Feeding Your Pet Bird
Spike Parker
“You are what you eat” has been a catch phrase used for decades in alluding to human dietary indiscretion. This expression holds true for our avian friends as well and is especially fitting since malnutrition is very common in our pet birds and contributes to many of the bird illnesses we see at Pet Care Veterinary Hospital.
Why is this? Probably this is due to the fact that many bird owners are unaware they are feeding an unbalanced diet, and also unaware of the clinical signs associated with malnutrition as many nutrient deficiencies take years to develop into health problems. Traditionally, birds have been fed a mixture of seeds and nuts because they are inexpensive, convenient to feed and most birds like and eat a seed diet. Unfortunately, seed diets are also very unbalanced when it comes to total nutrition. Seeds are high in fat and play a decisive role in the development of avian obesity (yes, birds can be overweight!). As well, most seeds are deficient in a number of essential nutrients; vitamins (particularly Vitamin A and B Vitamins), protein building blocks (such as lysine, methionine and tryptophan), and minerals (especially calcium, manganese, sodium and iodine).
Will a “fortified” seed diet with added vitamins be good enough? Many bird owners feed a ‘fortified’ seed diet containing added vitamins or nutrition pellets in the mixture. However, many birds only pick out and eat a few of their favorite seeds within this seed mix. Not only is this wasteful, but this type of selective eating leads to malnutrition because owners think they are feeding the right thing.
What do birds look like when they are malnourished? Malnourished birds will show a number of subtle changes in their body condition. The skin becomes flaky, dry and may even develop areas of inflammation, especially on the bottoms of the feet. Birds molt less frequently and consequently the feathers appear tattered and dull in color. In addition, the normal feather keratin sheath that surrounds new feathers may be retained; resulting in over-preening and with time feather picking behavior may develop. The beak may be flaky, rough and overgrown lacking the normal smooth, glossy appearance. The scales on the legs and feet may be dry or rough and the underside of the foot may become excessively smooth with possible progression to calluses and ulcers.
So what can the pet bird owner do to prevent this all-too-common malnutrition scenario? For young birds, start off with a healthy diet from the beginning – before a seed addiction starts. For the mature bird already established on seeds: use persistence and patience in order to convert the bird to a healthier diet. Just like we feed our dog and cat friends a pelleted diet – dry kibble, which contains 100% nutrition – we recommend the same for our avian friends. Some examples of good quality, well-balanced avian pelleted diets that provide 100% nutrition include: Harrisons, Lafeber, Roudybush, Mazuri and ZuPreem. The companies behind these brands have taken great lengths to research the nutritional needs of pet birds and develop a well-balanced, palatable pellet. In most cases these pellets can be fed free-choice, meaning they can be left in the food dish and offered at all times. We are currently recommending that 80 – 90% of needed calories be in pelleted diets. Be patient as a conversion to pellets may take anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Monitoring your bird’s weight is important so as to ensure that excessive weight loss, in stubborn converters, does not occur.
What can I offer my bird as a treat? Many bird owners want to offer their pet birds a food treat as a way of signaling love or as a training tool while working on behavior modification and communication. For these moments a special treat such as a few peanuts, seeds, millet (depending on the size of the bird) or other food reward is just fine. Remember however this is a treat – a special reward fed in limited quantities. Too many treats will discourage eating of the more nutritious foodstuffs.
What about supplements? Our recommendation here is to stick with something natural. Birds need Vitamin A for healthy oral and upper respiratory tissues. Try high Vitamin A content vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, yellow squash, escarole, collards and parsley, or fruits such as cantaloupe, apricots and papaya. For more protein, especially important during growth or healing, consider cooked beans (pinto, kidney, navy, etc.), hard-boiled egg whites, or pieces of cooked chicken. For egg-laying females and birds healing from fractured bones the extra calcium needed can be obtained from ground oyster shell or cuttle bones. Just a reminder; homemade diets with moist ingredients tend to spoil easily and should not be left in the cage for extended periods.
Just a word about water. The tap water of some area cities contains a variety of additives and chemicals and is probably less than ideal for your pet bird. Consider distilled or bottled spring water instead. Birds like to use their water bowls to dunk their food or even to take a bath in. As a result, water bowls need to be changed and cleaned daily and in some cases several times a day. Some bird owners have trained their pets to drink from sipper bottles, thereby limiting soiling of water.
“Food is love” another catch phrase? Perhaps… but only if the diet is healthy. As a bird owner you have a companion that, depending on species, may be your friend for 40 years or more. Regardless of life span, offering a complete balanced diet will go a long way in preventing illness, and at the same time foster the development of rich, colorful feathers, smooth, shiny beaks and overall happier, more behavior-free birds.
