Ask Lafeber

My cockatiel is very sleepy

Hi,

My cockatiel was very active in the morning but bit sleepy towards the evening yesterday 8/11. Today 8/12 I found him deceased at the bottom of his cages I’m trying to figure out what happened. For one, I rescued him from a person that I believe was inbreeding them, two he was only about 4 months old. I know he was healthy according to my vet, one thing I notice is that his feet were cold most of the time. Could inbreeding cause him to have cold feet and potentially pass at such a young age?

Hi Lucy,

I’m so sorry to hear about your cockatiel. There is no way to know what happened without the Vet doing a necropsy. Birds will try to hide signs of illness, so once they do look sick, they have often been sick for a few days. It is possible that there was something wrong with the bird if he was bred from related birds. Sadly the offspring can have internal deformities that prevent the bird from surviving for more than a few months. You should let this person know what you have gone through and why inbreeding is so bad.

Take care,

Brenda