Cholesterol!!

[MARILYN CEDENO]

I just received the results of Roxie's blood work and everything is very well and normal EXCEPT for her cholesterol. It is pretty high and I'm freaking out. I'm pretty sure one of the main culprits is her former owners constant peanut and cheap Walmart seed mix feeding. But I don't have time to place blame, I need to get the cholesterol down to a normal. She currently gets an AM mix of veggies (kale and/or spinach, carrots, squash, sprouts and a fruit, cantaloupe, strawberries, mango) with a few occasional almonds or Brazil nuts. I also give her a bit of egg and understand I have to cut out the yolk completely. I know I have to increase her activity so I'll try to get her out of her cage more (although she's still very skittish towards me). And absolutely no peanuts/ peanut butter! Does anyone have any special tips that you can offer me? I'm headed home to do some serious research..

 

[Macawnutz]

How long have you had her? Her prior diet would produce that, should not be hard to get her back on track.

 

[MARILYN CEDENO]

How long have you had her? Her prior diet would produce that, should not be hard to get her back on track.

We've had her since Nov 1st. I sure will work hard to turn it around, but getting her to eat good stuff is so difficult. She'd rather just eat her pellets and pick at her veggies or ignore them altogether. Hopefully she's getting some of it down.

 

[Hankmacaw]

You need to get the cholesterol down, but you can do it slowly. I assume that you are not feeding peanuts - the absolutely worst thing for a bird's cardiac health other than bacon. My jasper has congestive heart failure and severe atherosclerosis which your bird will end up with if she doesn't get her cholesterol down. Jasper's chorlesteral is normal.

I would cut out the eggs totally and substitute something like Tofu for extra protein. Substitute walnuts for Brazil nuts and give her mostly Almonds. Almonds are high in calcium and lowest of all of the nuts in fat. To get her to eat the veggies (and very little fruit) I would take her pellets out until after her breakfast veggies in the morning. Reduce fruits because they have a lot of sugar and sugar metabolizes as fat. Keep her carbohydrates to a minimum - but they do need carbs. I feed brown rice, and bird bread for carbs.

She really does need exercise, as all birds do, to strengthen the heart muscles and improve the respiratory system.

Good luck with her.