GreenThing
Jogging around the block
Yes, I am on the paranoia train with Percy, but I have to ask any budgie owners whose birds enjoy scritches: I've been giving Percy lots of head rubs, this molt, and a spot he really likes to be pet is the naked pink spot under his lower mandible. I've noticed there is like a hard, round protrusion in the hollow of his throat and assumed it was part of his anatomy (the trachea? thyroid area?). Has anyone else with touchy-feely budgies (or other little psittacines, I wouldn't imagine they are that different) noticed this? Is it a normal thing to feel?
I'm assuming (read: hoping, questions) that my vet would have noticed anything obviously amiss during the physical exam, but when reading about budgie anatomy I was shocked to see multiple studies that indicated certain green vegetables have directly contributed to thyroid issues (including goiter) in budgies (usually when there isn't enough supplementation). Iodine-binding goitrogens include cruciferous vegetables (especially broccoli, but also Percy's favorite vegetable-- dandelion greens). I know Harrison's contains iodine supplement (I know sea kelp is high in iodine), and maybe it is more than enough to offset goitrogens, but this has set off all of the alarm bells in my head. This avian medicine entry from UF (it's old, 2003, I don't think iodine deficiency is as prevalent with pelleted diets) would be upsetting even if I wasn't headed to the vet:
I'm assuming (read: hoping, questions) that my vet would have noticed anything obviously amiss during the physical exam, but when reading about budgie anatomy I was shocked to see multiple studies that indicated certain green vegetables have directly contributed to thyroid issues (including goiter) in budgies (usually when there isn't enough supplementation). Iodine-binding goitrogens include cruciferous vegetables (especially broccoli, but also Percy's favorite vegetable-- dandelion greens). I know Harrison's contains iodine supplement (I know sea kelp is high in iodine), and maybe it is more than enough to offset goitrogens, but this has set off all of the alarm bells in my head. This avian medicine entry from UF (it's old, 2003, I don't think iodine deficiency is as prevalent with pelleted diets) would be upsetting even if I wasn't headed to the vet:
Crop distension. And one of his behaviors that worried me lately were little squeaking sounds he would make if he was bending over unusually far (I have some deepish forage cups) to eat.An inadequate level of iodine in the diet leads to a lack of available iodine in the thyroid glands. Iodine is needed for the production of thyroxine. [...] Hyperplasia of the thyroid gland is a response to the body's need to produce more thyroxine. With sustained iodine deficiency, the signals continue to stimulate epithelial cell proliferation and produce thyroid enlargement.
Goitrogenic substances act by blocking the production of thyroxine, even though adequate levels of iodine are present.