Liver Disease on X-ray

[~birdybea~]

We had a 7 year old cockatiel come into the vet clinic this week with acute respiratory distress. Visually he was underweight, a very unnatural shade of yellow and had "greasy" feathers. It was no surprise, given his appearance, that x-rays to rule out foreign body obstruction revealed serious abnormalities in his liver. His heart also seems enlarged, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume he has heart disease as well as fatty liver disease. This is a result of living on sunflower seeds picked from a bowl "small parrot mix" for the past 7 years. It's unfortunate that this little guy has fallen victim to ignorance, as he is very tame and clearly a well loved family pet.

I realise most people here have their parrots on a great diet, but i think the below comparison of a healthy heart/liver (belonging to my little Zoe) and the little cockatiels unhealthy heart/liver serves as a good reminder WHY we make the dietary choices we do for our pets. This damage would have been happening long before he started visually looking unwell (colour change, greasy feathers, etc), and it will undoubtedly shorten his life expectancy. And remember - offering a healthy diet isn't the same as your birds EATING a healthy diet.

 

[jmfleish]

How sad...thanks for sharing the pictures and for reitterating the points about good diet. I honestly don't think it can be said enough and you hit the nail on the head.

 

[Karen]

And remember - offering a healthy diet isn't the same as your birds EATING a healthy diet.

So sorry for the little one. Thank you for the reminder that bad nutrition is accumulative and eventually will take a toll on the bird.

My AV asked me a question a few years ago that I found hard to answer. She asked what I fed my birds; easy enough to answer that one. THEN she asked me WHAT THEY ATE??? That one was VERY hard to answer, then the light bulb went on.

 

[Irishj9]

I find the caiques like to pick out the sunflower seed from their aviplus mix.

They are allowed a more fatty diet than other parrots, still I only feed the mix in the evening.

All day they have only fruit/vegetables and water.

I think its very important we remind ourselves of the basics like this, and often.

And I'm the first one to fall into bad habits ( right now their veg intake is not what it should be, I throw out a lot of it).

JP

 

[Stevo]

I find the caiques like to pick out the sunflower seed from their aviplus mix.

They are allowed a more fatty diet than other parrots, still I only feed the mix in the evening.

All day they have only fruit/vegetables and water.

I think its very important we remind ourselves of the basics like this, and often.

And I'm the first one to fall into bad habits ( right now their veg intake is not what it should be, I throw out a lot of it).

JP

Do you give fresh aviplus mix each day, throwing out any leftovers, or do you wait until they've eaten the whole mix?

 

[Irishj9]

Fresh mix every evening. Still they jump for the sunflower seeds first.

 

[~birdybea~]

Measuring out a smaller and smaller amount until they're only receiving what they will completely finish in an evening is a good way to ensure they're getting the most from their mix.

 

[Stevo]

Fresh mix every evening. Still they jump for the sunflower seeds first.

Yes, they will. I reread my post and I didn't word myself very well. ~birdybea~ has touched on it a bit better - if there's leftovers after each feed session, that you're throwing away, it suggests that they are filling up on the seed they want (sunflower, and then reducing in fat content) and leaving the seed that is usually better for them. It's almost akin to simply feeding them some sunflower seed.

The point is really reinforced by Karen's post above - the difference in what a bird is fed as opposed to what the bird actually eats. We can offer our bird the best, most nutritious, fancy and expensive diet known to man but if they're only feeding on the less healthy items, which are replaced daily, then we may as well be feeding them the worst diet.

Lots to ponder

 

[Irishj9]

Yes I got your point, Stephen, thanks. I suspect they're eating more than just the sunflower seeds from the mix, but that isnt good enough now, is it?

Of course they play with their food, throw some round, dunk some in the water dishes etc, so its hard to be exact. Also we often feed outside the cages, so it may be that most are eating a varied diet, but one or two are not.

Now the weekend is here, I can watch closely and identify what it is theyre NOT eating!

JP

 

[Stevo]

Yes I got your point, Stephen, thanks. I suspect they're eating more than just the sunflower seeds from the mix, but that isnt good enough now, is it?

Of course they play with their food, throw some round, dunk some in the water dishes etc, so its hard to be exact. Also we often feed outside the cages, so it may be that most are eating a varied diet, but one or two are not.

Now the weekend is here, I can watch closely and identify what it is theyre NOT eating!

JP

Cool I'm as 'guilty' when it comes to my boys salad mix - there's always leftovers. Belinda is much better at birdy portion control than I am!!

 

[Karen]

I still struggle with knowing exactly what is being consumed. Like JP said; the food is on, under, dunked, chewed up, spit out, floating, crunched up, dropped....what exactly is going in? I count, limit, measure everything to try to stay in the know. I know I am over feeding them. Every veggie dish ends up with enough food in it to feed a person...with a big appetite.

 

[Anne & Gang]

how sad..poor little tykey.

 

[Abigail]

That's really too bad. :/
Thank you for the photos. I find them very interesting. I also appreciate the reminder of how important a healthy diet is. Sometimes it seems that you can talk all you want about how important a healthy diet is to people, but they don't really listen. I think those photos really validate what you are saying, though, giving a visual to show the difference in a bird that has had a healthy diet and one that's diet consists of mainly fat. You can really see the difference in those two photos.

 

[Bokkapooh]

This is why I oppose feeding a mainly seed diet to any bird, large or small.

 

[Irishj9]

Well I learned some useful things from watching the fids eat this weekend.

They really do ALL eat sunflower seeds out of their Caique mix first.
They prefer fruit to veggies, and are all eating apples and pears, especially when I hang the whole fruit on their play tree.
They went crazy for cooked corn when I put it out with their fruit/veg breakfast
And they prefer wet food to dry.

So now I will swap cooked veggies in place of the raw variety.

 

[webchirp]

poor little bird. Wish the pet stores and other places would post more colorful advertising with fresh fruits and veggies in their cages/stands so people would start to associate these things...

 

[kitsunebandit]

That is a LOT of difference! Thank you for sharing very sad though