Salt poisoning

[Sgittyup]

I’ll start off with a thank you to avian avenue and the people sharing their stories. I thought I was prepared for a bird have experience working with and caring for other peoples birds but opted for the economical option of raising chickens and ducks instead of the exotic bird I have always wanted. Kids are gone and mom found a sweet escape artist conure on Craig’s list, sadly we almost killed the poor thing…. I knew salt wasn’t good for birds. IT’S POISON
He prefers men and my husband likes salty snacks he shared with the bird. I warned him too much wasn’t good but he was still eating healthy food so I didn’t worry too much about it. One day he brought home a bag of dill flavored sunflower seeds of course Buddy loved them as much as his daddy.
The next day he couldn’t stand up…. Little back story I have 3 untame keets that stay in and around their always open cage, buddy has never been caged and won’t enter the cage even for his favorite treat stick.
So when he went into the parakeet cage fell off a perch and laid down on the floor of the keet cage I new something was wrong and immediately started researching what could have happened
Salt poisoning, the odds are less than 50% survival with treatment. Maybe 100 salty seeds over the course of a day and my bird was too weak to eat or drink on his own.
He was alert acting drunk… I caught it very early, had to spoon water into his mouth for him and he started coming back. Potassium and electrolytes treatment.
What saved his life was cooked RICE high water content and detoxifier. It is now a daily part of all my birds diets.
Thank you for the all the useful tips posted on this site. I would love any advice on how to get my 6 mo old parakeets to eat fresh food instead of just seeds and seed based treat sticks. Fresh chunk of melon egg or other treat my conure is eating they won’t touch it.

 

[Rebel]

FYI rice contains arsenic. Too much rice is just as bad as salt.
Also ,@Pixiebeak posted an article about the dangers of reheated rice.

 

[Sgittyup]

Really? That’s scary I have been eating more rice too. Buddy came with the bad habit of eating off plates, personally I don’t like bird feet in my food so he now eats table food off his own plate on his chair at the table lol.
I give the keets 1 tablespoon to share, so far it the only fresh food they’ll eat. Buddy gets a tablespoon in the morning and whatever starch I’m having with dinner.
Thanks for the tip I’ll have to do some research on the pros and cons of eating rice. My dog has been eating lamb and rice food for years….

 

[Rebel]

Really? That’s scary I have been eating more rice too. Buddy came with the bad habit of eating off plates, personally I don’t like bird feet in my food so he now eats table food off his own plate on his chair at the table lol.
I give the keets 1 tablespoon to share, so far it the only fresh food they’ll eat. Buddy gets a tablespoon in the morning and whatever starch I’m having with dinner.
Thanks for the tip I’ll have to do some research on the pros and cons of eating rice. My dog has been eating lamb and rice food for years….

Yes do some research. Youll also find that brown whole grain rice is healthier for your birds.

 

[Rebel]

About brown rice, its more nutritious but unfortunately has more arsenic in it than white rice.Like a lot of things, it should be fed in moderation.

 

[Sgittyup]

Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products – Arsenic and You

sites.dartmouth.edu

.
I don’t know what to believe???? This says stay away from brown rice unless grown in certain regions. We like basmati rinse our rice before cooking and I’ll start using the tip to cook it like pasta. The birds can go back to getting it every few days.
Thank you

 

[Rebel]

Everything to do with birds is confusing. So much contradiction its mind boggling. Err on the side of caution is all we can do.

 

[MommyBird]

Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products – Arsenic and You

sites.dartmouth.edu

.
I don’t know what to believe???? This says stay away from brown rice unless grown in certain regions. We like basmati rinse our rice before cooking and I’ll start using the tip to cook it like pasta. The birds can go back to getting it every few days.
Thank you

there are brands with lower levels of arsenic. just google low-arsenic rice.

 

[Zara]

Personally I think that for what it is, best to just avoid it. Plenty of veggies and grains you can offer. Sprouted seeds and so on. A little brown rice is ok, but in moderation, not daily. Birds are so small, a half teaspoon is plenty for them.

 

[Clueless]

Birds are scary. I was cooking organic quinoa for Secret but she loved that stuff and probably ate too much of it too. I quit giving it altogether after some blood test results were worse.

 

[Sgittyup]

Does quinoa have arsenic also?? How did the quinoa affect your bird prompting the blood test?

 

[Rebel]

Does quinoa have arsenic also?? How did the quinoa affect your bird prompting the blood test?

I think but i im not positive, i believe its high in protein. Like everything, too much of a good thing is bad.

 

[Clueless]

Does quinoa have arsenic also?? How did the quinoa affect your bird prompting the blood test?

Can't recall but Secret ate bad for years (sunflower seeds and junk food). Diet is now pretty limited.

 

[Rebel]

Does quinoa have arsenic also?? How did the quinoa affect your bird prompting the blood test?

No, not all grains contain arsenic. Some grains, like quinoa, barley, amaranth, millet, bulgur, and ferro, don't take up arsenic from the ground as they grow and are therefore arsenic-free. Other grains, like oats, corn, flax, teff, and buckwheat, are also naturally gluten-free and don't absorb arsenic

 

[Deleted member 57370]

FYI rice contains arsenic. Too much rice is just as bad as salt.
Also ,@Pixiebeak posted an article about the dangers of reheated rice.

Yep , just came here to say , be very careful with rice ! I dint see any benefits to rice myself. Quinoa, would be better in my mind , or cooked Farrow , some cooked lentils.

Definitely sakt can be dai, so glad survived that level of salt .
It's also very dangerous to give straight water by syringe or spoon to bird , it's so easy to aspirate. Offering veggies or fruit, or my preferred dilute made fresh baby bird formula.

 

[Deleted member 57370]

Birds are scary. I was cooking organic quinoa for Secret but she loved that stuff and probably ate too much of it too. I quit giving it altogether after some blood test results were worse.

I haven't heard this , hope you elaborate? Too much of anything isn't good

 

[Sgittyup]

Yep , just came here to say , be very careful with rice ! I dint see any benefits to rice myself. Quinoa, would be better in my mind , or cooked Farrow , some cooked lentils.

Definitely sakt can be dai, so glad survived that level of salt .
It's also very dangerous to give straight water by syringe or spoon to bird , it's so easy to aspirate. Offering veggies or fruit, or my preferred dilute made fresh baby bird formula.

Useful tips… fortunately I caught it real early and he was weak but able to swallow on his own.

Basically I got a drop or two on his tongue and he kinda fell into the spoonful of water it’s hard to explain… he is a conure so it was just the tip of his beak and he licked it up on his own…. He needed the help of a spoon to drink at first and just liked the pampering so I kept offering it a spoonful at time while flushing his system… after a few hours he was strong enough to eat the rice that really seemed to help. I’m surprised about the arsenic…. Healing with food is my thing and rice is beneficial in so many ways I had no idea rice is one of natures filters(Arsinic is drawn from ground soil into the grain) It is a good source of potassium which is what the bird needed.
Almonds were to hard and he refused them(usually likes them)but now I know banana might have been a better option although I have read stories claiming bananas have been modified to extinction like corn.
Nothing is safe anymore
Maybe I should have been more clear about how I got water into him. I can understand how easy it would be to accidentally harm your bird if you force it down his throat.
1 drop at a time on the tongue to get him to take from the spoon on his own. The water bowl would have been too deep the way he ended up accepting the water. Lol
If I couldn’t get him to swallow on his own or hadn’t seen any improvement we would have headed straight to the vet for the IV option to get fluids in him.

 

[Rebel]

Useful tips… fortunately I caught it real early and he was weak but able to swallow on his own.

Basically I got a drop or two on his tongue and he kinda fell into the spoonful of water it’s hard to explain… he is a conure so it was just the tip of his beak and he licked it up on his own…. He needed the help of a spoon to drink at first and just liked the pampering so I kept offering it a spoonful at time while flushing his system… after a few hours he was strong enough to eat the rice that really seemed to help. I’m surprised about the arsenic…. Healing with food is my thing and rice is beneficial in so many ways I had no idea rice is one of natures filters(Arsinic is drawn from ground soil into the grain) It is a good source of potassium which is what the bird needed.
Almonds were to hard and he refused them(usually likes them)but now I know banana might have been a better option although I have read stories claiming bananas have been modified to extinction like corn.
Nothing is safe anymore
Maybe I should have been more clear about how I got water into him. I can understand how easy it would be to accidentally harm your bird if you force it down his throat.
1 drop at a time on the tongue to get him to take from the spoon on his own. The water bowl would have been too deep the way he ended up accepting the water. Lol
If I couldn’t get him to swallow on his own or hadn’t seen any improvement we would have headed straight to the vet for the IV option to get fluids in him.

You did good. No one is condemning you. Just giving you an FYI.

 

[Shannan]

I read somewhere that rinsing your rice with water helps reduce the amount of arsenic so I always rinse my rise until water is clear. (I don't feed rice to Dragon except a very rare treat and it is usually only about two grains of rice) I don't know exactly how much of the arsenic is removed but I remember it was enough for me to decide that rinsing my rice was best for me and my family.

 

[Shezbug]

White rice also has 50% less than brown rice.