Questions.....

what are your opinions on the harness that is on the birds feet? i see alot of people using them, but from what i have read they are not good for the bird

your teil is still young and probably doesn't even know what the new foods are!Just keep trying and let him watch you as you eat a piece of apple saying "yummmmm this is good! want to try some?" When he sees you eating he may want to t6aste it too!

Do NOT use one of those leg/foot restraints! IMO those are cruel! Get a proper body harness.


Jim

try spinach my cockatiel when I was like 7 loved it. Really any leafy greens is good.

And no to restraints......NO! use a mental leash inside. and a harness if you want to go outside.

I'm going to assume from the way you wrote your post that YOU actually hand-fed your bird and weaned him onto solid food, not a breeder, correct? Either way, when you wean a bird onto solid food, if you only present them with pellets or seed-mix to wean onto, then that's what they know as being "food", and it's extremely difficult to then get them to eat veggies and fruit...So if she wasn't given any fresh veggies or fruit right along with the seed-mix from day 1 when you were weaning her, then that's why she's not touching anything else...It's also unfortunate that you weaned her onto only seed-mix, because now it will be very difficult to get her to eat pellets, which are what she needs to be eating as her daily staple to prevent Fatty Liver Disease and premature death, unless you're feeding a low-fat, non-sunflower seed, non-corn, non-nut seed-mix...

As far as sunflower seeds and nuts go, it's actually a good thing that she doesn't recognize these as food, as they are not part of a captive/pet bird's daily diet at all, or at least they shouldn't be, so that's a bonus...Sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, millet sprays, all nuts (especially peanuts), and corn should only be very occasional training-treats, that's it, so I wouldn't worry about trying to get her to eat them, because the last thing you want is to make her love to eat them every single day on a regular basis...

As far as fresh veggies go, you definitely want her to eat them every single day, because they are going to provide her with the nutrition lacking in her all-seed staple diet...But since she wasn't weaned onto them, then you're going to have to "teach" her or rather "show" her that they are yummy and good, and usually the best way to do this is by allowing her to see YOU eat them. Parrots usually want to eat what their person or people are eating, so by seeing you eat fresh veggies she'll most likely want to eat them herself...So it's really not a matter of "she doesn't like the veggies I've given her", but more that she has no idea what any of them are. So you need to actually show her that they are food, they're good, and offer them to her every single day while she sees you eat them right along with her...

As far as what veggies, basically anything BUT NO ONIONS OR ANYTHING IN THE ONION FAMILY, LIKE LEEKS OR CHIVES, AS THEY ARE TOXIC TO BIRDS...Other than that you can try anything...All of the dark, leafy greens such as Mustard Greens, Collard Greens, Dandelion Greens, Turnip Greens, Bok Choi and Pak Choi, Arugula/Rocket, Swiss Chards, and most Herbs...As far as fresh veggies go, pretty much any of them, favorites include Green Beans, Peas/Pea Pods, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, all types of Squash including Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti, Chillicothe, Yellow, and Green, Eggplant, Okra, and pretty much anything else (Try to avoid Tomatoes due to their acidity)...

***As far as fresh Fruit goes, this should also only be given in small quantities, almost like a treat, due to the enormous amount of sugar that all Fruit contains, which is turned into fat and again stored in their livers just like the sunflower seeds, nuts, and corn are...So maybe give some fresh Fruit 3-4 times a week only, and in small quantities, as they tend to eat it like candy and that's not good...

Any fresh Fruit is fine EXCEPT NO AVOCADO, AS IT'S TOXIC TO BIRDS, AND NO CITRUS FRUITS SUCH AS ORANGES, GRAPEFRUIT, LEMONS, LIMES, ETC. The Citric Acid in Citrus Fruits causes their enhanced absorption of Iron, and all birds have trouble processing/handling Iron. They only need a tiny amount of Iron in their diets (all commercial bird pellets and seed-mixes contain the needed amount), and if they absorb much more Iron than is provided in their staple diets, they can develop something called "Iron Storage Disease/Syndrome", which is fatal...So this is why no Citrus Fruit...

woah woah woah.....oranges are fine....My bird drinks OJ and we share oranges all the time....

from the site's safe diet list: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html


Fruits
Papaya
Mango
Any type of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
Pomegranate
Kiwi
Oranges
Melons
Nectarines
Cherries
Apricot
Grapefruit
Banana
Pears
Apples
Figs
Pineapple
Lemons
Limes

Things that grow in the ground have more iron than fruits, such as lettuce and spinach and etc. I know your using the caveat..."it enhances more absorption" but I did a few searches just now any literally nothing came up for that. Please cite your source.

See the chart below veggies have tons more iron than fruits especially citrus.

EllenD said:

I'm going to assume from the way you wrote your post that YOU actually hand-fed your bird and weaned him onto solid food, not a breeder, correct? Either way, when you wean a bird onto solid food, if you only present them with pellets or seed-mix to wean onto, then that's what they know as being "food", and it's extremely difficult to then get them to eat veggies and fruit...So if she wasn't given any fresh veggies or fruit right along with the seed-mix from day 1 when you were weaning her, then that's why she's not touching anything else...It's also unfortunate that you weaned her onto only seed-mix, because now it will be very difficult to get her to eat pellets, which are what she needs to be eating as her daily staple to prevent Fatty Liver Disease and premature death, unless you're feeding a low-fat, non-sunflower seed, non-corn, non-nut seed-mix.......

Click to expand...

I hand fed my parrot and weaned it. I could not find any bird pellets in the pet shops or any where else. all i could find were bird seeds. He is on a low fat bird mix, i was not trying to get him to eat sunflower as daily food i was trying to get him to eat as a treat
why are foot restraints bad for the bad?..I am not gonna use it i have already orderd a body harness for my bird
I have one more question to ask

That's a tricky one! I guess I would pad the bottom of the cage with a towel, he is bound to slip off the perch or try to bang around, so one low perch in the travel cage, and nothing else he could hurt him self on , and I would wrap the cage in a thick towel or blanket, I don't think he needs to watch water rushing by... That's my ideas, then when you get there you can put him in his real cage with toys and stuff. I would use a small travel cage nit as much room to bang around...good luck!

I don't know how long the trip is? But normi I'd say have a slice of apple or a grape in the bottom if the cage to nibble for the water content and a bite to eat, but you said doesn't eat apples... If it's just a couple of hours or less trip you should be fine. You can leave a tiny peek spot open in the towel do you can watch each other. If you can't use a travel cage and have to use his real cage , still take everything out if it and pack separate, put one low perch with towel underneath.

Foot restraints are responsible for a lot of birds breaking their legs or dislocating the joints (hip, knee, ankle).
Parrots have very flexible feet, not like birds of prey -> who use their feet and legs as weapons and for hunting.

Flexible means easily damaged... ..

You can imagine: its like trying to run away at full speed with a piece of rope tied to a wall at one end and around one fingertip at the other -> when the rope pulls you to a short stop: the full bodyweight will be pulling on one joint that was never meant to handle that much force.

clark_conure said:

woah woah woah.....oranges are fine....My bird drinks OJ and we share oranges all the time....

from the site's safe diet list: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html


Fruits
Papaya
Mango
Any type of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
Pomegranate
Kiwi
Oranges
Melons
Nectarines
Cherries
Apricot
Grapefruit
Banana
Pears
Apples
Figs
Pineapple
Lemons
Limes

Things that grow in the ground have more iron than fruits, such as lettuce and spinach and etc. I know your using the caveat..."it enhances more absorption" but I did a few searches just now any literally nothing came up for that. Please cite your source.

See the chart below veggies have tons more iron than fruits especially citrus.

Click to expand...

Oh my...If it's on the internet it must be true!!!

ALL Citrus Fruits, including oranges, contain Citric Acid...Citric Acid enhances their absorption of Iron ten-fold. So it's not the content of Iron IN the citrus fruit that is the problem, it's that citric acid greatly enhances the body's absorption of Iron from EVERYTHING your bird eats...So after your bird drinks orange juice or eats an orange, ALL OF THE IRON IN EVERYTHING HE EATS for the next 24-48 hours is going to be absorbed...That's the problem. ..And birds cannot handle much Iron at all, and they develop "Iron Storage Syndrome/Disease", which is fatal.

You can give your bird a drink of orange juice or a tiny little piece of citrus fruit once in a great while, but that's it. My Bowie loves Orange Juice, it's his favorite "food" in the world, he would trade everything else for it (maybe it's a Green Cheek thing!), but he gets it maybe once every 2 weeks or so, and just a little bit...Birds, all birds, are so sensitive to Iron in their bodies that most-all commercial bird pellets/seed-mixes will say "No added Iron" or "Not Iron Fortified" right on the packaging, that's how big a deal it is.

So while Citrus Fruit isn't "poisonous" or "toxic" in the sense that it isn't directly harmful to your bird and it doesn't actually contain a lot of Iron, unfortunately if he eats/drinks it more than maybe once a week at most, his body is going to start storing Iron on a regular basis, which will become toxic and eventually fatal...

Oh, and to answer the OP's question about the leads/harnesses that attach to a bird's leg, they are extremely dangerous and usually cause serious orthopedic injuries, such as dislocated hips, knees, and ankle joints, broken bones in the legs, and very often tears/ruptures in the ligaments/tendons in their legs. So you should NEVER use a harness or leash that attaches to their legs or feet, only use a safe body-harness, the safest one being the Aviator Harness.

Since most birds have a diet that does not contain a whole lot of (absorbable) iron I really do not worry about incidental citrusconsumption.

I have no clue what type of iron is in the pellets, but it could be just as much a bullsh!t-factor as the "iron enhanced cornflakes" that were on the market (your side of the pond). The extra iron consisted of extreme fine ironfilings added to the mix -- so they indeed had x micrograms of extra iron per package/serving ... unfortunately it was also a form of iron the human body cannot absorb or use in any way
---> so I have learned to either ignore stuf, take it a face value (with a grain of salt aka a healthy dose of "yea riiight") or really, really do my homework.

I never took the trouble to measure and calculate the average amount of pellets my bird consumes during a month/ years/ 5 year period and the iron he might / might not absorb. (Yup, I am a bad parront / as well as lousy with numbers )
And even so... there is no known number how much iron an african grey male of a certain age and weight with the bloodloss of ?? ml each year (he damaged his tongue a few months ago) actually needs.




So I go with the old wives tale/ advice: " everything in moderation ".
(toxic substances not included of course)
and let the vets do the measuring if I suspect something is wrong.

Very unscientific, but easy and fun and the parrots are happy...

EllenD said:

clark_conure said:

woah woah woah.....oranges are fine....My bird drinks OJ and we share oranges all the time....

from the site's safe diet list: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html


Fruits
Papaya
Mango
Any type of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
Pomegranate
Kiwi
Oranges
Melons
Nectarines
Cherries
Apricot
Grapefruit
Banana
Pears
Apples
Figs
Pineapple
Lemons
Limes

Things that grow in the ground have more iron than fruits, such as lettuce and spinach and etc. I know your using the caveat..."it enhances more absorption" but I did a few searches just now any literally nothing came up for that. Please cite your source.

See the chart below veggies have tons more iron than fruits especially citrus.

Click to expand...

Oh my...If it's on the internet it must be true!!!

ALL Citrus Fruits, including oranges, contain Citric Acid...Citric Acid enhances their absorption of Iron ten-fold. So it's not the content of Iron IN the citrus fruit that is the problem, it's that citric acid greatly enhances the body's absorption of Iron from EVERYTHING your bird eats...So after your bird drinks orange juice or eats an orange, ALL OF THE IRON IN EVERYTHING HE EATS for the next 24-48 hours is going to be absorbed...That's the problem. ..And birds cannot handle much Iron at all, and they develop "Iron Storage Syndrome/Disease", which is fatal.

You can give your bird a drink of orange juice or a tiny little piece of citrus fruit once in a great while, but that's it. My Bowie loves Orange Juice, it's his favorite "food" in the world, he would trade everything else for it (maybe it's a Green Cheek thing!), but he gets it maybe once every 2 weeks or so, and just a little bit...Birds, all birds, are so sensitive to Iron in their bodies that most-all commercial bird pellets/seed-mixes will say "No added Iron" or "Not Iron Fortified" right on the packaging, that's how big a deal it is.

So while Citrus Fruit isn't "poisonous" or "toxic" in the sense that it isn't directly harmful to your bird and it doesn't actually contain a lot of Iron, unfortunately if he eats/drinks it more than maybe once a week at most, his body is going to start storing Iron on a regular basis, which will become toxic and eventually fatal...

Click to expand...

Can you cite your source? I'm genuinely curious...I'm not being a dick.... I'm citing this parrot forums site: basic ok food list.

See here is a picture of a conure...

clark_conure said:

EllenD said:

clark_conure said:

woah woah woah.....oranges are fine....My bird drinks OJ and we share oranges all the time....

from the site's safe diet list: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html


Fruits
Papaya
Mango
Any type of berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc)
Pomegranate
Kiwi
Oranges
Melons
Nectarines
Cherries
Apricot
Grapefruit
Banana
Pears
Apples
Figs
Pineapple
Lemons
Limes

Things that grow in the ground have more iron than fruits, such as lettuce and spinach and etc. I know your using the caveat..."it enhances more absorption" but I did a few searches just now any literally nothing came up for that. Please cite your source.

See the chart below veggies have tons more iron than fruits especially citrus.

Click to expand...

Oh my...If it's on the internet it must be true!!!

ALL Citrus Fruits, including oranges, contain Citric Acid...Citric Acid enhances their absorption of Iron ten-fold. So it's not the content of Iron IN the citrus fruit that is the problem, it's that citric acid greatly enhances the body's absorption of Iron from EVERYTHING your bird eats...So after your bird drinks orange juice or eats an orange, ALL OF THE IRON IN EVERYTHING HE EATS for the next 24-48 hours is going to be absorbed...That's the problem. ..And birds cannot handle much Iron at all, and they develop "Iron Storage Syndrome/Disease", which is fatal.

You can give your bird a drink of orange juice or a tiny little piece of citrus fruit once in a great while, but that's it. My Bowie loves Orange Juice, it's his favorite "food" in the world, he would trade everything else for it (maybe it's a Green Cheek thing!), but he gets it maybe once every 2 weeks or so, and just a little bit...Birds, all birds, are so sensitive to Iron in their bodies that most-all commercial bird pellets/seed-mixes will say "No added Iron" or "Not Iron Fortified" right on the packaging, that's how big a deal it is.

So while Citrus Fruit isn't "poisonous" or "toxic" in the sense that it isn't directly harmful to your bird and it doesn't actually contain a lot of Iron, unfortunately if he eats/drinks it more than maybe once a week at most, his body is going to start storing Iron on a regular basis, which will become toxic and eventually fatal...

Click to expand...

Can you cite your source? I'm genuinely curious...I'm not being a dick.... I'm citing this parrot forums site: basic ok food list.

See here is a picture of a conure...

Click to expand...

Sure...It's common knowledge in Avian Medicine, I'm not trying to be a dick either, lol, it's a huge deal...In fact, all you have to do is Google "Iron Storage Syndrome" and you'll find all kinds of information that specifically list not feeding your birds Citrus...

It's not a "old wives tale" at all, in fact it's in all Avian Medical literature, textbooks, it's taught in Veterinary School and Grad School for Animal Health Science, and you can certainly ask any CAV or Avian Specialist about it...I'm not trying to be a jerk, I really didn't know that this wasn't widely known with parrot owners...It's a dangerous thing...

And most commercial parrot diets, whether pellets or seed-mix don't usually contain ANY ADDED Iron at all, just whatever Iron is naturally found in the ingredients in the mix, just for this specific reason.

Citrus Fruit is the #1 enhancer of Iron absorption in not only birds, but in mammals, reptiles, rodents, etc. because of it's high Vitamin C content. It binds to Iron and keeps it from being excreted...So while a bird's body would normally absorb just the small amount of Iron that it needs to perform cellular functions and the rest would be excreted, the Vitamin C in citrus fruit is so high that it binds it and keeps it from being excreted, and it too is then absorbed by their bodies...And then it builds-up and builds-up in their Livers, until it causes the signs/symptoms of Iron-Storage Syndrome/Disease, which can be reversed if you get them to a CAV quickly enough, but often results in their death because people don't recognize the symptoms as being anything urgent...Also, some birds have a genetic predisposition for Iron Storage Disease,
so the smallest amounts of Vitamin C can actually make them extremely ill.


There are tons and tons and tons of journal articles, scientific research papers, textbooks, and web links if you simply Google "Iron Storage Disease in birds", but here's a link to PetMD that explains it pretty well...but do the search yourself, the "sources" are endless, it's not just an "internet myth" by any means, they taught about it at-length when I was in college and grad school back in the late 90's-early 00's, and when I worked at the Animal Diagnostics Lab/Avian Influenza Lab at Penn State we often got liver tissue samples from birds who died mysteriously and their owners chose to do a necropsy (vets from around the country send samples to the ADL at Penn State for testing), and the cause of death was often listed as "Iron Toxicity"...That's what convinced me 100%, because I can't tell you how many Liver samples I ran came back with a diagnosis of "Iron Toxicity". It's very real, and very unknown by the general public apparently, which I wasn't aware of...https://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/digestive/c_bd_Iron_Storage_Disease

I've just read 5-6 articles about it using your key-phrase "Iron Storage Disease in birds". Thank you that was what I was asking for.

Seems like it's basically a non issue unless you force feeding limes and house nails to your bird.

And lack of Iron is also as much if not more serious according to a few of the articles.

So...being an informed citizen and parrot owner to a healthy bird, Yeah drink orange juice and share....

I think the benefits outweigh the risks;... unless you feed lemons followed by special K cereal I think a parrot is ok.

Let me just emphasize this again from the point of view that I used to have...I grew-up in a house full of birds...mostly Budgies, Cockatiels, and Green Cheek/Sun/Jenday/Nanday Conures, as that's what my mother bred, and we have a CAG that we brought home when I was 9...We also had all kinds of poultry/game birds, such as chickens, ducks, pheasants, quail, chukkars, etc. And I had no idea about foods high in Vitamin C either, really not until I got into grad school specifically studying Animal Health Science (I got my Master's and was planning on going to U of Penn Veterinary School, but money ran out, so I took a research position at The Animal Diagnostic Laboratory/Avian Influenza Laboratory at Penn State instead, to make some money)...I started out working in the testing department, testing samples sent in from all over the country from farmers, veterinary offices, and breeders of all types of animals...When I went to the Avian Influenza Lab (same as the Animal Diagnostics Lab, but in a building across the parking lot) it was during the huge Avian Influenza outbreak we had in the US back in the early 00's, if you remember that. And so the long-time staff of the Avian Influenza Lab were all completely overwhelmed with handling the literally tens of thousands of eggs being sent-in by farmers from all over the country, just palettes and palettes of eggs that they had to test, which is a 3-step process and takes forever to do...So my job was doing all of the every-day testing sent-in mostly by Veterinary Offices across the country, doing PCR, ELISA, Microscopy, Cytology, etc. The Incinerator at Penn State is attached to the lab, so typically we would either get samples sent-in by Vets who performed their own necropsy and would collect tissue and fluid samples to send us, or they would send the whole bird if the owner wanted them cremated after the necropsy, and after I would do the necropsy and collect all of the tissue and serology samples I needed, I would take the bird to the incinerator and perform their cremation, collect the ashes in the burn box, and prepare them to be shipped back to the Vet's office for the owner.

Doing necropsy on parrots was a very hard thing for me at first, and I had done human cadaver lab twice, once in undergrad and once in grad school, and that didn't bother me as much as doing necropsy on someone's pet parrot...Or cremating them...But the point of this whole story is I cannot tell you how many parrots I saw that died from either Fatty Liver Disease or Iron Toxicity of the Liver...These two diseases were by-far the main causes of untimely deaths in pet/captive parrots. Obviously the Fatty Liver Disease was being caused by all seed-mix diets (this was in the early-to-mid 00's, so pellets were not a big thing at all then, or just becoming a big thing)...But the Iron Toxicity was something that I didn't realize killed so many pet parrots...And I can tell you that every single Veterinarian who worked in the lab, and there were many, including my boss who was the director of the entire lab and a man named Doug who was a retired Avian Specialist who took that job after he retired, all preached the importance of not feeding birds any food that was high in not only Iron, but in Vitamin C...And after seeing the literally hundreds of pet parrots who I diagnosed as dying from Iron Toxicity of the Liver, that's when I realized just how big a deal feeding Citrus Fruit and Citrus Fruit Juice to your parrots is...And back then there wasn't a lot of literature about anything really, just textbooks (the internet was still in it's infancy and just blowing-up, so few sites existed, and you could only access medical journals through private networks at that point)...Now this exact information regarding Citrus Fruit/Vitamin C being deadly to birds is everywhere, but still no one seems to know about it or at least doesn't take it seriously, but I saw the effects first-hand, and I can honestly tell you that there is no reason to feed your birds Citrus Fruit or Fruit Juice on a regular basis, because the risk is there, and it's huge.

Again, I too feed my Green Cheek a drink of Orange Juice now and then because it's his absolute favorite thing to eat or drink...But I don't actually feed my birds ANY actual Citrus Fruit, no Oranges, Grapefruit, Lemons, Limes, etc....and I stay away from Tomatoes as well...There are plenty of safe, healthy fruits to feed your birds that make it unnecessary to take the risk of feeding them oranges or grapefruit (or any other Citrus Fruit)...I generally agree with the "anything in moderation" when it comes to my birds too...In fact I typically give my birds a bite of whatever I'm eating, whether it be a bit of pizza crust, pasta, a bite of cheese, ice cream, a potato chip, whatever it is...It's not all the time, it's "in moderation"...But I don't feed them ANY Citrus Fruit...I don't even buy Oranges or Grapefruit. They get apples, seedless grapes, banana, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, watermelon occasionally, mango, guava, kiwi, starfruit, passionfruit, etc....But not oranges or grapefruit...Not after seeing first-hand how many pet parrots die of Iron Toxicity...It's one of those things where we should go "Why take the risk?", just like with burning incense/candles, using harsh cleaners, etc. It's actually a greater risk than burning candles and such based on what I saw, so it's just not worth it...A drink of Orange Juice once a week? Okay...but that's the extent of it...

I'd rather try to spread the word and back it up by saying "Just Google it for yourself", I can do that now because it's all over the internet, and not in "opinionated" articles, blogs, etc. I'm talking all over the internet in Veterinary Journals, Textbooks (Such as the Merck Veterinary Manual, and it doesn't get anymore official and trustworthy than that), etc. At least it's easily found nowadays...It's obviously every pet bird owner's own, personal choice whether or not to feed their birds Citrus Fruit more than once a week or so, but at least no one can say that I didn't do my best to educate and inform about the dangers of Iron Storage Disease caused by intake of Citrus Fruit/high Vitamin C foods...

I'm fine with people thinking of me as being "a dick" or "a pain in the ass" if what I'm saying sticks in the back of their heads when they're grocery shopping for their birds, or prompts them to do their own Google search to find out on their own. I'm perfectly good with that if it saves them from losing their birds suddenly and way too soon from something that is totally preventable.

In working with some endangered species, we did indeed have many deaths from iron storage disease... That said I have trouble with the vitamin C, since most leafy greens are very high in vitamin C, I'll attach picture from my bag of watercress. And I get concerned when I read the iron content in many veggies... I'm nit advocating the feeding of citrus fruit.. I just have concerns because many leafy greens and, veggies, peppers are higher in vitamin C than citrus. So I just want to understand more on how to prevent iron storage disease, ad I too have done numerous necropsies on birds that died of iron storage disease....

This is one article, but I read others that tell you not to feed banana, chili peppers, spinach, mango, ect....so I feel more confused......
Iron storage disease occurs in some parrots (mostly lories and lorikeets) but mainly in toucans and mynah birds. These birds usually present to the veterinarian for decreased activity and exercise intolerance. Blood work and X-rays may be performed to rule out other causes of these clinical signs, but iron storage disease itself cannot be definitively diagnosed with blood work. With iron storage disease, enlargement of the liver, heart or spleen is often seen on X-rays, and an increase in the hematocrit (red blood cells) is commonly found. A liver biopsy is needed to confirm the condition; this may or may not be recommended, depending on your bird’s general health.

The underlying cause of iron storage disease is not well understood. A genetic predisposition is suspected in some species. Physiological mechanisms that developed to compensate for a low available dietary iron may contribute to iron storage disease. Although the dietary iron requirements of most birds remain unknown, many diets contain high iron concentrations. Current recommendations are for a diet that contains less than 100ppm iron and low vitamin C level (< 100 mg/kg), as vitamin C increases the body’s absorption of iron.

Treatment for iron storage disease may include phlebotomy (removal of blood in order to reduce the body iron stores), chelation therapy, which binds the iron and allows the bird to excrete it, and diet alteration.

Research is continuing into the cause, prevention and treatment of iron storage disease. For more information on this subject, speak to the veterinarian who is treating your pet.

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