# Finally Transitioned my bird to pellet.....



## Johnstonsjr (Feb 3, 2016)

HI All, 

I adopted a budgie (Tomtom) a little over a year ago (a friend found him outside and had him for a few years but he got a puppy and stressed the bird out so I took him.) After a few grueling weeks I recently got him off of seed and eating pellet.

Here is a bit of a back story. 2 months ago I took him to the vet because he was acting sort of strange. The vet gave him Baytril as a precaution, said after examining him if I didn't tell him his behavior changed he would think he was a happy healthy bird. After he had been acting fine.


Since he has been eating pellet the past couple of weeks, he has been eating and drinking a lot more and he has longer stools without solid urates and lots of urine. He is going threw a molt at the moment, but I was wondering is anyone else had any extra water consumption when they started feeding their birds pellets?

Thanks for the help


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

Hopefully you are not feeding your budgie only pellets. A budgie needs to receive a good quality seed mix in conjunction with the pellets. You can sprout the seeds before giving them to your budgie if you wish.

Please take a look at the information in these links:
http://talkbudgies.com/articles-diet-nutrition/315033-healthy-diet-your-budgie.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-diet-nutrition/309849-quality-seed-mix.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/103922-my-birds-droppings-normal.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-disease-illness/290266-nutritional-diseases.html

Please take the time to read through all of the How To Guides, the FAQs and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

You'll find most of your basic questions about budgies and caring for them will have been answered after you've read through all of them.

Site Guidelines
How-To Guides
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Budgie Articles
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295001-list-stickies.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/333106-posting-forums.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295033-prepared-veterinary-care-expense.html
Avian First Aid
Why Quarantine?

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/227841-50-common-budgie-dangers-watch-out.html

http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-forum-members-new-old.html

http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/24411-cage-sizes.html
http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/31719-essentials-great-cage.html
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/339826-resource-directory.html

When you upload pictures as thumbnail attachments directly from your computer, tablet or phone, the forum automatically defaults to landscape.

To upload full-sized pictures with the proper orientation, please use a photo-sharing service such as PhotoBucket and follow the steps in these instructions:
http://talkbudgies.com/how-guides/175818-how-post-pictures-photobucket.html

Examples Of Pictures To Post And Not Post - Talk Budgies Forums
http://talkbudgies.com/mutations-ge...king-mutation-gender-identification-help.html

By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them! 

If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:*


----------



## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hi there and :welcome: to Talk Budgies! 

I agree with Deborah--a budgie should have seed, pellets, and vegetables every day for a healthy diet. 

I do know that if they eat only pellets, their pellets are more "mushy", and the stress of a moult is probably contributing to the added water in the droppings. 

Be sure to read through the links Deborah provided to review many aspects of the best care for budgies. If you have any questions afterwards, be sure to ask! 

We'd love to meet your little budgie when you get a chance! hoto:

Hope to see you around :wave:


----------



## Johnstonsjr (Feb 3, 2016)

Thanks for the replies folks. 

He is slowly getting back to 100%. He been acting healthy, droppings not as wet but still not perfect and drinking less water. He is still molting so hes a bit tired. He has a very strong/consistent personality so anytime he does something out of the ordinary it worries me a bit.

I had given him no seed the last few weeks, because it was so difficult to get him to eat any pellet. He was like a seed addict, even with veg/fruit/pellet options (hes always ate different fruits and veggies) he would search the floor, cage even fly into other rooms looking for seed. I reintroduced seed with the pellets after the first post. 

His fruit and veggie diet consist of pea shoots, sprouted lentils, spinach, apple, banana, starfruit and whatever else my wife and I eat. Also gets boiled egg as a treat, especially during his molt.There are certain colors of foods he is scared of lol.


----------



## shanebudgie (Feb 5, 2016)

I'm glad your budgie is getting better and eating different foods now.I wish you and your budgie many happy years together.blessings


----------



## Johnstonsjr (Feb 3, 2016)

I figure I would update this post, just in case it can provide some information to someone worried in the future.

I took my bird to the vet yesterday morning. Late Tuesday night he was have some type of respiratory distress. Wings at the side, hanging on the side of the cage. Things looked very grim.Typical symptoms of a very serious respiratory problem. Right before he was happy, playing eating etc. Acting 100% normal. NO symptoms of illness other than the typical molt stuff. After about an hour of be being worried looking for 24 hours avian vet open somewhere near me, he was much better, a bit lethargic, he was obviously scared of what just happened. He ate a little bit and went to sleep. 

In the morning I woke up terrified to take the cover off his cage. I took it off he was fine, Came right out, did his morning lap of the living room. Hopped around the top of his cage and ate a bunch of food and played with some of his toys. 

I called the vet and took him in. The vet examined him and said his breathing sounded fine, he seemed like a healthy bird. She did notice his crop was full of food, but he had no signs of infection etc. She thinks that he ate too much, had a big drink of water and it ended up putting pressure on his respiratory system. So him eating and drinking more is not because of the diet change adding pellet but because he all of a sudden feels the need to fill his crop. Either because I have a female he is trying to impress or provide for, he has about 50 different toys he likes to try and feed or because I switched his diet by adding pellet and he feels the need to store food.


----------

