# Weight loss and possibly bullied



## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*Man I hate coming to post here for these reasons.

So Lyla has been on a steady decline in her weight. She started out at around 39.2g. That was 2 weeks ago.She is now at 33.7g.She has been on a steady decline, losing usually no more than .6g. The first day we noticed a major loss was the first to the second day, a loss of 1.4g overnight. I know that's about the standard fluctuation for these guys, so we didn't think too much of it.

Pepper has always been a little lightweight, except for a few times. He started off at 35.1g, and has been all over the map up and down up to .9g or so. Until this morning, we weighed him at 33.7g. Yesterday, he weighed in at 35.6g, a difference of 1.9g. Naturally, we're nervous.

We have also noticed them both getting sometimes bullied out of spots that they love, sometimes that includes the food bowl. We tried to remedy this by adding another food bowl, and more of what they love, seed.

Now, those of you that really know me, know I don't care for giving them a lot of straight seed. But that's what it seems like they're going after. Right now I have oat groats in the boys' cage, and seed in the girls'.

Now I know by now most of you have been sitting there from the start screaming in yours head, "Take them to the vet!". All the vet will do for an exam is check them over by looking at them, check them for lumps or bumps, listen to them breathe, and just make sure everything looks and sound good. I can do, and have done, all of that here. I have however had some poop run. Because my A. vet had the day off, she couldn't analyze a gram stain, so they did just a regular fecal with a float. This mainly checks for any parasites. That luckily came back negative. Unfortunately, that also meant that we still don't have an answer for why they're losing weight. So I'm getting the test I originally wanted done on Monday. I would have gotten it done yesterday, but it has to be sent out, and UPS had come and gone already by the time we got there to drop off the sample, and won't be in again til Monday.

So here's the kicker with Lyla. She is molting. BAD. Pinnies all over the place. Could this have made her lose the weight?

Pepper on the other hand, I don't think is going through a molt. Or at least I haven't seen any pinnies yet. Perry's been the worst offender of kicking him out of the food bowl, and I think it may be because HE is going through a molt, bad. One giant patch of pinnies on the front of his head.

Is there anything I can do until Monday? Dr. J will be in then and I should be able to talk to her then about this. I could really use the help. I'm tearing up right now, because I know this can turn really bad, really quickly.

Sorry for the long post guys, and thanks for any help!!!*


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

Hi Kristen,

I'm sorry you are having problems with your Lyla and Pepper. There can in fact be a decrease in appetite and the occasional runny poops during a moult.
Also the stress from a less harmonious environment, since you mention Lyla is sometimes bullied out of her food dish can also have an impact on her overall food intake.
If possible, you could try place Lyla and any other bullied friend who is not getting much to eat into a separate cage and offer good food and tasty treats.
When budgies are feeling under the weather and with low appetite, they usually go for spray millet (you can soak it in electrolyte solution if need be). 
You can also offer egg food as this is highly nutritious to a potentially sick/weak bird and a vital supplement when birds are moulting.

Try to stay calm in order to better help your budgies till you can take them to the vet. I'm sending my best wishes to you and your flock. Hopefully very soon, Lyla and Pepper will feel much better and get their weight back. :hug:


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*


aluz said:



Hi Kristen,

I'm sorry you are having problems with your Lyla and Pepper. There can in fact be a decrease in appetite and the occasional runny poops during a moult.
Also the stress from a less harmonious environment, since you mention Lyla is sometimes bullied out of her food dish can also have an impact on her overall food intake.
If possible, you could try place Lyla and any other bullied friend who is not getting much to eat into a separate cage and offer good food and tasty treats.
When budgies are feeling under the weather and with low appetite, they usually go for spray millet (you can soak it in electrolyte solution if need be). 
You can also offer egg food as this is highly nutritious to a potentially sick/weak bird and a vital supplement when birds are moulting.

Try to stay calm in order to better help your budgies till you can take them to the vet. I'm sending my best wishes to you and your flock. Hopefully very soon, Lyla and Pepper will feel much better and get their weight back. :hug:

Click to expand...

Weellllllll, the only other bird that seems to be getting bullied is Pepper, and all he wants to do when in Lyla's presence is make baby budgies. And she lets him, lol. Lyla's poops are perfect. Consistency is on point, color is good, and bright white urates. No funky smells either. Haven't checked Pepper's yet, but he has also been this low before. Lonny is freaking out thinking they're all sick, and of course that's not help on my end. After Holly passing away last year, we still haven't gotten over it. And it makes us freak over the smallest things now.

Also, it is difficult to separate any of them, because they just worry about where their bullys are, because they don't likenot being able to see them. They have a love hate relationship I guess.

*


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

They would still be able to see and talk amongst themselves while on separate cages if they are kept within view. 
And they would also be able to eat whenever they wanted to.

This is also one of the reasons I prefer to house two budgie buddies per cage. When/if one of them is sick or feeling under the weather, the chances of being bullied are greatly reduced (never had a single occurrence in my 25+ years of budgie ownership) because they are more closely bonded together as opposed if they were sharing the same cage with a larger number of birds.
From my experience the healthy mate gives further support to their sick friend and even go as far as providing extra heat by perching side by side to the mate and offering much needed nourishment via regurgitation.


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*Great idea, Ana! There's only one problem. I don't have anything to set my extra cage on to make that work. I'll try and figure some type of rigging out.

Has anyone else gone through this that could give me any more advice?*

*I really need some help as to whether or not the weight loss is something i need to be concerned with. I'm not sure eBay to do at this point, and the hubby is driving me crazy. I need to do something for her. At least to get the hubby to settle down.*


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Kristen,

If you have two separate cages, I'd recommend you put Lyla in one and Pepper in the other. That way you won't have to worry about mating behavior taking place.

I'm sure you can come up with some way to put the two cages close to the other cage so Lyla and Pepper can see the other birds.

Give both Pepper and Lyla a quality seed mix and let them eat as much of it as they want to get their weight back up. That is most important right now.

You can soak millet spray in electrolyte solution and offer that to them as well.

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-bud...uardian-angel-pedialyte-pedialyte-recipe.html

Make sure they are warm enough and monitor both of them both for weight and any other signs of illness.

Please give us an update on their condition tomorrow. I'm sending lots of healing energy, positive thoughts and prayers for Lyla and Pepper. :hug:*


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## Budget baby (Jan 1, 2013)

Kirsten, I feel for you and Lonny.
Try to keep yourselves free from stress as this will be picked up by the budgies. keep the cages covered and warm, egg and biscuit is a great source of nourishment when going through a miserable molt. Do you give them probiotics at all? My vet recommended I give Budget Probiotics every second day I sprinkle it over his seed, crumble mix. As they have lost weight I would be offering them as much seed as they want at present.
Keep positive and let us know how things are soon.


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*Well, Lonny ended up allowing Lyla and Pepper out together, and Pepper could care less about mating, he just wanted to feed Lyla. I think he knows she not feeling too hot, and hungry, lol, and decided that was more important than trying to create life. Either way, I will weight her tonight and in the morning, and see what that brings. I will definitely keep you guys updated.

Oh and I gave all the girls a spritz yesterday and it seemed to help greatly for her mood. Then she was right back to her miserable molting self today. Until we let her out with Pepper. Funny thing is, I guess after she went back in her own cage with the other girls, she started booting THEM out of the food bowl, lol. It would seem she has gotten her appetite back a little. I don't want to jynx things though. Lonny says she eating millet that is hanging from the top of the cage right now. yaaaaayyy!!!! :woot:*


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*Ok, so I weighed Lyla last night, and she was I think 36.3g, of course heavier after having eaten yesterday. This morning I went through the usual routine and weighed everyone, starting with little Miss Featherweight, Lyla. She gets on the scale and it finally leveled off at 34.7g. So, still a light weight, but moving in the right direction. I just hope it keeps moving that way.*


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

I just now caught up to this thread and I'm sorry to hear you've been going through a rough time with Lyla and Pepper :hug: 

I'm glad to hear their weight is going back up and I hope some "alone time" from the rest of the flock helps them get back to normal 

Keep us posted! :fingerx:


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*Thanks, SW, I really do appreciate it. It seems that she has been resting about half the day today. I let her and Pepper together again, and she wasn't as interested in that as she was yesterday, so I put both of them back in their cages. I tried separating them flock their respective flocks, but they really refused to eat, can't have that. But it would seem that Lyla is back to kicking budgie butt again when it comes to the food source! Just put some fresh veg in both cages, egg food in the morning as I just got some organic eggs tonight. Already hard boiled them, so they will be ready for the morning!!! Pepper is back to his normal weight, I think it was stress related for him more-so than anything else. I also think that was part of Lyla's problem. The stress of not being able to see each other for a while I think really did them in. We have been super busy lately and have't been able to let everyone out like they need. We'll let them out tonight for a while, I may leave Lyla in for a bit though as she's already pretty small. Anyway, that's tonight's update, more in the morning!!!

Thank you everyone, for your words of support. They really help during these stressful times.

-Kristen*


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

That's great to hear--Keep up the good work, Kristen  

:urock:


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## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*I think we got her back up to 35g. I'll check her tonight before bed, and then again in the a.m. :woot:*


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