My last resort!! Asking for opinions before culling. Pics included

[dweder]

Quote:
Since you have such extensive experience with tube feeding, can you tell me if I'm doing it right. I am using a large feeding syringe, and just squirt it into her mouth. I pull down on her waddles to get her mouth open. I guess Im scare about the force in which the syringe can squirt the food down her throat. If I am keeping her crop full, why isnt she absorbing the nutrients? My recipe is scrambled eggs, yogurt, fine grane feed and nutri-drench?

I will try the parrot formula!

 

[ChooksChick]

It seems like your food may be of the same nutrient value, but I wonder if she just isn't getting enough?

It took me a long time to get the amount right in my boy, and get him to gain the weight he'd lost. I suspect if you got her to reverse that loss she may be able to get her appetite back.

With my boy, I got a large gauge rubber catheter from the vet that I learned to insert 6" down his gullet into the crop. It's a closed rubber tube with a rounded tip and holes out the side for the formula to exit. With this, I would pre-fill 3 60 mL syringes with the feed and insert the tube, then switch out the syringes when empty. I had to hold the syringe in my mouth and hold his head with one hand, plunging the syringe plunger with the other hand. It was a hilarious juggle twice daily, three times before I got him to a stable weight. The few times someone got to witness this event, they all laughed and said I needed to post it to YouTube...

You can use a 'kid feeding tube' from one of the online feed stores, but it's a skinnier thickness of tube and will take forever to feed her. I know you could get the right ones from my vet, as they kept a supply for me. It was like the rubber Foley catheter, but without the bubble portion, just a straight tube. This description may help your vet understand what it is. It's just bugger around than a pencil, exterior measurement, and they run the Dr. like $17 for a 5 pack, but they'll try to charge a bunch more. Let me know if you need me to help get one.

If you want to try to feed in a less complicated way, you can insert your fingernail in to open the beak- they usually don't mind, and if you point the syringe to the BIRD'S RIGHT side, YOUR LEFT if you and the bird are facing one another, you'll be able to get a bit more in at a time if you can get her to hold still. I wrapped my boy in a towel and held him on my lap or tummy, leaning back on the bed, crossing my leg over him to hold him stable. This gave me a better view, hold, angle, everything.

Hope that helps you out- feel free to ask more if I can help!