rka@cci632.UUCP (Robert Anton) (04/08/90)
After 2 years of strictly eating sunflower seeds and corn kernels, our cockatoo (Opus) has discovered cheese (he prefers cheddar cheese). We have tried to feed him vegetables, fruits, parrot treats, ... to no avail. My question is whether this is healthy or not. Should he have his cholesterol checked :^) ? He likes his cheese right before he climbs/hops up the stairs to sleep for the night. We have a small perch set up next to the bathroom vanity mirror. He picked this habit up when we drove cross country with him staying at hotels. Now he throws tandrums if you try making him sleep in his cage. ==============================================================================
mary@dinorah.wustl.edu (Mary E. Leibach) (04/10/90)
rka@cci632.UUCP (Robert Anton) writes: >After 2 years of strictly eating sunflower seeds and corn kernels, Yikes! At the minimum, this bird needs a better seed mix. Try Topper, expensive, but it will sneak some vitamins past him and give him some variety. >our >cockatoo (Opus) has discovered cheese (he prefers cheddar cheese). Well, at least he's getting some protein. Still, too much fat. >We have >tried to feed him vegetables, fruits, parrot treats, ... to no avail. >My question is whether this is healthy or not. NO!!! >Should he have his cholesterol >checked :^) ? He should be checked by an avian vet and put on a descent diet. >He likes his cheese right before he climbs/hops up the stairs to >sleep for the night. Does he have you jumping through hoops as well? ;-) >We have a small perch set up next to the bathroom >vanity mirror. He picked this habit up when we drove cross country with him >staying at hotels. Now he throws tandrums if you try making him sleep in his >cage. This is not a problem, unless you do not have toilet accomodations for him. The diet is. He should be eating about 45% veggies, 5% fruit, 30% pellets, 12% seeds (more than two kinds), and 8% misc, including the cheese. From what I know of cockatoos, this will not be easy. It would be best to work on one thing at a time. I'd start with a more varied seed mixture that was fortified. Then I'd try for veggies. Get him a non-toxic edible plant. Spider plant is a good one, or sprout his seeds. My budgie started with a spider plant that he found by accident. Instinct had him munching the leaves. I gave him a leaf in his cage and he munched it. I gave him a piece of spinach shaped like the leaf. He munched it. He now eats veggies. He was the hard one to get on F&V. The others just ate what was offered. Another thing is that one is tempted to cut the F&V up too fine. Give your bird big chunks, they like to hold the chunk and bite off pieces. You might also try hanging up pieces as toys (they have bird safe hangers for this). Or try eating what you want him to eat in front of him. My bigger birds can't resist hopping on a plate and helping themselves. They have gotten so bad that I can't eat or drink with them loose. Curiosity, jeolousy, and greed will probably help you out a lot with getting your bird to eat what he should. Good luck! -Mary
ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (04/10/90)
More diet stuff. Oh Nooooo :-) Yes, birds DO get heart/artery problems due to high cholesterol. My vet recently saw a 7 year old amazon who died of hardening of the arteries. The bird should have lived at least 50 more years. It was diet related. The owner let the bird eat off her plate and she usually ate stuff like sour creme, toast and butter, meat and potatoes, etc. etc. Top it off with a seed mix that was mostly sunflower (53% fat) and voila! Here are some tips for changing over cockatoos to a *good* [tm] diet: 1) do NOT try to starve them into trying something new. They very well may call your bluff, resulting in a dead bird. Cockatoos and greys are notorious for this! 2) Fruits and veggies are best accepted first thing in the morning. Try giving the bird nothing but a bowl of fruits and veggies in the AM, and a few hours later, change it for his regular stuff. 3) Giving the bird a handful of seed sprinkled on top of pellets in the afternoon will get the bird used to the fact that pellets are food. You can gradually try decreasing seed and increasing pellets until he eats them. Even after conversion to pellets, the bird will become bored if that is all you give him. A couple of peanuts of sunflowers every day won't hurt him. 4) There are new fruit/veggie delivery systems :-) available from showbird. The device consists of a skewer on which you stick an apple, orange, etc, and a cover for the pointy end of the skewer. The bird thinks its a toy and gradually starts chewing/picking at it. Sneaky way to get them some good stuff. 5) If you HAVE TO feed seed, try to make sure it's fresh. If it won't sprout, there ain't enough nutrients in it to keep a cockatoo going. 6) Don't forget nekton-s in the water, vionate sprinkled on the food, and maybe even some petamine thrown in for good measure. Chances are your bird will live much longer if you give him a good variety of vitamins and minerals, while cutting down on the fats. Cockatoos in the wild eat LOTS of different things. Not just seeds. Experiment. I have one that loves spaghetti, another that will die for ice cream (he only gets a little, very infrequently. You've never seen anything like a cockatoo that runs across the room and buries his beak in your Ben & Jerry's :-)). They all love grapes and apples. One hates oranges so much that he buries his head in his water dish whenever he tastes them. All birds are different. You have to keep trying until you hit upon something good they want. Mikki Barry
duane@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (duane.galensky) (04/10/90)
In article <35800@cci632.UUCP> rka@ccird7.UUCP (Robert Anton) writes: >After 2 years of strictly eating sunflower seeds and corn kernels, our >cockatoo (Opus) has discovered cheese (he prefers cheddar cheese). We have >tried to feed him vegetables, fruits, parrot treats, ... to no avail. >My question is whether this is healthy or not. Should he have his cholesterol >checked :^) ? Sammy (a white cockatoo) loves cheese also. Cheese is a good source of protein and much-needed calcium...BUT: the casein in cheese can lead to digestive problems, particularly crop disorders which you would definitely want to avoid. Cheese should therefore be offered sparingly. Other good protein sources are scrambled eggs (cooked well, with *very* well cooked eggshell crushed in for calcium...beware that eggs carry fowl typhus which can be fatal!), chicken (Sammy looves to gnaw on chicken bones, but be careful to supervise the bird at all times), or any other stuff that *you* eat (it's often said that the healthiest birds are the ones that share the dinner table, both for food variety and the psychological benefits of eating with others present). Make sure the cage (or whatever) is equipped with a mineral block that the bird can use...this is often overlooked and critically important, from what I've read. A diet of strictly seeds is not good. Of course the bird loves 'em, but seeds are too high in fat to be a sole source of nutrition. Most experts advise that the diet should be only about half seeds! You might try this in order to urge the bird to take fruits and veggies: place a tray of washed fruits and veggies in the cage and remove the seeds (don't worry, the bird won't starve!). If you leave the seeds there, the bird will never eat the good stuff! In the early evening, monitor how much was eaten, and supplement with seeds as necessary. Keep in mind that fruits and veggies are a vital part of a wild bird's diet, and not insisting that the bird eat them is sure to be very detrimental (as a defense mechanism, birds won't show health problems until they become extremely serious, so don't judge by Opus' outward signs). DO NOT offer seeds of fruits such as apples and pears: these are toxic to the bird's sensitive metabolism. After a few days, I'll bet Opus loves the stuff! Sammy goes bananas over bananas, apples, pears, etc., and actually prefers them to seed. As long as I keep supplying the stuff, the seeds go untouched. Do Opus a favor, and you'll be rewarded with a longer, more valuable relationship. duane
kac@mtune.ATT.COM (Kathleen Cavanagh) (04/11/90)
In article <4568@cbnewsj.ATT.COM>, duane@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (duane.galensky) writes: > In article <35800@cci632.UUCP> rka@ccird7.UUCP (Robert Anton) writes: > >After 2 years of strictly eating sunflower seeds and corn kernels, our > >cockatoo (Opus) has discovered cheese (he prefers cheddar cheese). We have > >tried to feed him vegetables, fruits, parrot treats, ... to no avail. > >My question is whether this is healthy or not. Should he have his cholesterol > >checked :^) ? > Rigbey, our baby umbrella cockatoo, goes crazy for broccoli and peanuts! He is also quite fond of cooked baby lima beans, fresh string beans, dried figs, apples, bananas, dried apricots, unsalted pretzels and unsalted pistachios, popcorn, both popped and unpopped, and, we found out last night, pizza crust! the seed we use is ABBA 1300. it's already shelled and not that messy. One thing i did notice is that the ABBA 1300 has dried hot peppers in it and Rigbey really loves these! He cracks open the peppers and wolfs down the seeds! And I KNOW these peppers are hot, cause I put a piece on my tongue to check...BOY was I SORRY!!! He doesn't really like cheese, but he gets plenty of protien from other stuff that we give him. We even toss him a chuck of well cooked steak once in while. Also, I give him a spray of millet once in the morning and once at night, and he really enjoys playing with it and eating it. -kathy cavanagh
mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike Mahler) (04/12/90)
In article <1990Apr9.170834.5948@dinorah.wustl.edu>, mary@dinorah.wustl.edu (Mary E. Leibach) writes: > rka@cci632.UUCP (Robert Anton) writes: > > >After 2 years of strictly eating sunflower seeds and corn kernels, > > Yikes! At the minimum, this bird needs a better seed mix. Try > Topper, expensive, but it will sneak some vitamins past him and give > him some variety. At first glance I, too, also thought Topper was overpriced. However after using his feed for a bit over a year I have found that my birds waste less of his feed than of other feeds I have tried. In fact I pay twice the price for his feed compared to the feed I used before AND I only buy half as often so I'm still spending about the same. So it's truly not anymore expensive and it's much better for the bird. Richard Topper is also a very reputable fellow.