Calcium: the grey-specific problem to know first
More than most pet parrots, African greys are prone to low blood calcium, and a keeper who knows the early picture can act in time. The signs are neurological: a bird that becomes clumsy or uncoordinated, trembles, grips weakly, falls from its perch, or in the worst case has a seizure. Any of those episodes in a grey is an emergency appointment, not a home-observation case — seizures and collapses do not wait politely. Behind the scenes, diet is usually part of the story: a seed-heavy menu is poor in calcium and in the vitamin D pathway that lets a bird use it, so vets typically address the whole diet, including calcium-rich vegetables such as kale and broccoli and a quality pellet base, alongside any direct treatment they judge necessary.
Feathers that tell two different stories
Feather plucking and chewing are common in greys and frustrating precisely because they have two broad families of causes. Some cases are medical: skin irritation, parasites, underlying illness or nutritional shortfalls itching away under the surface. Others are behavioural, growing out of boredom, stress, loneliness or a change in the household in a species famous for intelligence and sensitivity. Owners often assume behaviour and start with toys when the bird needed a vet first. The sound order is the reverse: an avian vet rules out physical causes, and then enrichment, routine repair and social time address what remains. A grey that suddenly starts plucking after years of perfect feather deserves the medical check most of all, because change itself is the clue.
Breathing and air quality
Greys are sensitive to what is in the air they breathe, and their respiratory problems often build quietly. Watch for a tail that bobs with each breath, wheezing or clicking sounds, open-beak breathing, a voice that changes character, or a bird that stops talking and sits fluffed. Fungal infection of the airways, classically linked to mould spores in damp or dusty environments, is one of the serious possibilities a vet will consider, which is why food storage matters: keep seed and pellets dry and fresh, never feed from a musty-smelling bag, ventilate the bird's room, and keep aerosol sprays, scented candles and non-stick cookware fumes well away from the bird. Laboured breathing in any grey is urgent the day it appears.
The slow damage of an all-seed diet
A bowl of sunflower seeds is to a grey roughly what a bowl of crisps is to a person: eagerly eaten, quietly harmful. Beyond the calcium problem, seed-heavy diets are short of vitamin A, and deficiency shows up as poor feather quality, blunted immunity and repeated respiratory or sinus trouble. Sedentary older greys on rich diets can also lay down fat around the liver and in the arteries, which is why a vet may ask pointed questions about menu and flight exercise. Converting a stubborn grey to pellets and vegetables is famously slow work — weeks of mixing, offering chopped vegetables daily and eating bird-safe foods in front of the bird like a flock-mate — but it prevents more illness than any supplement sprinkled on the same old seed.
Ageing greys and the value of a baseline
A grey can share your home for decades, so senior changes arrive eventually: stiffer grip and arthritis in the feet, reduced stamina, cloudier eyes, and heart and circulation problems that show first as exercise intolerance — a bird breathless after a short flight it once did easily. Twice-yearly senior check-ups, periodic blood work as the vet advises, and a written baseline of weight, appetite and behaviour from the bird's healthy years make those changes measurable instead of debatable. Decline you can graph is decline you can act on early.
That baseline is exactly what scattered notebooks fail to keep. Your grey's Pet Passport on KinsLe holds the record in one place, so a calcium scare or a breathing change is judged against the bird's own history rather than against memory.