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Seeds
alone are not a complete and balanced diet for pet birds!
Seed only diets will lead to dangerous nutritional deficiencies and will
cause serious illness!
It
is acceptable to feed your pet bird a good quality seed mix as a stable
diet, IF and ONLY IF they are also eating
other important food items:
Dark Leafy Greens:
This is the most
important of a pet bird’s healthy diet. Your bird should be offered a
variety of fresh leafy greens every day. These are the best source of
calcium as well as other important vitamins for your bird. Appropriate
greens include: Spinach, Kale, Chard, Parsley, Cilantro and any that
have the word “Greens” in the name such as Collard Greens, Mustard
Greens, etc. Lettuces should be avoided, even Romaine Lettuce.
Though these are not harmful to your bird, they contain little or no
nutritional value.
Other Vegetables:
A variety of other
vegetables should be offered each day as well in smaller amounts. These
should include foods such as Green Beans, Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots,
Peas, and Corn, etc.
Fruits:
Very small amounts of
fruit are healthy for your pet bird. Fruit should be the smallest part
of your bird’s diet. (This may not be true for certain species, ask you
exotic animal veterinarian about your pet’s requirements). Acceptable
fruits include Grapes, Berries, Melons, Bananas, and Citrus Fruit such
as Oranges.
People Foods:
Birds are one of the few
pets for which certain people foods are acceptable. High Fat, Sugar,
Salt, as well as Dairy products should be avoided! Appropriate items
include whole wheat bread or toast, small amounts of cooked rice or
pasta without sauces, small amounts of cooked egg. For larger species,
some nuts are acceptable.
Pelleted Diets:
In recent years,
Pelleted Diets (similar to dry dog or cat foods) have been developed for
birds. These diets are nutritionally complete, and have the added
benefit of being less messy due to the lack of empty seeds and shells.
I strongly recommend pelleted diets for most pet birds! Most brands are
very good and several brands are available in pet stores. These diets
are meant to replace the seed component of the bird’s diet and require
less attention to fresh foods, (although they are still recommended for
complete nutrition and variety). Although the brands are good, I
recommend “Harrison’s Bird Diet”. This diet is the only one that is all
natural and all organic. Harrison’s is only available at certain
veterinarians and is therefore harder to find, but I believe worth the
extra effort.
***Important Note: Birds do not often accept new foods
readily. It is crucial that you get proper instructions on how to
convert your bird over to a pelleted diet.***
(See
the “Converting Your Bird
to Pellets” handout)
Household Dangers and Toxic Foods:
The following items are
either poisonous or very harmful to birds! Avocado, Chocolate, any
source of Caffeine, the fumes from cooking with non-stick pans, and many
common houseplants.
Ken Slossberg, DVM
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