The importance of Vitamin A in parrots

I found a very useful link today, and thought I'd share with everyone: Vitamin A Deficiency (Hypovitaminosis A) in Birds: Signs, Treatment, and Prevention

It was actually written by Doctors Faster and Smith.

Wow, that was very informative! Thanks for sharing

Yay! Cantaloupe is on there! Me and Hiroshi adore it

Thank you for sharing this link - very imformative.

Thanks for sharing, the link is so informative.
So much to still learn

It looks like vit. A is readily available in many foods. We appreciate the information PQ and thanks much.

This is really helpful, thank you

Yes, it is very informative but there is one thing missing from it and it's the fact that birds should only be given vitamin A when they have been diagnosed with hypovitaminosis A and not on a regular basis. What should be given on a regular basis are foods rich in betacarotene (RPO been the best source as well as the veggies and greens the article mentions).

The reason for this is that vitamin A was never meant to be eaten in its final form (that of the actual vitamin) but for the body to produce it AS NEEDED from its precursor: betacarotene (which is what the veggies, fruits and greens contain). If you feed vitamin A on a regular basis, the amount the body cannot use immediately will be stored AS FAT NODULES in the liver because the body has no mechanism to get rid of this excess and this is one of the causes of fatty liver disease (aka hepatic lipidosis) in birds.

That's why bird supplements that contain the final form of the vitamin should be avoided - and one of the reasons why I don't feed pellets to my birds (they have man-made vitamin A in them). Here is a study that found out that tiels do better (both physically and behaviorally) with too little vitamin A than with too much: Adult Cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus) at Maintenance Are More Sensitive to Diets Containing Excess Vitamin A Than to Vitamin A-Deficient Diets -- Koutsos et al. 133 (6): 1898 -- Journal of Nutrition

Birdamor, you're completely correct with your information and there isn't one thing that you've said that I disagree with. Excessive accumulation of any supplement can possibly be fatal. It's the perfect representation of 'too much of a good thing'.

However, and not to take away anything from what you've said; but I did not read anything in that article that spoke of constant vitamin A supplementation. It just gave a list of vitamin A-rich foods that you can feed your bird to prevent Hypovitaminosis A. None of the information stated that you would supplement through anything but these foods, unless, the bird actually does get the disease.

I don't see any problem with regularly feeding vitamin A-rich foods as a preventative, but I do see the same problems that you do with using other means of supplementation. Vitamin A-rich vegetables are a more natural and much more safe method of treatment, and most likely won't have the side effects you're concerned about.

parrotqueen said:

Birdamor, you're completely correct with your information and there isn't one thing that you've said that I disagree with. Excessive accumulation of any supplement can possibly be fatal. It's the perfect representation of 'too much of a good thing'.

However, and not to take away anything from what you've said; but I did not read anything in that article that spoke of constant vitamin A supplementation. It just gave a list of vitamin A-rich foods that you can feed your bird to prevent Hypovitaminosis A. None of the information stated that you would supplement through anything but these foods, unless, the bird actually does get the disease.

I don't see any problem with regularly feeding vitamin A-rich foods as a preventative, but I do see the same problems that you do with using other means of supplementation. Vitamin A rich-vegetables are a more natural and much more safe method of treatment, and most likely won't have the side effects you're concerned about.

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You are correct. The article does not mention constant vitamin A supplementation but it also does not mention the danger of it and most people would not catch the nuance and still give their birds vitamin/mineral supplements that contain it as well as pellets or treats which also have the final form of it instead of just the precursor thinking that they are doing the bird a favor. I have also found that AVs are very fond of giving birds vitamin A shots, something I would never allow with any of my birds.

As to overfeeding betacarotene and its effect on parrots, as far as I can tell, the only studies done are on lack of retinoic acid and its effect on embryonic development (deformation/degeneration at several levels from beaks to heart tissue). There are studies done on people (smokers) and it was found that excess of betacarotene impairs the function of retinoic acid (produced by oxidation of vitamin A) which, in turn, binds with something or the other and the final effect is that people that smoke and consume large dosages of betacarotene have a much higher probability of getting lung cancer but how that translates into feeding a parrot a large amount of betacarotene regularly, I don't know. In any case and just to be safe, I am always careful of Red Palm Oil which has the largest concentration of beta-carotene, I only use it for depleted birds or during breeding season (I don't allow them to breed, I allow them everything else: courtship, nesting, laying and incubation but I switch the real eggs with plastic ones so even if I am, by mistake, giving them a bit too much betacarotene and the excess would impair the embryos proper development, it would not really matter because there are no embryos ).