condition until late. This covers weighing daily in grams, feeling the keel, the reasons weight falls including the full bowl that is only husks, and what a veterinary-directed recovery plan actually looks like at home.
Ageing does not reduce a parrot's appetite; four groups of cause do. Covers the mechanical and visual problems owners miss, arthritis and articular gout, beak change as a sign of liver disease, atherosclerosis and the other geriatric diseases, how to measure intake and weight properly, the cage adaptations that restore
A parrot that suddenly stops eating is a medical sign until proven otherwise, because a small bird has almost no reserve and burns through it overnight. Here is how to tell neophobia from illness using weight, crop and droppings, and why there is no gum colour check in a bird.
Regurgitation is a deliberate social behaviour from the crop. Vomiting is involuntary, comes from the stomach and sticks to the head feathers. This guide gives the signs that separate them, the causes of true vomiting from crop stasis to heavy metal and proventricular dilatation disease, and why crop massage and beak s
Birds do not give you a fever you can measure, and by the time one looks ill the illness is usually advanced. This guide covers the postures that matter, fluffing, sleeping on both feet, tail bobbing and lost appetite, why weight on a gram scale finds problems first, and which signs mean go now.
Weight loss is one of the earliest signs of illness in a bird, so feeding a thin bird more before finding the cause only delays the diagnosis. This guide covers weighing and keel scoring properly, why birds lose weight at each life stage, what a vet will want, and how to rebuild condition safely, including why home syr
The word parrot covers birds whose wild diets have nothing in common, and mismatches produce specific diseases rather than vague poor condition. This guide sets out the feeding types, the pellet-and-vegetable base that suits most psittacines, and what changes for lorikeets, eclectus, macaws, African greys, amazons, coc
A bird that turns fussy overnight is telling you something changed: it hurts, the food changed, the room changed, or it has learned that holding out works. This guide sets the four explanations side by side, shows how weight and droppings separate them, and gives the steps to take before a preference problem becomes a
A small bird that stops eating can decline within a day, so appetite loss is measured in hours, not days. Learn how to tell true anorexia from a bird that only looks like it is eating, how to read the danger signs, and what to do safely while you reach an avian vet.
A seed-only diet leaves birds short on nutrients, but switching to pellets too fast is dangerous. This guide shows a safe, gradual conversion, how to tempt fussy eaters, the weight and dropping checks that keep it safe, and the warning signs that mean stop and call an avian vet.
