Sorry for my delayed response, I have been swamped with work, computer problems, car problems and renovation delays.
Theory? I merely stated what I feed my birds and will continue to feed them.
I am afraid that we are in a disagreement over the articles. I do believe that Dr. Peter Sakas article was pretty clear and easy to understand.
C. Protein Supplements
Supplementation with proteins of animal origin can compensate effectively for the deficiencies of seeds. Pet birds can be fed such foods as meat, fish, cheese, milk and eggs. Birds can digest these foods well but do not feed any particular food in excess.
There has to be at least 6 entries on this forum that I have come across stating that they took their bird to the Veterinarian and was told to give them yogurt … So trust them if they agree with you and don’t trust them if they don’t, is that correct?
I am also familiar with the “they aren’t mammals” argument. No they aren’t and no they most probably wouldn’t eat it in the wild but that argument also extends to most of the foods that they are feed in captivity. Peanut are grown underground therefor they wouldn’t be in their diet either, along with sweet potatoes, carrots, beets and so on. Pellets, crackers, pizza, pasta and thousands of other processed foods wouldn’t be in their diet either. Soy, wheat and corn are the basis for all processed foods herein the U.S., all are carbohydrates and are converted into sugar after you digest the. Ultra processed foods have very little if any real nutritional value they are high calorie malnutrition foods. Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition a book by Chandler Marrs and Derrick Lonsdale an awesome book by the way.
This is their website just in case you are curious or want to check them out.
Hormones Mattter
In recent decades, ultra-processed foods have become common in diets worldwide. Here, we look at seven ways that these foods pose risks to health.
www.medicalnewstoday.com
Background Recent population dietary studies indicate that diets rich in ultra-processed foods, increasingly frequent worldwide, are grossly nutritionally unbalanced, suggesting that the dietary contribution of these foods largely determines the overall nutritional quality of contemporaneous...
pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com
Raw Soy beans are TOXIC , “soy beans contain lectins, glycoproteins that bind to carbohydrates(sugars) in cells. This can damage the cells or lead to cell death in the gastrointestinal tract. Lectins may bind to the intestinal walls, damaging the cells and affecting nutrient absorption as well as causing short-term gastrointestinal side effects. Unlike most proteins, lectins aren't broken down by enzymes in the intestine, so the body can't use them. Lectins can affect the normal balance of bacteria in the intestine and the immune system in the digestive tract.” This is a direct quote from the following link.
What Happens if You Eat Raw Soybeans?
Corn and soy make up the bulk of every pellet on the market. Not to mention that parrot pellets aren’t made off of any legitimate parrot research they are based off of poultry research. The poultry that is used in our food supply, so let’s see a broiler chicken’s life span is 7 weeks, laying chickens 18 months, turkeys 5 months and ducks depending on what they are used for 7-20 weeks. So they based the diet of a parrot that can live anywhere from 15 years to some well over 50 years on what they feed to birds that have a very short life. WOW! Mind blowing or what?
What do these animal proteins contribute to the diet? They have a complete amino acid profile and are filled with vitamins and minerals here are the nutritional profiles (amino acids, vitamins and minerals) for whole milk.
Show me 1 just 1 legitimate research article that says birds can’t have milk, just 1. Yeah I have read ‘birds can’t have milk’ and it ALWAYS make me laugh! It just does not compute. What is lactose, besides a milk sugar? Lactose is a disaccharide made up of glucose and galactose (two monosaccharides). Can a bird digest glucose? Can birds digest galactose? Which one of these would be the problem glucose or galactose? Glucose and galactose are found together in so many foods, foods that they eat all the time. Glucose and galactose are together in sweet corn, a lot of fruits like peaches, pears, papaya, cherries, watermelon, cantaloupe, dates, figs, and bananas I could go on. Galactose is in bell peppers (all colors), peanuts, sweet corn, celery, basil, olives, tomatoes, and a variety of beans and a lot of herbs and spices. With corn and peanuts being the main ingredient in most pellets how could it be something that they can’t digest. If they can eat all of these other foods with the same sugars tell me why wouldn’t they be able to digest milk? The logic doesn’t make any sense. If a bird is malnourished and lacking in what is needed to have good digestion (vitamins and minerals) then yes they might have problems with digestion in general, having nothing to do with milk, milk just took the blame!
There are some people with rare genetic mutations that can cause them to have Galactosaemia due to their inability to metabolize the sugar galactose. They don’t have to just avoid milk /dairy they have to avoid other galactose containing foods as well. There are different genetic variations that determine the severity of the disease and that in turn determines how much galactose containing foods they have to avoid.
Galactosemia: MedlinePlus Genetics
There are a growing number of medications that a person can take that can and do cause gastrointestinal distress. There are a number of reasons why that happens too, nutritional deficiencies play a big part. Take any of the tetracycline antibiotics, they can cause any number of gastrointestinal problems and when I have taken them they really do make you think that you are unable to digest any milk or anything to do with the whole dairy department and for me it did not matter if I used it in cooking it still made me sick! Several years back (2017) a lot of commercial milks were found with high levels of tetracycline in them and I am sure this wasn’t the first time.
https://www.nmpf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Tetracycline-FAQ-Sheet.pdf
I provide a wide variety of foods to my birds. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spouts, as well as animal proteins and that does include meats, fish (salmon) eggs, cheese, greek yogurt, kefir, butter, ghee (clarified butter) and occasionally some milk and pudding. I also give them goat’s milk and goat cheese. Coconut milk is also popular around here.
I chop up the fruits and vegetables and I arrange them and all the foods in the bowl in little piles then I wait to see what they eat first, for Mandy it’s the eggs. I don’t force my birds to eat anything, they eat what they want. You hear people say that they will only eat their favorites. Haha Yeah that isn’t exactly true. They may eat that food for a while then one day just up and stop and not touch it again for a long time. Their favorite will change on a regular and you will be shocked when you see it for yourself. They really do seem to know what they need when it comes to nutrition, now that isn’t to say that they don’t eat some foods just because they like them.
It has never been my nature to tell someone what to think or what to do. I will share with anyone what I know and what has worked for me. What they choose to do with that information is entirely up to them. It would be my hope that someone new to birds would assess all options in feeding their birds. What area does the bird originate from? What foods are native to that area? What foods are people feeding and what problems are associated with the parrots eating them? I hope that they would read some books and learn what they can about nutrition. It would be a lot more informative than just repeating the same old dogma that the pet food industry started to scare people into the feeding the foods that they were trying to sell. There are a lot of good resources on food nutrition out there; website, books and documentaries. If you need help finding some good books please let me know. Pet Fooled is a good documentary about pet foods. The Truth about Pet Foods website
Truth about Pet Food - Knowing the truth can save your pet's life Fat: A Documentary and Fat: A Documentary 2 are both worth the time spent watching them.
Here is another article about Feeding Birds for Optimal Health by Janine Perlman, Ph.D.
I find it ironic that I read all the time not to give a bird apple seeds or pits from fruits because they have cyanide in them. Why worry about that cyanide and not all the cyanide in the manmade B12 supplements added to the pellets, you know the pellets that they eat day after day. Oh yeah the cheap B12 that is used in all the processed foods both pet and peoples is cyanocobalamin. 1 molecule of cobalamin bound to 1 molecule of cyanide and yeah it’s that cyanide. Why worry about an apple seed? Where is the outrage over that cyanocobalamin?
Cyanocobalamin - Wikipedia
I am surprised that the statement “supplement calcium and D3” didn’t draw the wrath. Why should you never supplement calcium and vitamin D3 alone? They don’t work well alone is why. They both need their cofactors and calcium that the body isn’t able to use usually ends up in joints and tissues (brain, heart, muscles) causing problems.
Almost everyone gets enough calcium. However, many are missing the cofactors that allow the body to properly absorb and distribute it throughout the body.
www.drdrewhuffman.com
I honestly couldn’t say what tests that the Vet ran last time they were there, I’m sure they were whatever she felt were necessary. Whatever tests (blood, poop, swab) were taken this last visit the only info that I have was a voice message that all the labs were normal. My birds have never had to go to the Vet for any illness, feather, hormonal problems or egg laying and none except Levi has ever taken any medications for anything. The only time I have ever requested any testing is after acquiring a new bird and that was to make sure they aren’t carrying anything before they are brought around my other birds. All of my bids have been tested for Chlamydophila, Beak & Feather Disease and Avian Polyoma Virus and all lab tests came back negative. All of them have been micro chipped and outside of that they only have their yearly trip for a checkup. They are all metabolically healthy, of good weight and in good feather.
If you are implying a cholesterol problem they don’t have that problem either. In fact the cholesterol guidelines here in the United States aren’t based off of any research at all. It is all medical dogma, all of it and the poor people who follow the guidelines end up being the ones the most sick. Don’t believe me google the Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-1973) so you can read the research yourself. Here is an article from Diabetes.co.uk that is short sweet and to the point J
Rediscovered study from 60s Minnesota shows up 'heart healthy diet’ myth - Diabetes
First chance I get I will show you photos of feathers from Heidi and Amanda to show you the difference the diet changes made to them. Levi and Zack has always eaten this way.
I’ll be in and out as time permits.