Comments on: Working it out: Get help when facing behavior problems in pets

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:50:21 +0000

And that’s what got my previous bird into trouble. I listened to the advice of the “expert bird vet” (I didn’t know at the time to check into board certifications as an avian vet - although there weren’t so many of those around, either) and this “expert” convinced me that seed would kill my bird, and that I needed to feed him a “complete and balanced” pelleted diet for him to be his most healthy.

And - just like all those cat owners giving their sick cats “melamine-in-a-can” - I was slowly but surely poisoning my bird every time I refilled his food dish.

“Complete and balanced”. Yeah. Not in MY lifetime!

I just hope bird owners are getting the message and that there weren’t too many other birds out there who suffered and died the way mine did.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:42:29 +0000

Hmmmm … this just hit me: Isn’t it interesting that avian veterinarians recognize the potential problems in a limited diet of processed food or seed and recommend a WIDE VARIETY of fresh, mostly whole, foods to offset those issues? What a difference from the traditional “no ‘table scraps’, nothing except your ‘completely and balanced’ commercial food” advice traditionally given to owners of cats and dogs.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:27:40 +0000

I think the same problems and challenges apply to commercial bird diets as to commercial dog/cat diets. But I know as a pet-care columnist that so many people are still feeding only seed to their parrots (parrots also includes cockatiels and budgies), and that’s the baseline we’re trying to move up.

Avian veterinarians generally recommend having pellets as a base, complemented (not supplemented) by a wide and ever-changing variety of healthy and most unprocessed foods, everything from veggies/fruits/nuts to scrambled eggs, bread and even, (cough cough) chicken.

Of course, it is completely possible to feed birds a completely home-prepared diet, just as it is in dogs and cats. Seeds are generally better used as treat, not a diet. (They’re EXCELLENT for clicker-training, by the way.)

Finally, remember that all brands are not the same, just as in cat/dog food.

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:19:22 +0000

Dr. Becker writes:

“The trend in recent years has been toward pelleted diets, and pet birds are healthier than ever before as a result.”

Well - SOME birds . . . . . . . .

From http://www.geocities.com/Petsb.....ellets.htm :

“Some breeders I have talked to have had problems with gout as well as kidney damage in cockatiels that eat over 80% pellets. Most pellets have a vitamin D3 level between 400 IU / Kg and 1000 IU / Kg. Excessive vitamin D3 can cause calcification of internal organs and death. In the early 1990’s some pellets had levels over 2,200 IU / Kg,then the research showed that too high levels could be dangerous and most manufacturers lowered their levels.”

Mine was one of those birds. When he died at the age of 4, his bones were solid calcium rather than honeycombed because of the mixed signals his body was getting from the overdose of Vitamin D3 in his pellets and his heart was almost completely encased in gouty crystals.

It may well be that pellets have been remanufactured to address this problem, but I haven’t had the heart to try with my current ‘tiel.

He’s doing well on a fortified seed mix by a well-known manufacturer and supplementation with fruits and vegetables.

I just hope the pellet manufacturers have learned their lesson and are not still making ALL their pellet formulations according to a single recipe (as if pet birds are all a single species) differing only in size.