High Cholesterol

lpolliard

New member
Sep 1, 2012
220
Media
8
0
Mission Viejo CA
Parrots
Male Eclectus ~25 years old (rescue)
Last year I received my first lab results for Chico. The vet office told me the labs looked fine. Six months later when sourcing a vet who can microchip a bird I found a prominent facility who specialized in birds with great pricing for this service. The founder of this facility is the developer of the AVID microchip. After Chico's first $300 wellness exam/lab price tag I felt a little shopping around for Chico's next wellness exam wouldn't hurt. Even though this new location was much further away I decided it would be worth the drive for a better facility and a savings of 50 to 100 dollars. At that time I requested a copy of Chico's lab results to bring with me to his next wellness exam in six months. When I received the labs I found his cholesterol to be 664! Normal range is 100-261. I put Chico on a reduced fat diet and was hoping for better labs in six months. I haven't received the lab results yet, 3-4 days processing time. The new A-vet didn't seem to be concerned about his high levels as he was not over weight. What do you think of her evaluation? Should I be concerned?
 
OP
lpolliard

lpolliard

New member
Sep 1, 2012
220
Media
8
0
Mission Viejo CA
Parrots
Male Eclectus ~25 years old (rescue)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
In the AM he gets two tablespoons of store bought mixed frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, string and lima beans) and/or frozen chop (various vegetables), a quarter of a small bird bread muffin (corn muffin with shreaded carrot, raisins and/or cranberrys, sprouted beans, misc), two pieces of cooked bow-tie pasta, sometimes a small square of tofu, and sometimes a small piece of fresh fruit. In the PM he gets to graze on Harrison's LifeTime and Roudybush. I keep an eye on the quantity, maybe munches and wastes about a teaspoon. He also snacks on my dinner with me. I try to keep the fatty foods he loves to a minimum. Training treats are whole sunflower seeds or almonds.

He now weighs in at 500 grams. The doctors says he is not over weight. I would like him down to 460-470 grams as I think this would be a good flying weight for him.
 
Last edited:
OP
lpolliard

lpolliard

New member
Sep 1, 2012
220
Media
8
0
Mission Viejo CA
Parrots
Male Eclectus ~25 years old (rescue)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
Oh, his wellness exam was $199 which included the visit ($42) and a comprehensive avian lab workup. His first visit included a fecal test so apples to apples I probably saved over $50.
 

Pajarita

Banned
Banned
Jul 11, 2013
446
1
I would be worried. Parrots are not supposed to ever have high cholesterol for the simple reason that they never consume any food in the wild that has the bad kind plus their diet provides all the enzymes, beneficial bacteria and antioxidants they need. Problem is, in captivity, we don't feed them right (this is not an accusation or judgment on your husbandry, it's an unfortunate fact for all of us), we don't keep them stress-free (no flock, unnatural environment), we usually don't keep them to a solar schedule and we don't allow for natural socialization (again, no flock).

Diet, exercise, right light schedule and dark and quiet sleeping place(to achieve restful sleep) are all necessary.

See this series of articles on atherosclerosis on birds (VERY informative):
landofvos.com ? View topic - Avian Atherosclerosis
 
OP
lpolliard

lpolliard

New member
Sep 1, 2012
220
Media
8
0
Mission Viejo CA
Parrots
Male Eclectus ~25 years old (rescue)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
Thanks for your links. The lab results will be available soon. Hopefully they have improved with Chico's reduced fat diet and his flying time. He was in the process of re-growing his flight feathers last year. Both can certainly be adjusted and increased if I am not happy with the results.
 

noblemacaw

New member
Sep 23, 2011
1,056
3
Parrots
Valentino - Red Fronted Macaw - Hatched August 12, 2012
At 15 years of age my Noble macaw Mihijo's lab results were very scary. He came back with cholesterol about 1300, his blood was a pinkish color he has to much fat in it and his liver functions were off the charts.

I didn't think he would make his 16th hatch date.

I knew nothing of heart disease in parrots.

We immediately had to change his diet. His doctor wanted flax seed oil added to his fresh mix and I had to change pellets to a roudybush low fat. I also had to change his fresh mix taking out the carbs which included taking out the 13 bean mix, uncooked noodles, corn, squash, sweet potatoes. His fresh mix included carrot, broccoli, spinach leaves and peas. I was no longer allowed to feed him table foods and let me say this parrot loved ALL FOODS. He was not a picky eater at all.

It was easy to convert him over because Mihijo would eat anything but hard to have dinner and have to listen to him beg for food. I was so afraid he was going to die on me my will power not to feed him stuff off of his diet was strong.

He went in for blood work every 6 weeks and at first it was very hard to get those numbers to drop.

The first change that happened was the sudden fatty deposits under the skin showing up. It was kind of gross that these little yellow globs showed up under his skin. I also was getting frustrated with the lack of variety in his diet and having to buy flax seed oil so often because it goes bad very quickly.

The fatty deposits cleared but I could not get his cholesterol to drop under 600. When the weather warmed and the produce department started getting in more variety I began to add HOT PEPPERS into his diet. I chopped up jalapenos, red hot peppers, yellow hot peppers, serones, even the most hot peppers habanaros. What ever hot pepper available I bought to expose my little macaw and see what he would eat.

Mihijo ate what ever I put in his bowl even the hottest pepper the habanaros. We had to be careful not to kiss his beak because your lips would burn for half hour or more.

Mihijo's cholesterol started dropping again. Finally I was able to get it down to within normal range and his liver function fell within normal range. His beak and nails began to grow normally again and the necrotic part of the beak fell off revealing healthy beak underneath.

He not only survived to his 16th hatch date he survived to make his 17th hatch date. Mihijo went from having to have his blood drawn every 6 weeks to checkups every 6 months. He was doing very very well as we pretty much were able to reverse his severe health condition. I believe very strongly adding in the hot peppers helped lower his blood fat thus lowering his cholesterol and improving his liver functions.

During all of this I had to relearn and re-educate myself to parrot diet and what I was feeding that was causing heart disease. In 2011 I lost my 9 year old Illiger's macaw to a stroke and I fed both parrots pretty much the same things. After successfully being able to help my Noble macaw though diet I wrote papers and conducted a lot of research on diet for parrots. Adding the hot peppers and flax seed oil into the diet and taking away a lot of the fats and carbs was a very healthy thing to do for a parrot that is suffering from heart disease.

Unfortunately October 2012 Mihijo died during the night from a heart attack. His necropsy shows his great vessels as clear with no fatty deposits and his liver showed normal. All his life he presented with a heart murmur so in the end even though I was able to reverse his severe health problems it was a heart attack that took him. If I would of done nothing he would of died a lot sooner.

Since your parrot is a Eclectus I still would decrease fatty foods and carbs and if you can add in hot peppers. Consult with your avian vet as to changing his diet but I would seriously add in hot peppers and flax seed oil to his fresh mix.
 
OP
lpolliard

lpolliard

New member
Sep 1, 2012
220
Media
8
0
Mission Viejo CA
Parrots
Male Eclectus ~25 years old (rescue)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
Thanks for sharing and sorry for your loss. I will start adding in peppers to his chop and research the use of flax seed oil. I will have to chop them up fine as I don't think he enjoys peppers. I know what you mean about begging. I only wish Chico would just beg. He is a little more determined and will climb up to my plate and help himself.

What was the lowest level Mihijo was tested at after your efforts?
 

Most Reactions

Top