Budgies are seeing a surge in their popularity with more and more people starting to keep budgies as pets due to them being a relatively low maintenance bird.
With there being so many beginners to keeping budgies right now, it is easy to see why so many people are reaching out and asking questions about keeping their budgie in the best health possible to ensure that it will live a long and happy life.
One of the more common mistakes that we see beginners make time and time again is allowing their budgie to get fat and this is actually much easier than most beginners actually think.
With this being such a common yet easy to avoid and easy to fix mistake when keeping a budgie as a pet, we have decided to publish this dedicated article going over how you are able to help a fat budgie lose weight and get healthy quickly.
Please note, there are some health issues that budgies can suffer from such as a stomach hernia that can make them appear as if they are fat.
If you do suspect that your budget has a problem with a stomach hernia rather than a weight problem then we would highly recommend that you book a video call with a veterinarian to have them give your budgie the once over.
These video calls are quick and easy while usually being much cheaper than a trip to your local vets while still allowing you to confirm if your budget does have a stomach hernia or not.
Is My Budgie Fat?
Although it can be difficult to weigh a budgie, a healthy adult budgie should be around 1.25oz/35g in weight but it is common for budgies to put weight on quickly and be heavier than this.
You can usually tell if a budgie is fat by simply looking at it as the naturally slender body shape starts to look more pear-shaped if your budgie is fat.
If your budgie has more of a solid lump in one area of its belly while the rest of its belly and chest are in proportion, it is more likely that your pet budgie has a hernia rather than a weight problem.
Stomach hernias are common in birds, especially females after laying eggs and usually are easy to treat if you catch them early enough.
If you do suspect that your budgie has a stomach hernia then you really do need to seek advice from a veterinarian on how to move forward as soon as possible.
Ectopic eggs and egg retention can occur in female budgies making them appear to be putting weight on when they are not.
Again, if you do suspect that your budgie may be having problems with ectopic eggs or egg retention then you really do need to seek assistance from a vet as soon as possible as it is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with quickly.
How Do I Reduce My Budgies Body Fat?
The easiest way to reduce your budgies body fat is to get it to move more and eat less. We understand that many of our readers will not want to let their budgie out of its cage to exercise so that means that you have to get it to eat less.
Feeding a budgie up to 20% less of its daily recommended food portion is usually the easiest way to help your budgie lose weight safely while ensuring that your budgie is on a suitable food.
A very common mistake for people new to keeping a budgie as their pet is that they will use a generic bird food and although this can be fine for larger birds, they often have added fat to them and can quickly make a budgie fat.
This is why we would recommend that you try to switch over to using a suitable budgie food that has specifically been designed for budgies to eat.
It is usually the same price as a generic bird food but is more nutritionally complete for a budgies requirements while also usually being easier to manage your budgies weight on.
This is due to the portion recommendations for the food being designed specifically for budgies while also not usually having additional fat that is packed with calories too.
Why Do Budgies Get Fat?
The two most common reasons that budgies get fat is a lack of exercise and being fed an unsuitable bird food mix.
In the wild, a budgie will fly miles each day and although a domesticated budgie’s diet is adjusted for not needing to burn as many calories each day, unsuitable bird foods will still result in overfeeding of your budgie.
Generic bird foods are usually designed for much larger birds or feeding wild birds that visit your garden or yarn and will be burning off hundreds of calories each day when flying around.
Feeding a budgie a food that is not suitable for them is very common and is probably the leading cause of a budgie being fat but thankfully it is easy to fix.
As we mentioned above, you can usually quickly and easily switch over to a suitable budgie food with the food mix usually being the same price as a generic bird food too.
You should also try to keep the budgie bird treats to a minimum if possible as even though they are marketed towards budgies, some birds will eat them even if they are not hungry resulting in an excess of calories and no way to burn them off.
Can Budgies Be Obese?
Budgies can be obese but the majority of budgie owners notice that their bird is putting weight on and take the steps required to help their bird lose weight.
Obesity in budgies is not as common as in some other domesticated birds though but just like in humans, obesity in a budgie does drastically increase the risk of some health problems and reduce the birds life expectancy.
You can treat obesity in your pet budgie in the same way that you would treat it in any other animal.
Get it to move more and eat less and although we have seen some people claim the their birds have ended up so obese that they are not able to fly anymore, this is usually incorrect.
If your budgie is suffering from obesity then we would highly recommend that you let your budgie out of its cage to exercise when possible even if you don’t like to let your budgie out.
It tends to be easy to budgie proof a room and it is important to deal with the obesity as quickly as possible with exercise and a controlled diet usually being able to do the trick.
Some people will upgrade to a larger bird cage to allow their budgie to fly around without having to be let out of its cage but this will be dependent on your budget.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over fat budgies to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you understand why your budgie may be fat or obese as well as how you are able to help your budgie to lose weight. It is important that you try to keep your budgie at a healthy weight if possible and even though it is easy for a pet budgie to gain weight quickly , it is usually simple enough to manage the food you offer them to help them lose weight and prevent them from putting weight on again in the future.
