Lovebird Sick After Eating Pomegranate

christine

New member
Sep 9, 2013
39
0
Corona del Mar, CA
Parrots
2 Lovebirds: 1 male A. r. roseicollis (Whitefaced Violet Mutation) & 1 female A. r. roseicollis (Green Mutation?)
Hey Everyone,

My instincts are saying that my lovebird is just fine and this event doesn't warrant a visit to the vet but I wanted to get some feedback from you guys.

I just had my first case of my lovebird vomiting. Full on vomiting--not just regurgitating.

I bought a pomegranate and was eating it over the past two days. Yesterday my lovebird showed interest and ate some. I checked online before allowing her to eat any, it seemed safe according to brief research. She was fine.

Today she ate some, I let her eat more than the day before. About 20 minutes later she started throwing up, choking back her neck to regurgitate and then producing a lot of pomegranate and flicking it all over my shoulder & hair (yay!). It seems like she threw up all the pomegranate she ate--which turned out to be quite a lot (a teaspoon?). I freaked out & hospitalized her cage--got rid of all unnecessary toys, cleaned the cage, laid out new newspaper. Then I watched her like a hawk.

She didnt seem to phased by being sick. I put out fresh food and water and she started eating her pellets and drinking water like normal.

I hung out with her for about an hour & a half until I put her to bed (it was late) and she seemed fine. Eating, drinking & acting normal.

What do you guys think? Maybe pomegranate just didnt agree with her stomache? Maybe she liked it too much and therefore overate and then did a little Roman binge & purge?

Thanks
 

tab_xo

Active member
Aug 9, 2012
3,288
1
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Fargo- Blue and Gold Macaw
I think birds can have a different reaction to different foods, just like humans!

I wouldn't know for sure.. But when i fed my boy pomegranate for the first time ever, the next day he had 2 red lumps on the white patch of his face...

Might of been just a weird coincidence, OR he had a reaction to it..

I have never fed it since though!


But they can also throw up a bit if they eat too much :p Fargo has stuffed his face once or twice on lots of food, his crop was bulging, and he vomited a bit up, was just very full! :p
 
OP
christine

christine

New member
Sep 9, 2013
39
0
Corona del Mar, CA
Parrots
2 Lovebirds: 1 male A. r. roseicollis (Whitefaced Violet Mutation) & 1 female A. r. roseicollis (Green Mutation?)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Thanks Tab_Xo, she looks fine this morning too. I just didnt find many articles online that downplayed vomiting. They all made it seem like it was the beginning of the end. But I think she's fine and never going to eat pomegranate again.
 

Kalidasa

Active member
May 8, 2013
1,954
Media
1
2
Michigan
Parrots
1 green cheek conure (Kumar)
2 male budgies (Charlie and Diego)
That's weird because they're supposed to be good. When I gave mine pomegranate she stuffed herself full...and never ate them again. She will sling the dish if they're in there. She didn't puke, but she won't do it again. Now it's making more sense, maybe some birds are sensitive to them. Or maybe they're not supposed to eat the seeds within?
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
13,296
17
Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
My birds LOVE pomegranate!!!!! So I try to keep them stock with it when it's in season....
 

lquan

New member
Nov 6, 2013
176
1
El Monte, CA
Parrots
Yellow Sided Conure
I feed my GCC pomegranade all the time. I just hold the pulp between my fingers and let her tear it. I never let her eat the seed. We're not suppose to let parrot eat apple seed. I imaging same goes for pomegranade seed.
 

Boysmom

Member
Nov 17, 2011
686
11
Atlanta, Georgia
Parrots
Ruby- Solomans Island Grand Eclectus ***
Flora- Panama Amazon
I think there may be some bad crop of Pom's this year. I have fed my birds Pom's for years and nerver had problems, but 2 weeks ago I fed them one and both of them had black tarry poops that were def not normal. This has never happened when they have ate Pom's before. This is just my opinion, but it is entirely possible it is a bad crop or they were sprayed with something that penetrated the peeling this year. I always feed only the seed pods with the shell removed, but it did cause bad poops that had me alarmed. Poops were normal the next day though.
 
OP
christine

christine

New member
Sep 9, 2013
39
0
Corona del Mar, CA
Parrots
2 Lovebirds: 1 male A. r. roseicollis (Whitefaced Violet Mutation) & 1 female A. r. roseicollis (Green Mutation?)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
I feed my GCC pomegranade all the time. I just hold the pulp between my fingers and let her tear it. I never let her eat the seed. We're not suppose to let parrot eat apple seed. I imaging same goes for pomegranade seed.

I was wondering the same thing--whether or not you should let parrots eat the seed or just the fruity/fleshy outer bit. My lovebird was not interested in the peel (which is a good thing cause I'm pretty sure thats not good for them) and she wasnt interested in the fleshy/fruity part either. All she wanted was the inner seed. Weird. I think maybe thats why she got sick. Weirdo should eat the good part.

My lovebirds never liked fruit anyways--they have only gone for veggies (broccoli, sprouts, spinach, kale, etc). Pomegranate was the first fruit I got one of them interested in and it didn't end well.
 

GaryBV

New member
Nov 2, 2013
627
7
Southwestern Pennsylvania
Parrots
Pacific Parrotlets - green Beanieboy and blue Skya;
Fischer Lovebirds - Mariposa and Papillon
Well that's that then, no pomegranate on the menu for my birds! My birds go crazy for 3 foods in particular, soaked or sprouted seeds, cooked sweet potato and scrambled eggs lol
 

Most Reactions

Top