Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have owned our cockateil, Rocky, for 13 1/2 years. He has been our pet since he was 8 weeks old. The other morning he fell and we realized he had a broken wing. My husband took him to the vet and we learned that since he is only a seed eating bird his body has depleted all his calcium. An x-ray showed his bones were extremely brittle. The vet was unable to wrap his wing for fear of hurting him more seriously.

We were told to buy Nekton Bio and put him near a window. The Nekton Bio (only seems to be avaiable online) would help replace the calcium his little body is lacking. The vet then told my husband this morning to get an ultraviolet light with UVA and UVB. Again, we could only find the bulb and after several visits to Home Depot, Lowes and electrical supply stores we came up empty.

We have him sitting in a clear box near the window and are trying to help him out of the woods. The vet said it is very touch and go for the next couple of weeks. My husband and I feel terrible. Had we known that the cuttle bone wasn't enough we would have done more. We are trying to introduce new foods but that doesn't seem to be working and we feel we are running out of time.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thank you in advance,
Cathy and Mike

I'm sorry to hear about your tiel.
How have things been since?

If you haven't yet, keep looking for the UV stuff you need. Even if you get it online, it's a must for him now. Until then, taking him outside in the sunlight is the next best thing to do. Putting him by a window, even if the sun is shining through won't help as the window blocks out most UV.

At his age changing diet may not work. You can try buying tiel pellets, soaking a few & mixing them in with his seed.

Unfortunately all seed diets can cause many long term problems in all parrot/cockatoo species.

Good luck with things.