Giving your parrot the wrong bird diet can result in the death of your feathered friend. Yes, this is a fact. Feeding your parrot the right bird diet, however, can help ensure health and longevity for your beloved bird. Only in the last few decades has research revealed which foods are deadly to parrots and which are the best choices for them.
The main benefit of making sure your parrots diet contains the right foods is longevity. Just as people can live longer when eating a healthy diet, so can your companion parrot. It was only come to light in recent decades that parrots can live long lives if properly fed a wide variety of foods.
Healthy Parrot Diet : Seven Deadly Foods
There are many bird diet selections which humans consume that are great for your parrot. However, there are seven foods that can provide deadly to your pet. These are: chocolate, alcohol, avocado, fruits seeds of any type, uncooked eggs, raw meat, or spoiled or moldy foods. There are some other foods over which there is some debate such as onions or garlic cloves. A parrot is extremely unlikely to eat enough of those items to cause a problem.
Healthy Parrot Diet : Parrot Diet Items You Should Limit
There are other human foods which a parrot should have only small amounts included in their bird diet. While a small bit of these foods will not cause harm, allowing the parrot diet to contain large amounts of these can impact the parrot’s health. You will see these foods are also those which healthy humans limit in order to remain at optimum health.
Any food which is high in fat must be limited. Wild parrots diets include very little fat. Think of your parrot diet much as you would the diet of a three year old child. A child could have a few potato chips even though they are high in fact, but you would limit the quantity. In a parrot’s diet, you could allow a bite or even two from the edge of one single potato chip once in a while. Just do not let it become a habit so that every single day the parrot expects and gets potato chips. The golden adage “everything in moderation” is a good guideline to follow about parrot diet items to limit. Examples of foods in this group include: potato chips, fried foods, buttered vegetables or bread, ice cream, and cake or cookies.
Salt is another important item to limit in parrots diets. People should not over-consume salt either, but if you consider how small the parrot body is, you can see what a little salt can be harmful. When cooking any vegetables or other foods, remove a small amount to share with your parrot before adding any seasoning. In this group of foods are: salted meats such as bacon or ham, popcorn with salt, vegetables cooked with salt, and many types of pre-packaged foods such as microwave-ready entrees.
Foods with high sugar are also poor choices for parrots. Diet choices can include very small quantities of added sugar, but use prudence, limiting the parrot to only a bite or two. These foods include items such as: soft drinks with sugar, sweetened cereals, fruit juice with added sugar, cookies, cakes, ice cream, and sugar-coated cereals.
Healthy Parrot Diet : Good Parrot Diet Choices
You may wonder what foods are good to include in your parrot diet. The answer is, basically, everything not listed above! A bird diet should include lots of different foods in order to ensure that a wide range of vitamins and nutrients are consumed. The more choices your parrot diet includes, the better health your parrot will enjoy and the longer life span your companion parrot can expect.
Some of the good foods for parrots’ diets that are really great for parrots are also the foods which are great for health-conscious humans. Vegetables, either raw or lightly cooked are healthy choices. Bits of pasta, cheese, rice, mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes, well-cooked eggs, and bits of well-done meats, poultry, or fish add variety to a bird diet. In fact, many parrots love to chew on a bone from cooked meat and even dig the marrow from the inside of the bone. Let your parrot’s diet include lots of healthy foods.
About the Author
Nora Caterino Mississippi ‘Bird Lady’ finally exposes her proven bird diet.
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