Dairy products and birds

[kiwi2017]

I'm wondering about my birds getting dairy products, specifically my IRN. He's a great eater, gets a good variety of foods and loves veggies, some fruits, grains etc. He LOVES dairy products though but I'm not sure, even on rare occasions if they're ok for him. He's been in my greek yogurt (vanilla), the one time I had ice cream I had to put him back on his cage cause he wouldn't stay out of the bowl and last weekend I made a dessert that had fruit in a cream cheese, cool whip mixture. WOW he loved that one. I had him on my shoulder,he climbed down grabbed a bit of the cream mixture and then the fight was on to keep him out of it. Again I had to put him back on his cage. He loves eggs and those I do let him have. So, is a bit of dairy ok on occasion? When he did get a bit of these things he seemed fine, poop was good etc. I rarely eat dairy myself except eggs but mostly for the reason it's high in calories. Thanks for the help.

 

[Dona]

My breeder said very minimal dairy is OK. Don't go out of my way to feed it, but a little bite of a cheese sandwich is ok, his words. But I think eggs are fine!

 

[kiwi2017]

Yes I know eggs are fine it was the rest I made unsure about. Don’t want to make the little dude sick.

 

[enigma731]

Birds are lactose intolerant. The kinds of processed products you're talking about probably won't hurt in very small quantities, but I would minimize it as much as possible.

 

[Mizzely]

Yep, they can't digest lactose, so too much can give them diarrhea, etc. I limit mine to infrequent, very small amounts of yogurt and hard cheeses, as those are almost devoid of lactose.

Eggs are not dairy, they just don't need much of it. The yolks are the only part I feed as the white is devoid of most of the good nutrients.

Any animal protein, however, can increase the risk of heart disease for birds.

 

[kiwi2017]

Thanks for the replies. I'm lactose intolerant too so pretty much anything I have is lactose free. I guess I can let Klover have a small treat once and awhile.