my parakeet might be sick, can you help?

Question
can you help me? young parakeet, Chili is her name. She is puffed up, is eating and drinking water, and just pooped. She seems to maybe have a sore throat or something might be blocking or too big in her throat. she isn't herself, usually energetic and comes right out of her cage to get on my finger as soon as i call her. I've only had her since Christmas. The only thing that is NEW to her is mite disc thing I removed it this morning and I have a new brand of food from a department store.  thanks for your time. Michelle

Answer
Hi, Michelle.  I'm glad your keet, Chili, is doing well.  I sincerely appreciate your nice rating, except for the timeliness part.  I think it's important for me to respond to questions right away when it comes to birds (unless I'm ill or something similar!).  I responded to you in less than 24 hours of receiving your question (I have to sleep sometimes!), but you took 2 days to read my response.  I don't think it was fair of you to give me a 6 rating in timeliness.  However, if you have questions in the future, don't hesitate to come back.  I sure would like to know what it was that vet recommended to you...it didn't sound familiar to me.

Chrys
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Hi, Michelle.  Thanks for posting!

Please explain what you mean by "just pooped?"  Why do you think she might have a sore throat, etc...what makes you think this?  

Good that you removed the mite cage protector...they are useless and can be harmful to your bird.  Keep your bird on the food she is used to eating...don't change her food.  Did you start feeding the new food at the same time your bird appeared to be ill (or shortly after you started feeding new food)?  What type diet did you switch her from and what is the new food?

Any additional details you can provide would be helpful.  Keep your bird warm, quiet, and feed the food she is accustomed to eating (you can worry about changing it later).  Changing a bird's diet can cause tummy problems for them, so knowing what she's used to eating and if you've recently switched her is important.  

Chrys