Darn time changes....

[linda040899]

Heck, Ditto needs to eat just to keep up the energy level!!!! Bless his heart for all that energy and enthusiasm! He sure adores his human slave!

[Z28Taxman]

Well hopefully he calms down enough to put a bit of weight back on soon.

[Z28Taxman]

Well I did some google searching today and found quite a few hits regarding weight loss during moulting.

On a cockatiel forum one reported that their tiel went from 92 grams to 82 grams in a week then put it back once the moult was over. Others in the same thread reported their tiels losing some during a moult.

A veterinary paper reports that bullfinches can lose up 10 to 20 percent during a moult and penguins can lose 50 percent!

So hopefully that's what's going on and it makes dittos 3-5 gram loss seem not so bad.

He was 44 grams when I got home yesterday, and 45 when he woke today (after doing 3 poops) so fingers crossed....

[michael]

Well I did some google searching today and found quite a few hits regarding weight loss during moulting.

On a cockatiel forum one reported that their tiel went from 92 grams to 82 grams in a week then put it back once the moult was over. Others in the same thread reported their tiels losing some during a moult.

A veterinary paper reports that bullfinches can lose up 10 to 20 percent during a moult and penguins can lose 50 percent!

So hopefully that's what's going on and it makes dittos 3-5 gram loss seem not so bad.

He was 44 grams when I got home yesterday, and 45 when he woke today (after doing 3 poops) so fingers crossed....

Could be that due to the higher amount of protein (feathers are made up of 91% protein) needed to help nourish new feather growth during a molt, that in itself may be a main contributor to the weight loss.

[Z28Taxman]

Could be that due to the higher amount of protein (feathers are made up of 91% protein) needed to help nourish new feather growth during a molt, that in itself may be a main contributor to the weight loss.

Most certainly. That and the up to 30 percent increase in metabolism. I'm hoping that's all it is. He's certainly spending enough time at the food dish.

Last night the food dish lost 15 grams between 8:30 and 10:30pm. Now a good bit of that got smuggled into the veggie bowl but I don't think that much was in there when I took them out.

[Z28Taxman]

Well he ate his normal 3 grams during the day (most of that likely this morning) but the scale says 43 grams.

He's his usual perky self though, just covered with pins. No abnormal poops. He's gonna drive me to drink if he doesn't eat more. Maybe I'll make him some birdy bread this weekend and get him some sunflower seeds.

[Z28Taxman]

After eating, eating and more eating all night he's back to 45 grams and still eating. He did get mad at me though. After I put him back in after tv time, he started eating his veggies and flinging peas out of the bowl. I tried to put them back and he growled at them and threw them back out again. I guess he didn't want those 2 pods!

[Z28Taxman]

Well his moult has slowed down and his weight as of right now is back to 46 grams!

[Z28Taxman]

This morning when I came down at 9am and uncovered him he was in his usual spot, face down in the food dish. He hopped on the food dish while I was trying to fill it and when I weighed it he stepped on and was 45 grams again so he's definitely putting the weight back on.

[Z28Taxman]

Last night while I was refilling his food dish he hopped on the scale and weighed almost 46 grams.

When I came down at 5:30 this morning I heard crunching coming from the cage.

I uncovered him and there he was, sitting in the dark, munching away. He normally doesn't crawl out of bed untl a few minutes after I walk into the room. Guess he was hungry. I left the food dish door open while I filled the bowl and he flew out to the kitchen to supervise. When I put the food dish on the scale to weigh it, he hopped on to eat and was a solid 46 grams!