Nutrition Full Diet For Your Pet Birds

When it comes to feeding your pet bird, you want to add a variety in what they eat. Giving your bird a seed only diet is not healthy in any aspect for your birds diet. Could you imagine eating the same meal every day? Humans and birds alike need a more complex diet that consists of foods high in nutrition such as fruits, veggies, seeds, and sometimes even table food.

Variety In Foods

Placing a variety of seeds and other foods in a dish and expecting your pet bird to eat exactly what he needs does not work. Birds do not have the ability to choose a proper, nutrition full diet for themselves, so it’s up to the owner to provide balanced nutrition. One of the most nutritious foods to feed your pet birds are bird pellets, and in most cases a local pet supply store will carry bird pellets, which are quite similar in appearance to  dry dog and cat food. Vegetables and fruits are great additions to your bird’s balanced diet, but do not comprise a complete diet of these items. Choose vegetables such as corn, broccoli, carrots, yams and peas rather than iceberg lettuce and celery, which are lacking in nutrients and simply are a source of water and fiber. Apples, grapes and bananas make good fruit choices and are high in nutrition for your pet bird. Avoid feeding your bird citrus fruits specifically recommended by your avian veterinarian. Also, keep the amount of table food that you may offer to your bird at a minimum. Never give the birds chocolate, wine and liquor, caffeinated beverages, avocados and spicy foods. These foods are potential dangers to your birds health.

Seed Only Diets

Seed only diets can in no way provide your bird with the diet that it requires. Seeds are a nutritious and important food in a birds diet, but if nothing else is in your birds diet, your pet bird’s health will deteriorate. Birds in the wild will eat seeds exclusively only when no other foods are available, as a sort of survival diet. While food supplies are abundant however, birds will eat a wide array of food items to correct any imbalance in their diets, including insects, worms, fruits, vegetables and grains. If your bird was raised on an all-seed diet, most efforts to convert your bird to a healthy diet such as bird pellets will be extremely difficult. You can attempt to get your bird to change the food it eats by sneaking bird pellets into little cakes or nuggets, and slowly adding pellets to the mix until you no longer need the cakes or nuggets.

Nutritional Foods Safe to Feed your Bird

Vegetables

• Green Leafy Vegetables, such as red-leaf lettuce, chard, mustard greens, arugula, spinach
• Colorful Veggies, such as carrots, red or green bell peppers

Fruits

• Banana
• Papaya
• Blueberries
• Apple
• Cantaloupe

Nuts, Legumes (beans) & Grains:

• Almonds
• Garbanzo Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Lentils
• Cooked Brown Rice

Table Food

• Whole-wheat pasta
• Cooked Potato
• Broiled Skinless Chicken
• Cooked Squash
• Scrambled Eggs
• Quinoa (cooked or sprouted)

As always, consult your avian veterinarian before feeding your bird any sorts of table foods, or if you just have questions consisting of your birds health and diet. You can ask us questions personally, or even set yourself up to be a new client of All Pets Veterinary Medical Center by contacting us through the button below.