my african grey pepe

[jigger]

dont know where to start so my name is danny and i owned a hand reared african grey from 13 weeks old..i did not go into wanting to own a parrot lightly and done a lot of research before i did..so anyway as i said pepe was with me since 13 weeks..she had a large cage toys always took for checkups reguarly with bird expert vet and never a bad word was said.i could never change her diet from day dot as she wouldnt eat for days and only wanted selected seeds...she was given fruit ,vegetables etc and lots of love so i thought i had been doing everything correctly as pepe was 14 years old in september..she talked sang mimic i thought she was amazing..me or my wife could always tell when she wasnt herself and always acted accordingly...now to bring me to my story my wife came home on sat night to find pepe at the bottom of her cage barely breathing and eyes almost closed..without thinking she drove to the vet and was told pepe wouldnt last the hour.they must have carried out a few tests and said she had high level of acid cant remember the name but said without opening her up wouldnt know for definite but they said they think her kidneys have failed..i have read up on this while being distraught but basically they said she had been under nutritioned through her food which i found ridiculous but they are the experts and said she wasnt disposing of toxins..now vet told me parrot had probably been sick for few months and would be hard for me to notice anything but she was in for checkup 3 months prior but unfortunately pepe passed away that night ...they gave her injections and she perked up there words and when i phoned later to see if any changes they said they were on there way back from other vet from doing tests and would call me back so im thinking pepe was left alone in that time because 15 mins later they called to say she had died..i can barely write this for tears and we both have taken it bad ..pepe was 14 years of age so surely i was doing something right i last seen her at 12.30 that afternoon and all was fine..i had a look at her droppings and all was fine i just cant get my head round it why she deterioated so quickly...sorry for the essay but im hurting at the moment and need answers...

[brugge]

Hi Danny sorry to hear about pepe, ive had grays in the past that never ate anything for 15 years only standard parrot food (mainly sunflower seed) l tried everthing but couldnt get them to eat anything else. You have obviously looked after and cared for pepe for 14 years so have kept her healthy for that time, sometimes its beyond our control what happens, you have had her to the vets reguallary and they had not noticed anything wrong with her, parrots do deterioate quite quickly when they are ill and from when you notice something wrong it is normally to late, sorry for not really answering your questions, all the best Brugge

[jigger]

thx for your reply appreciate it as you said after 14 years you think your doing something right but for them to say pepe was under nutritioned at the time threw me as nothing had changed she was still hyper as usual so im thinking maybe she has been ill and not getting enough from her food as the rest gets added by me...the reason i joined to find out was my wife wants another one asap but i dont think thats the answer just now and what have others done as in replacing them if they have been unfortunate to lose theirs...

[jgrey]

sorry to hear of pepe,i feel your loss too. i lost my amazon 5 years ago this easter and i still get tears in my eyes thinking about him. he too was so ill by the time i noticed (he had aspergillosis) he had medicines and started to pick up but then went suddenly down ill and passed away : ( they can hide illnessess so well,sometimes that we never notice until they're really ill. we decided after much thought and lots of tears that we would love to have a baby grey and 5 weeks later we brought jasper home. he helped us get over losing rocky,i still miss him but jasper is so full of mischief and fun he made me smile again.

you'll never know now but if pepes seed mix was overloaded with sunflowers it could have contributed to her having kidney failure,or it may have affected her liver too. if you do have another bird,try the brands with low sunflower content or try him/her on pellets : )

[jigger]

can you recommend the pellet food to me please i tried so hard with pretty bird but he just wouldnt eat it.i used to sit and pick most of the sunflower out but he still went in for them first but also had fruit and veg daily..i have got another one to see morra night so see how it goes....this is jasper ive to go see 5 months old fate or what lol....

[jgrey]

what a coincidence,another jasper. he looks adorable,look at his happy little face : ) i used to buy pretty bird fo jasper but i do believe it's full of additives,so not so good. i now buy harrisons,hagen is a good brand and more recently there's a new brand from animalzone. they make plain or plumage enhancer (which is more for plucking birds or those with feather problems)

to get him used to pellets,you have to persevere and it can take months.try soaking them in a little fresh orange juice or grinding them up and mixing with vegetables. i know of some people buying the fine ones meant for smaller birds as then there's less waste. jasper is young so he may take to them more regularly : )

[jigger]

hi thx for the advice i will purchase some Harrison`s High Potency

[diana]

Harrisons is good although mine won't eat it. they have Tidymix as well as plenty of fruit & veg.

Hope all goes well. It's a lovely picture.

[jigger]

i can only try it see how it goes...

[jgrey]

tidymix is a good quality food too. a friend of mine feeds her three greys tidymix,along with their favourite veggies : ) don't give up trying whatever you decide,it'll be worth it in the end

[teiltown]

Hi Jigger,

Pepe's death could have been caused by many things. Internal organ failure doesn't just happen as a result of malnutrition. We can even reverse this statement, to say that, malnutrition is a side effect of organ failure. The thing is not to dwell on his death, or rather the cause. I think we are all in agreeance that as you have kept him well for over a decade (and judging by the photo, in top shape as well), you havn't made any stupid mistakes.

Looking into the future, is where we can be sure to get things right. And as already said, diet is key factor,
along with the environment you keep your birds.
My personnel recommendation would be to keep away from the pelleted foods. In the wild a parrots life is dominated by the search for food, and as a result they have quite an appetite for flavour and variety.
To deny this natural stimulant in an already truncated lifestyle, is just wrong.

In this day of parot keeping, we are very fortunate to have science on our side, and there are some extremely good additives on the market. (EasyBird, BreedMax etc...) which can be added (simply sprinkled over fresh fruit/veg or mixed in with egg food) which help your birds absorb and mobilse all the goodness out of their food - providing the goodness is on what you feed them. Which brings up onto more than just Tidymix (which does come highly recommended). Feed pulses which have been soaked and sprouted (the more variety the better) and the same with seed, white sunflower, wheat etc.. all of which can be sprouted increasing the nutrient content.

Don't forget natural light as well. Particularly as your bird is kept indoors. How often does he get a trip out side, or do you have a natural spectrum bulb near his cage.

I hope you search for a new bird goes well.
Kev.

[tiffany]

Hi,

Buy your parrots some Palm Nuts. They are the main food source of African Greys in the wild. My greys love them. They are available from parrot feed stockists like Rob Harvey. One palm nut a day is plenty along with good quality seed and fresh fruit and veg.

[jgrey]

i should have mentioned before,not to buy the high potency,or don't feed it for long. how is jasper doing now,has he grown lots since this photo? : )