Puff's FDB journey

So after closely looking at Puff's chest and photos I've realized she's still chewing a bit. So last night I have increased her dose to .06 ml of the 2/1 solution. I'm going to keep an eye on things and see how it goes. I'm including a short video of her getting formula and a pic from today, then also pics going backward of her progress. I have noticed her neck feathers are growing in much better, I'm just going to have to keep a very close eye on her progress.

Well I got a good reading this morning and she's up to 318! I'm not quite sure that there isn't more chewing though. I'm going to monitor her and see how it goes. The weight is amazing and she's so full of personality I'm feeling much less stress. If I have to increase I'm also not as concerned. Hopefully we've come through the bumps and she's stabilized out.

It's been a few days since I've posted, but it's all been great. Her weight is consistently going up, she's showing a good amount of interest in foods again and I think the feathers are still looking good. My biggest issue is trying to weigh her in the mornings, she's just so into getting some food it's difficult to get a weight, as you will see in the pictures, I'm calling it 315 today as she bounced between 313 to 317.

OK well the weight wasn't up today but I kind of think it has a little to do with my girls stance choice today (picture to explain, below) she's just being a fluff ball of cuteness the past few days. Which I'm enjoying very much, of course. I've also noticed she's not so inclined to be with me and I think after careful observation I've figured out what that was about. I think the medication was making her maybe a bit fuzzy, even wobbly so she wasn't sure about standing on her own or moving around like she normally did. She's back to flying all over the house, climbing the cupboards and playing hide and seek with me 😜. She certainly is feeling better, that is clear to see.

Yesterday she weighed in at 305 and today it's 308, I'm ready to say we are on the up swing and she has finally stabilized out at the .05 ml of the 2:1 mixture of distilled water to medication. So now we wait to watch the feather growth and how that goes. She's still being fed the formula and I will continue until she reaches at least 320 grams, then slowly taper her off and add other foods, as I can see her eat other things. As of now she isn't showing interest in other foods, she does eat a few of her favorite cashews but nothing else.

Puff is up to 305 grams, she's eating the formula very well now and has started eating a few cashews in the evenings. She's still getting the .05 ml of the 2/1 mixture. She's playing more and napping less, and having me chase her out of the cupboards again (which is her favorite hang out) so overall I'm seeing improvement and hoping she is leveling, I believe she still feels nauseous of whatever you would call it for them so she's not wanting much foods. The formula seems to sit well and she gets excited about being fed.

Today Puff is up a gram to 302 and I'll take it. Not down, but up, slow and steady is just fine with me. She's still not all that interested in other foods but did eat a couple cashews last night, and still taking the formula well. I'm still at 5 ml of the 2/1 solution, it seems she is stabilizing out and doing better so I'll stay at that amount for a bit just to see how she does. Of course I'm seeing more new feathers as well, and in one pick caught her mid grind 😍

Well I've decided to with the 2/1 mixture and see how it goes. So starting her on 05 ml of that mixture. She's eating the formula fairly well, tonight she may have overage a bit and she just threwvup a bit, it wasn't regurgitation, so I'm hoping it was just from overeating and is just a one time thing. Her weight is still hanging just under the 300 mark, so trying to get creative but it seems the only thing she's interested in eating is the formula. On a separate and personal note, I found out yesterday I have a kidney infection which explains my total lack of energy. And partially why I haven't posted for a couple of days. Puff is once again getting some new feathers in and so far they are staying full. So will just have to watch and see. I now understand why I was asked to commit to three months before giving up. Also, I can now understand why so many do give up on this treatment. It is taking quite a toll on Puff and myself and we have hit a few bumps alrea...

OK so puff weighed in yesterday at 308 grams and I was so happy. However, in closer inspection of that photo and looking at her I saw some feathers that she did her first step of damage to. I'll try to explain here, the first thing she does is bite the tip off so what is left is a v shape of the rest of the feather, then she will chew on that. Well if you look at the picture provided which is the one I posted the other day I noticed a few v shapes. This let me know I took the medication too low, so yesterday I went back to .03 ml and in that small increase I'm already noticing her show less interest in foods again. She's still eating and her morning weight was 295 grams.  Ugghhh.

Today was a wonderful morning, so great that I forgot to weigh puff before feeding her as she was so insistant on getting her food! Then she ate the entire syringe full, 25 ml of formula! How amazing is that, she was gobbling it up faster then I could get it to get. Then I had to stop her twice from chewing on the cupboards, an old favorite of hers. So she's finally rounding the corner or over the hump, however you want to say it. I'm including a pic I took today and the one I took before I started the treatment to show the difference this is making. And it's only been a month 😁

We're down a little in weight to 295, but her personality is truly shining through finally so I'm not as worried. She's showing a good amount of interest in food in the last couple days and that's a big change, her asking for food and wanting me to share what I have again is a huge improvement. I'm hoping it will show in her weight in the next few days. I've been working quite a bit this week so I'm sure that isn't helping, however I do come home on my lunch hour and syringe feed her as well as Calypso. She has been taking a good 15 ml the last two days so I'm happy with that as well. Next week I have four days off in a row so I think it will help and I truly hope we make an up swing in her weight. She is also getting more and more new feathers in and it is just truly amazing to see them stay fully intact. I'm so excited to see her in the next couple of months and finally be a fully feathered and happy girl. I'm so happy to have been introduc...

OK, she weighed in at a big 'ol 299 today!  She's getting more of her personality back as well. Telling me no more often, which is always OK, and I'm glad to see her doing again. However I've noticed her desire to be close to me much more, choosing to sleep on me and when I try to put her into her cage at night after our cuddles, she really tries to cling to me. She's finally showing more interest in foods as well, so hopefully this keeps going.

Well, this morning her weight was back down again 😞 293 grams. Last night however, she showed more interest in food since this all began. I was making foraging balls for the gang with unshelled almonds on the inside and she decided they looked so good she tipped the container and dove in head first! I was so excited to see this much interest and I'm truly hoping we have turned a corner, the next few days will tell the truth. I even made her a treat basket and put it in her cage last night and sure enough she dug in this morning. We did formula for breakfast and she ate more then normal, a good 15 ml or so and will be doing eggs for lunch, which is her favorite. Then I'll do another feeding later and leave her with lots of goodies while I'm working, I'll be coming home on my break to medicate and do the formula.

This morning her weight is up to 298, I'm truly wanting to see her get over the three hundreds again, and get her appetite back. This is very concerning for me and with her at such a low dose I wonder if there is something else going on. Just not sure what is the right thing to do, I love the fact that she has new feather growth and is not chewing them, but she is at a lower weight then I ever have seen her.

OK this morning her weight was at 296 grams and her appetite is still down so I will be lowering her dose tonight. There IS confirmed new feathers that are NOT being chewed! That's huge! Look back on the first week pics and the ones I took today...

OK,  well no weight loss or gain,  either way that is quite the improvement. She is being a bit more lively and fiesty today as well. I asked her to step up and she gave me one foot and not the other, and chose to bite my finger. Not hard but enough to let me know she had an opinion about me moving too fast for likeness. It may not seem like much but to me it is huge, she is alert enough to not just comply with whatever and let me know she was unhappy about something. This is not something I have seen since starting this process and until it happened I didn't even realize it was missing. So making this little change seems to have made a big difference. Now let's get that weight back up! She did take a few bites of her favorite fruit today, banana, well second favorite, grapes are #1 but mainly for the juice so the banana actually gives her more. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic now that I've seen some natural behaviors come back. I know this is not something that is ea...

Well, something seems to be working, she's up to 298 grams this morning. I've decided to take tins of pics at as many angles as possible, so here they are, enjoy.

So Puff is down to 291 grams as of today. After discussing this with Don from The Chloe Sanctuary, I'm going to do a 1/1 ratio of medication and water dilution to slowly find her baseline and try to help get her appetite up. I'm also going to make more effort in getting her to take some of the hand feeding formula I currently feed one of the other birds on a daily basis. Normally she gets a few mouthfuls of some whole my focus is on Calypso who has a damaged beak, she enjoys this formula so I'm going to see if I can get her to get her weight up by supplementing some of the formula for a short time.

We'll, today she's down to 298 grams 😔. However,  after giving her the med inn some almond butter on the end of a craft stick which I had to hold while she ate it off, today all full of attitude she snatched the stick and held it herself while eating,  so cute. She also ate her fresh foods (lunch) fairly well today.

So here we are at one week, Puff is starting to eat a bit better and her weight was at 301 grams today. She still lost but much less then the last few days, so hopefully we have turned a corner. Also, she still hasn't chewed those two feathers on her chest and I see a few new ones coming in, so we will see how it goes. I've also noticed a few body feathers have come out as well. As I'm observing I did notice Mylo in the last week has been more hormonal and pushing his limits with her and maybe yesterday she just had enough, let's hope. I'm keeping close watch on them both and making sure a good distance is kept. She still naps a bit but it is nothing major and is less each day.