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.
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.
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