A few weeks ago, a chubby galah wandered up to a guy in a local park and offered a foot, asking to be picked up. He took her to the Brisbane Bird Vet where I first saw her, when I was taking in old newspapers. They asked if I wanted to look after her… Of course, I did!! 
As she was a very sick, abandoned animal, whose owners did not step forward, Dr Gallagher graciously did her surgery to remove a 26g fatty mass, and she is now in recovery with us, at home. It is likely that she was kept by an elderly person, and fed a seed and human-food only diet…. Turning her into a ‘perch potato’ which lead to issues such as fatty liver disease, possible arthritis, vitamin deficiencies etc. She could not fly.
BELLY PINS!!
Starting out at 570g when she first arrived at the bird vet, Rosie Jigglypuff Galah is now down to 385g as Vet Nurse Hannah converted her to pellets and fruit/veg, which we have been maintaining. However, she still needs to lose around 100g to get back down to a normal weight range, to ensure that the fatty masses/health issues do not become a problem.
I am currently saving to purchase a big enough cage to allow for adequate exercise. Her enrichment toys are made of things around the house like egg cartons, paper bags, vegie kebob sticks, tissue boxes etc, with her pellets going into foraging materical (paper based kitty litter).
One day, I would also like to get her microchipped so that in the unlikely event of her getting out again, we can find her.
Still on conversion diet from seeds to pellets!
For now, Rosie is a happy, delicate pink puff who loves head scratches, seeds, ripping up tissues, throwing things on the floor, and showers… But has not yet warmed to her new sister Tiel Cheesel!! Her under belly feathers have even started to grow back so soon she will be a whole new flamin galah 🙂
You can follow Rosie and Cheesel on instagram @backflip_birds
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