Post by rosebunting on Jun 5, 2023 14:50:55 GMT
Hey guys, I'm back after what feels like forever, haha
I haven't been on the forum much because I tend to catch worries very easily, and everything has been going mostly well. I've actually been able to get Arthur to eat veggies and pellets! He seems to be a bigger fan of the pellets, as he will only eat his chop if I'm holding it for him in his cage, lol. So for half an hour every day I'm his personal feeding station
He still eats a fair amount of seed, but I am still trying to cut that down. However, recently I've been becoming more concerned about an occasional behavior
If you remember my old posts, Arthur has had bouts of regurgitation (oftentimes just the action, not actually spitting out his food) with lethargy, which would normally only happen once every couple of months. But recently, it's felt more frequent. And it's coupled with a strange symptom I can't seem to find much info about: his poops will only appear to be urate and urine while he has one of these episodes
The logical answer would be that he's just not eating during these episodes, and he may be eating less, but he is definitely still eating, and it's not ending up on the cage floor or surroundings as far as I can tell
The next day, he'll act completely normal. This only occurs in the afternoon/evening
In the past, a blood test showed his liver enzyme was high, but we haven't had another blood test since due to the risks of anesthesia. I'm at a loss of what to do. The vet says they can only do a blood test with the anesthesia (he is extremely wiggly)
The only thing I can think of is to cut down his seed even more (right now he gets about 1.5 tsp a day, maybe a little bit more for a reward/bribes for weighing). He doesn't eat all types of the seed in the mix though, probably only two or three, so in reality it's probably 1 tsp max
He also gets a little bit of sweet potato with lactulose and milk thistle for his liver, as that's the only way I've been able to get him to eat it
The pellets he is on are Harrison's high potency with a little of the regular adult formula mixed in. I was thinking maybe I should switch him to the maintenance formula full time? they have much less fat than the other type
His chop is a mix of kale, spinach, acorn squash, carrots, red bell pepper, quinoa, and some ground up tops pellets to dry the mixture out a little bit. His favorite parts are definitely the bell pepper and the acorn squash, but I think he's getting some of the other foods since they are cut up very very small
I give him a little chop in the morning with seed, pellets, and a little bit of mash and ground tops pellets. In the afternoon, he gets his hand fed chop. In the evening he gets a bird bread muffin with some pellets on top that does have some added seed, but I am working on decreasing the seed amount. Then he gets some more pellets and a little bit of seed right before bed.
He also has pellets available 24/7, which he usually will have a little in the morning and a fair amount in the afternoon (after chop). His water is also dosed with calorad provided by the vet and ACV
Any thoughts on the diet? Or the urate only poops? I just want to do the best I can for him
Apologies that this was so long, I am very nervous and worried about forgetting details
Edit: I forgot to mention that his last check up (in March) was very good, he had lost weight as advised by the vet(he's now around 36 g) and had a good build up of muscle
I haven't been on the forum much because I tend to catch worries very easily, and everything has been going mostly well. I've actually been able to get Arthur to eat veggies and pellets! He seems to be a bigger fan of the pellets, as he will only eat his chop if I'm holding it for him in his cage, lol. So for half an hour every day I'm his personal feeding station
He still eats a fair amount of seed, but I am still trying to cut that down. However, recently I've been becoming more concerned about an occasional behavior
If you remember my old posts, Arthur has had bouts of regurgitation (oftentimes just the action, not actually spitting out his food) with lethargy, which would normally only happen once every couple of months. But recently, it's felt more frequent. And it's coupled with a strange symptom I can't seem to find much info about: his poops will only appear to be urate and urine while he has one of these episodes
The logical answer would be that he's just not eating during these episodes, and he may be eating less, but he is definitely still eating, and it's not ending up on the cage floor or surroundings as far as I can tell
The next day, he'll act completely normal. This only occurs in the afternoon/evening
In the past, a blood test showed his liver enzyme was high, but we haven't had another blood test since due to the risks of anesthesia. I'm at a loss of what to do. The vet says they can only do a blood test with the anesthesia (he is extremely wiggly)
The only thing I can think of is to cut down his seed even more (right now he gets about 1.5 tsp a day, maybe a little bit more for a reward/bribes for weighing). He doesn't eat all types of the seed in the mix though, probably only two or three, so in reality it's probably 1 tsp max
He also gets a little bit of sweet potato with lactulose and milk thistle for his liver, as that's the only way I've been able to get him to eat it
The pellets he is on are Harrison's high potency with a little of the regular adult formula mixed in. I was thinking maybe I should switch him to the maintenance formula full time? they have much less fat than the other type
His chop is a mix of kale, spinach, acorn squash, carrots, red bell pepper, quinoa, and some ground up tops pellets to dry the mixture out a little bit. His favorite parts are definitely the bell pepper and the acorn squash, but I think he's getting some of the other foods since they are cut up very very small
I give him a little chop in the morning with seed, pellets, and a little bit of mash and ground tops pellets. In the afternoon, he gets his hand fed chop. In the evening he gets a bird bread muffin with some pellets on top that does have some added seed, but I am working on decreasing the seed amount. Then he gets some more pellets and a little bit of seed right before bed.
He also has pellets available 24/7, which he usually will have a little in the morning and a fair amount in the afternoon (after chop). His water is also dosed with calorad provided by the vet and ACV
Any thoughts on the diet? Or the urate only poops? I just want to do the best I can for him
Apologies that this was so long, I am very nervous and worried about forgetting details
Edit: I forgot to mention that his last check up (in March) was very good, he had lost weight as advised by the vet(he's now around 36 g) and had a good build up of muscle
