Five logs
What to write down, and what the app does with it
Birds hide illness. A written record is how a small change gets noticed before it becomes a big one.
Weight in grams
Log weigh-ins on a gram scale and the app measures each one against your bird’s own baseline: the first three weekly weights, or a weight taken at the vet. A loss of 10% or more from that baseline gets a warning.
- Down 10% or more: see an avian vet within a day
- Up 10% or more: book an avian vet check
- 5% either way: weigh again in 2 to 3 days
- The species figure is a typical size, not a healthy range
- A keel check in plain words sits here too, with no score. Your avian vet should show you how
Medications
Enter the medicine as the label has it, then mark each dose given or skipped. Add how many doses are in the bottle and you get a refill warning.
- The dose stays in your vet’s words, and the app never works one out
- Morning, midday, evening or night, every N days
- The refill warning starts at 5 doses left
- A count of doses given over the last 7 days
Droppings check
Look at the three parts, feces, urates and urine, and tap anything unusual. Nothing tapped means it all looks normal. You get one verdict, and the last 30 days stay listed.
- Asks what could explain it: coloured food, moist food, stress
- A change that stays goes to the vet
- Blood, black droppings or red urine: go now
Fresh water
Tick that you changed the water and washed the bowl, and note if your bird is drinking a lot more or a lot less than usual.
- No millilitre target: we found no trusted home figure
- A clear change in thirst: an avian vet within a day
- Tips on bowls, bottles and additives
Daily checks
Watch from a distance and tap what you see: tail bobbing, open-beak breathing, sitting fluffed, on the cage floor, sleeping more, not alert. You can add a resting breath count.
- Count breaths for one minute, before you touch your bird
- A normal count never reassures
- An emergency answer brings up the first aid steps
What is normal
How the app judges weight, droppings and breathing
Weight: your bird’s own baseline
We found no qualifying source for a healthy weight range in these species, so the app shows a typical size for context and never flags a bird from it. What counts is the change from your own bird’s baseline. The Association of Avian Veterinarians says a change of 10% up or down means a visit. The within-a-day timing for a loss is our own advice. More in our bird weight guide.
Droppings: the three parts to check
Three parts. Feces are the solid part, usually green or brown and formed. Urates are the part of the urine you cannot see through, normally white or beige. Urine is the watery part, normally clear. Diet changes the colour, and extra urine is often mistaken for diarrhea. See our bird droppings guide.
When is breathing an emergency?
Tail bobbing with each breath, open-beak breathing at rest or stretching the neck to breathe is an emergency. Go to an avian vet now. A bird that is huddled, weak or sitting on the cage floor is an emergency too. Vets expect about 30 to 60 breaths a minute at rest in birds under 300 g and 15 to 30 in birds of 400 to 1,000 g (Merck gives no figure for birds of 300 to 400 g, which includes many greys and Amazons, so watch your own bird’s usual count), but a normal count does not prove your bird is well.
Sources: Association of Avian Veterinarians · Merck Veterinary Manual, Management of Pet Birds · Merck Veterinary Manual, Injuries and Accidents of Pet Birds · Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine
Why there is no heart rate or temperature log
This one is on purpose. Holding a bird still can harm it, and your avian vet does these readings. At home the app sticks to what you can see from a distance: the breathing, the posture, the feathers and how alert your bird is.
The same care applies to medicine. Never give a human medicine, vitamin or shop remedy to your bird unless your avian vet says so. Some are poisons for birds, and shop remedies can affect vet tests.
Plain answers
A next step, not a number to interpret
Every check ends in a plain next step, so there is no score to decode. Wording varies a little by screen, but the ladder is the same one the sound reading uses.
Nothing flagged. Logged. The app adds that birds hide illness, so a normal check does not rule it out.
Watch and check again. A mild sign, or something with a likely look-alike. If it stays, it goes up a step.
See an avian vet within a day. Out of the usual, or several signs together. Take the log with you.
Go to an avian vet now. Emergency signs, with fixed first aid steps on the screen.
Questions
