Greetings fellow bird lovers. I'd like to share with you some important information concerning your pet bird's health. As a busy avian veterinarian I see sick birds daily, and I have never seen a sick (not counting injuries) bird that did not have an underlying husbandry problem. The single most important thing you can do to positively affect your bird's long term health is to correct your bird's diet. Most people realize if they had a diet deficient in only one vitamin, it would slowly catch up with them. For example, people are familiar with sailors that have developed scurvy from the lack of vitamin C. Low vitamin A levels would slowly decrease night vision, then day vision- (eat your carrots !). A traditional bird seed based diet-( sunflower, safflowers, corn, peanut, etc.) is deficient in at least 7 vitamins, has big mineral imbalance, is full of potentially nasty bacteria, fungal mold spores, and can have an EVIL fungal toxin ( called Aflatoxins) that is one of the most potent cancer causing substances found. So if not seeds, what do you want to feed them? A good quality pelted diet. there are at least a half dozen available at pet shops that carry birds. Since 1992 birds have not been imported, so any babies for sale were hatched here in the United States. Many of these babies are hand-reared by bird fanciers (aviculturists) Aviculturists hand feed birds a powdered pelleted food, mixed up with warm water to form a yogurt consistency gruel. As adolescents the birds are often (quite mistakenly) weaned onto a seed diet. There is no way to add vitamins to a seed based diet and make it balanced. If you ate greasy fast food four meals a day and took a vitamin tablet, you would look o.k., but eventually you would find out why here in Sarasota there is a heart clinic next to a group of fast food places. It catches up. Birds eating a pelleted diet usually live twice as long, are not sick as often, breed better, and look healthier in general. Another important point to remember is to do diet changes SLOWLY, do not attempt "cold turkey" changes. On average most birds can successfully be weaned onto pellets in one to two months. Some readily available pelleted foods are: Pretty Bird, Kaytee Exact, Zupreem, and Hagen Tropican. If you are having difficulties, questions or worries, contact an avian veterinarian in your area, they are ready to help. Preventative medicine is the best medicine.
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