cockatiel behavior

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cockatiel behavior

by Denise
(NJ)

Can you tell me why my cockatiel is sputtering? it just started today. She is 2 yrs old. Her cagemate is not doing this. The only change is that I gave them some "Eatsmart Naturals" garden veggie sticks. Their ingredients are: potato flour, potato starch, rice flour, sunflower oil, corn starch, tomato paste, salt, spinach powder, turmeric, potassium chloride. produced in a facility handling peanut butter. I am not sure if she ate any of them. She also seems to be breathing heavier. Her chest is heaving more than my other bird.

I hope this is not anything serious.

Thank you for your help.

Denise

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cockatiel behavior

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Sep 13, 2010

cockatiel behavior
by: Linda

Those veggie sticks you are giving the birds are poison for them, so do not give them anymore of them or anything else like them. This Cockie may very well be having an allergic reaction to one or more of the heavy ingredients in the sticks, and if her heavy breathing gets worse, you have a life and death emergency on your hands called anaphylactic shock where the throat swells shut and bird or person dies of suffocation.

My advice is to get her to an Avian Vet immediately for a shot to counteract the effects one one or more of the ingredients in these sticks. Birds cannot have salt, and all the other ingredients and spices are poison for birds. Your other bird may not have eaten any of this, and you may just have the one who is now sick.

Allergic reactions can go either way, they will escalate and bird will die or if not fed anymore of the toxic material may even out. Make sure bird has plenty of fresh clean water with which to try and wash this out of system.

For all who are reading this, please read all the ingredients mentioned in this letter and avoid each and every one of them like the plague. People food is not for birds, no matter how the manufacturer has it all dressed up to look healthy. These sticks are not healthy for birds and are, in fact, poison.

I wish you the best of luck with this bird and hope she does okay.

Linda

Sep 13, 2010

Cockatiel breathing heavy
by: Tracie

If your cockatiel is breathing heavy and has sudden strange behavior, please take your bird to an avian vet ASAP, like right now if possible.

Regurgitating food, can be normal behavior for birds, but heavy breathing is a sign of stress.

If you need to find an avian vet, you can look for one on our Find an Avian Vet page.

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