Cat food?

[TextsFromParrots]

You know, Lafayette really is trying to make me get old before my time! Today he's been flying about a bit and checking out new places. I've kept an eye on him and then I saw him repeatedly fly to the kitchen and then back again. Each time only about a minute. When I finally realized that he flew back out with a piece of catfood in his beak and settled down to enjoy it. I'm pretty sure he ate a piece or two. How dangerous is it for them? Is it dangerous? It's Felidae cat food so it's at least not cruddy cat chow.

Here's the ingredients:

Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb, potatoes, potato protein, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural flavor, fish meal, choline chloride, DL-methionine, taurine, suncured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta-carotene, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, yucca schidigera extract, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, papaya, pineapple.

 

[kcbee]

I remember reading somewhere that sometimes people feed baby birds cat food...

I think it's ok. I mean, obviously you wouldn't feed it to him as meals, LOL but if he sneaks a piece every now and then it's probably fine.

 

[TextsFromParrots]

Oh yeah, he's not getting it all the time. i just wondered if I needed to start piling the food away whenever he's out or not. I swear, he's like a school yard bully. Instead of beating the cats up for their lunch money, he's just taking their lunch.

 

[Bokkapooh]

It's actually very hazardous if its coming out of the food dish. Also I think its equivalent to feeding saltene unhealthy food. It's really not good for parrots. People suggest to feed catfood to starlings as its high protein and starlings are in the crow family and its a food to feed chicks. But not good long-term.

 

[Bridgette]

Someone on another forum gave their bird dog food and the bird had seizures. I would try to keep Lafayette away from it

 

[GG.]

If it were here, I would try not to let him make a habit of this - over time, it's probably not a great idea, but what he's already 'snuck' isn't going to hurt him


They can be such little sneaky stinkers when they set their mind on something

 

[expressmailtome]

In my opinion it is very dangerous and possibly fatal. If the food has had any of it eaten by your cat already then the cat's saliva may be on the food left in the bowl. Cat saliva is very dangerous to birds. I would try to stop this from happening again if possible. I know that it is hard to stop a bird when he or she is determined.

Matt

 

[RedSoxFan85]

I actually have had this problem to the point i have to cover my cat's food because Mango is so determined to eat it and i know that cat's saliva is deadly to them. I put another bowl on top of Shadow's food and she cues me when she wants to eat, or she'll knock it over, but i totally agree with Matt, that is dangerous.

 

[LittleGems]

Cat kibble and dog kibble is not a safe food for parrots. These meat-based foods can often have some degree of bacterial contamination (e coli, salmonella etc), these bacterial levels are not enough to bother the intended recipients but definitely can cause problems with birds!

 

[TextsFromParrots]

Thankfully he's not getting it from IN the bowl, but from the top of the feeder. Hmm I'll have to figure out how to rig this then. If I just get the top part of the feeder completely sealed he may go for the bottom of it.