concern breast bone

Question
Hey we are giving the bird as much seed as possible with little or no change in the breast bone. Not sure how long it will take maybe you have some suggestions on some more food that might get him to gain more weight.  I have made another startling discovery today, our bird seem to be picking the feathers around his bottom leaving the skin highly exposed, looks as thought the skin is irritated in some way, do you have any suggestions or advice?? Thanks again Marcel
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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a vet told us to put the keet on over the counter meds for 8 days, he had a slight respiratory infection and seems like i said to be doing great. yea his keel bone is protruding and have had several people tell us he is under weight... what kinda food do u recommend us to give him to fatten him up again??
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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my parakeet has whats seems to be and enlarged, or larger than normal breast bone, he is eating well an has been through a set of antibiotics.  he seems chipper but breast bone concerns me... what do you make of it?
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Hi, Marcel.  Thanks for posting!

Do you mean your keet's breastbone is showing/protruding??  If so, you're keet is severely underweight and could possibly be on the verge of death.  If your bird has recently been on antibiotics, why was your bird on antibiotics and who prescribed these meds?

You need to pump as much fattening food into this bird as the bird will eat.  Give the bird as much seed as it wants to eat and keep seed in the cage at all times.  Keep this bird warm.

Please respond with answers to my questions so I might be able to assist you and your bird more.  Thanks.

Chrys
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Hi again, Marcel.

I have to question an avian vet who tells you to put your bird on OTC meds (I'm assuming you are dealing with an avian vet and not a cat/dog vet).  OTC meds for birds are worthless.  

My previous response, which still applies, said to feed this bird as much seed as you can get in this bird.  Seed is high in fat, but low in nutrition, however, your bird needs calories right now in order to put on weight.  Also, feed spray millet, which is more nutritious than regular seed.  Anything high in calories that your bird will eat should be fed.

When a bird gets this thin, it usually means a serious health problem already exists (as long as the bird is being fed properly).  The bird can't maintain a healthy immune system, which means the bird will most likely catch any type of illness that comes around.  Thus, the need to keep healthy weight on a bird.  When a bird is ill, one of the first signs of illness is weight loss.  A parrot will fluff up it's feathers in order to hide this weight loss.  When you see a bird with fluffed up feathers, the first thing you should check is for weight loss (either by weighing the bird on a regular basis or checking the breast or keel bone to see how much "meat" is on either side of the bone).

Come back if/when you need to.

Chrys

Answer
Hi, Marcel.

Seed is the fastest way you can get fat on your bird.  Yes, it will take time...could take several weeks or several months.  Your bird didn't lose all that weight overnight...it will take time to put it back on.  I recommend you restrict your keet's movements so that whatever it eats doesn't get burned off during play, flying, etc.  You should put this bird in a smaller, "hospital" cage where it can eat and eat, not move around much, and keep the bird warm so it can get back on it's feet again.  It's not going to take much for this bird to die if it gets sick again.  In other words, if you don't keep this bird warm, eating well, etc., so it doesn't get sick, it will die because it doesn't have any stored up fat to get it through a bout of illness.  When a bird doesn't feel well or gets sick, they often go off feed for a day or so.  If they have fat stores on their body, they can usually get through.  But your bird doesn't have this, so any illness will most likely take it's toll.

Does your bird have watery droppings or are it's droppings abnormal?  Is the bird eating?  He might have something going on intestinally if he's picking at his vent.  Not a good sign.

Chrys