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Food Allergies in Pets
Is This More Common Than We Realize?
Here is part one of a series on food allergies in cats and dogs. I haven't seen anyone who has written anything similar for parrots. I know several people with parrots with specific food allergies. I find it interesting that in cats and dogs (one of my cats went through this) many of the symptoms are in the skin.  I just wonder how many parrots with plucking problems start it because of food allergies.

I think it's interesting that this DVM points out that HEAT can denature proteins and cause a food to become an allergen. As we know, pellets are processed with high heat when they are extruded, plus they are mostly grains, some of which are GMO, which have problems in and of themselves.  There is evidence that just the extrusion process, in addition to the heat, may alter the grain proteins.

Some food for thought in this article.

I'm not connected with this web site nor am I advocating any of their products or supplements.  They do have some good articles from time to time.

What Do You Need to Know About GMO's?

 

                 (Genetically Modified Organisms or GE, Genetically Engineered)

 

 

There is scary evidence that genetically modified organisms in the GM/GE foods we eat may actually become part of the bacteria inside our digestive tract!  One study showed that the Bt toxin from GM corn was in the blood streams of 93% of pregnant women. The USDA is wanting to remove all controls on GE corn and cotton.  (Read more.)

When GM soy was introduced in the UK, allergies to soy rose by 50%.  GM soy has two NEW proteins in it plus the amount of trypsin inhibitor (a known soy allergen) is seven times higher in GM soy.  (See here.) 

 How do you avoid GMO?  If you buy organic, it should not have any GMO ingredients.  If you want to find out about other foods that are not available to you in organic, check out this shopping guide or this one.The actual GM crops that are sold in the U.S. are corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, and a small amount of zucchini and yellow squash.  However, processed foods often have GMO ingredients in them. 

 For more information, go here.

New and Improved Green Chunks!   

Less Crumbling!    

Green Chunks

Green chunks are one of our most popular products. A great way to get some very nutritious leafy greens into your parrot's diet as well as all of the other seeds, grains, and fruits they have in them (go here for a list of ingredients or to order).  We hear nothing but good comments from our customers about them. But still, we want to make them even better. We know from our own use that there are always some crumbs in the bottom of the bag.  Depending on how shipping went from our facility to your home, there may be more some months than others.  Many of you use the crumbs to sprinkle over fresh foods or add to a birdie bread or mash. BUT we want that to be an option, not something you are doing because there are lots of crumbs there you feel you don't want to waste. So we have added a bit of tapioca flour and some xanthan gum to the chunks to help them hold together better.  

 

Tapioca comes from the root of the cassava or yucca plant.  It is not a grain and is gluten free.  If you want to read more about it, there is information on Lance Armstrong's Livestrong site.   Xanthan gum is a high fiber carbohydrate used as a thickener. Lance Armstrong's Livestrong site also has information about xanthan gum. 

 

 

There are many different ways our customers use our UnPellet mix.  Here is one from a happy new customer, Dusty.  Mix it with some fresh fruit!


 How to Eat UnPellet- by Dusty
Here is a photo of Nancy Richards' Dusty eating a mix of fresh fruit and UnPellet mix.  This was Dusty's first taste of the UnPellet mix.  Nancy says it was a big hit. 

  Parrot Lover of the Month- Beverly Marotto
Solving Belle's Scratching and Plucking Problem 

Beverly's Three Girls

I have been fascinated by parrots since I was a child.  My grandmother had an old Blue Front Amazon that she bought from two elderly women.  It had belonged to their brother who had died.  He was an import and his age was unknown.  I acquired my first parrot, a young Double Yellow Head Amazon, in 1989.  There was no internet networking back then to talk to other parrot owners so I learned from reading books and joining a local bird club.   In 1997, a baby Hawkhead parrot I named Cokie was added and a year later Belle, a baby Vosmaeri Eclectus joined the flock.  They soon established the flock structure.  Rosie enjoyed watching the other two birds and joined in with their vocalizations but did not want to get too close to them.  Cokie was the clown and tried to bully Belle but Belle established herself as the boss.  She kept Cokie away from what she decided was "her" territory but she absolutely loved Rosie.  They all ate pretty much the same diet of quality pellets, cooked corn/bean mix, fresh fruit and veggies, and homemade bird bread.  Then about four years ago, that all changed.   

       

Belle had just finished her morning corn/bean mash and a piece of pumpkin corn bread.  She climbed up onto the handle of her wicker basket to look out the glass door in the dining room.  I noticed her holding a foot up and rubbing her beak across it repeatedly.  I didn't give it much thought, thinking she was trying to wipe a piece of stray food off her beak.  Over the next few days, I saw her repeat this behavior.  Around the same time, I started coming home from work and finding plucked pin feathers on the bottom of her cage.  Off to the vet for an exam and blood work.  Everything was normal, including tests for lead and zinc.  The scratching and plucking continued over the next month or so.  Then one day as I was watching her vigorously rubbing her foot with her beak, the light dawned.  It was similar to a dog licking a "hot spot", which is sometimes due to a food allergy.  I wondered if Belle could have developed a food allergy.  I thought back to when the behavior started.  It was late August and I had purchased native corn on the cob.  Each of my birds was given a 2" slice on a skewer each day that week.  Also around that time, I had found a recipe for the cornmeal based birdie bread and baked up a big batch.  Could the culprit be corn?  To test the theory, I gave Belle 0.4mL of dye-free children's Benadryl before breakfast.  I fed her breakfast and she did not do the foot scratching.  I left her with corn-free food for the day and when I came home there was only one plucked pin feather.  I had been finding 10-20 a day so this was a big improvement.  I was pretty sure I was on the right track.  I continued giving her a daily dose of Benadryl and a corn-free diet.  Within a week, the scratching and plucking had completely stopped and I weaned her off the Benadryl.  Her feathers started growing back and she left them alone.  That was four years ago.  Belle does still occasionally pluck and barber feathers but it seems to be seasonal and hormone related.  She starts acting broody around Thanksgiving through late winter.  I have not seen a return of the foot scratching or severe pin feather plucking since she has been on a corn-free diet.  I told this story to my vet who was also convinced I had solved the problem.     

Guest author Tony Silva, author of several books on parrots, on diet

I have been observing parrots in the wild during more than 30 years. I have often had the items they were eating examined for a nutritional essay. Based on this information and more than 35 years' as an aviculturist, I will give you my perception.

Most South American parrots, but especially macaws and excluding Amazons and some Pionus; African Greys; and Indonesian cockatoos require fat in the diet. I would say macaws require more fat than most species, as they fed on palm seeds which are oil rich. Amazons feed often on fibrous items which are protein rich but low in fat. Most Australian species have evolved to survive on low fat diets.

Feeding a nutritious diet is key. I have kept many species solely on pellets but production waned slowly. When fruits and other items were added to the pelleted diet, production increased. Pellets are good but not one is based on actual research of parrots in the wild and even if they were, diet varies often within species in the genus, meaning that one may feed on a totally different diet than the other. Gold-capped and Jenday Conures are similar but wild Jendays feed more on pods than Gold-caps, which prefer more fruit, flowers and buds. If you collect a weeks supply of food from the wild and lump them, it quickly becomes apparent that Jendays eat more protein than Gold-caps. I suggest feeding a diet that is balanced and which contains fruits, vegetables and living cells (sprouts, for example-- wild parrots eat a lot of 'living' foods whether it be growing buds or shoots or green pods). Macaws should have fat supplement their diet.

Whatever you feed, bear in mind that some parrots in captivity become sedentary. Amazons can easily become overweight. Mine get very little food and yet they maintain their body weight.

Lentils, small peas and many other items sprout easily. Be cautious in hot climates, which can induce bacterial growth very quickly-- once the birds begin to chew and bite the food, growth stops and fermentation begins. Feed these early in the morning and remove the unwanted items after a few hours; feed then your pellets or seeds. Supplement with greens and fruit if you can. Don't focus on cultivated fruits but look for natural foods, such as Chinaberry and others which grow wild.

Research Shows Animals Prefer Taste of Food They Work Harder For

Working to get some food

Scientists at Johns Hopkins working with mice showed that not only is food valued more when it is worked for, it may even taste better for up to 24 hours.  Mice were trained to press levers to get two flavors of sugar water.  They had to work 15 times as hard to get one of the flavors.  Later, when they were allowed free access to both flavors, they preferred the one they had earlier worked harder for. 

So don't forget to set up foraging situations for your parrots. Our foraging rolls are an easy way to do this but our UnPellet, Green Chunks, or any dry foods can be hidden around your birds' cages.  Hide the foods you really want them to eat rather then the treats, and see if it makes the nutritious foods more desirable for them. 

 

To read the full article, click here 

        

 

 

   I became interested in parrots when my kids were little. After asking a lot of questions, and talking to people with cockatiels, we decided on two. We had those birds for several years.

 

     Right now, I just have Lola, my female SI Eclectus. The cockatiels were many years ago. When the kids got older, I wanted a larger parrot, since I had more time, and did my research to become familiar with the breed before we got her. I realize now that there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding eclectus.

 

     When I brought Lola home, she came with colored pellets, and the recommendation to feed her vegetables and "some of whatever you are eating". The first sign that there was something wrong with my girl came when we were on a camping vacation. One night I noticed she was toe tapping and the next morning, she had chewed her 'ankle' to the point that she could not stand on her feet. She was lying on the floor of the travel cage. I wrapped her in a towel and held her till we got home.

 

     Throughout the last five years, Lola has been toe tapping, wing flipping, and quivering more often than she has been well. She also gets nodules on her feet that are hard and brown colored that must be itchy or painful, because she chews on them when they appear.

 

     Lola has been to our avian vet many times, but we've had no diagnosis from those visits. She is an enigma to them! We know it is not caused by diet as Lola is fed exclusively organic vegetables, fruit, a small amount of seeds, and nuts, rice and beans, and Lucy's Unpellet. My vet has been very supportive but she is at a total loss as to how to treat Lola, so I do the research and she listens. An antifungal allopathic drug provided relief for about two months. Then Lola had a relapse. We are now trying Candex and a homeopathic remedy with some results. I am guardedly hopeful at this point. If this doesn't work, I will continue in my research for a total cure.

 

     Through the Eclectus Pet Owner's Group, with the help of Lisa Woodworth and Laurella Desborough, I found out about the theory that some of these birds are susceptible to yeast problems. Lisa and Laurella worked with me, answered many questions and I believe, saved Lola's life. At the point when I contacted Lisa, Lola was grossly underweight and she had a collar on every night to prevent her from chewing her feet. She would flip and tap all night long without the collar and I think part of the foot chewing  was because of exhaustion from not sleeping. That is when we tried the antifungal medication.

 

      I should tell you that Lola is a sweet, happy, loving bird. She does not play as many other eclectus do, because she doesn't feel good.  When she was in 'remission' as I call it, she chews on toys, flies through the house a bit, and laughs when we laugh. She will also imitate sounds she hears us make, but when she is ill, she sits quietly on her perch, or my shoulder throughout the day. I feel sad sometimes when I hear of other eclectus and their antics, or see Lola hurting, but it just makes me more determined to find an answer for her, and in a larger sense, other birds with the same problem.

 

 

 

Would you like us to feature you and your parrot(s) in our newsletter?  Do you have an interesting story you think other parrot lovers would like to hear about?  Please e-mail us at phoenixforaging@gmail.com and give us an idea what you would like to write about. Or we have some suggested questions you can use.  Or do you  have a friend that you would like us to feature because he or she has had an interesting experience or learned something useful for others related to parrots?  Please let us know. 

 

 

Nutritive herbs are a class of plants that can be considered to be herbs but have a positive effect for anyone. They are high in minerals and vitamins, are alkalinizing foods, and have a preventive effect on health as well as healing properties.  Alfalfa, which we have written about in the past, is an example. It comes from an Arabic word meaning "mother of all foods."  Some other examples are dandelion leaf, nettles, rose hips, banana, barley leaf, apple, asparagus, banana, barley grass, bee pollen, bilberry, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, grapefruit, hibiscus, lemon, oatstraw, onion, orange, papaya, pineapple, red clover, spirulina, stevia, kelp, and wheat grass.

Parrot Lover of the Month- Sister Kathy

The spiritual side of keeping a Parrot named Lollipop

 

WHO AM I

I am a parrot parent and I live in a very small town in the mountains of

the Adirondacks. My name is Kathy Henderson. I love life, and I love all creation. My respect for all creatures has always been a part of life since I can remember. The love I felt for any animal, be it one with feathers, fur or scales was so strong I needed to do something with it. I belong to the Third Order of Franciscans, which is an order of St. Francis. This saint is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. So, here I am now, after 4 years of study, praying and walking the earth as St. Francis did, I am now called Sister Kathy.

Sister Kathy

 MY CALLING

The spiritual part of my calling all started from working at a veterinarian hospital. I found my "calling" into the spiritual world as a Franciscan while working at the animal hospital and finding myself praying with families as their loved pets were dying or being euthanized. I felt such adoration for animals and their true Creator and Master, and indeed felt His presence at each "crossing over" of each animal.

QUIET TIMES AND LOLLIPOP

During my transition into the order, one of the order rules was to have quiet times and meditations during the day. I am not one to sit still for very long and found this rule was one of the hardest for me.  Staring into an empty parrot cage while doing my quiet time, my mind started turning. I had had a Quaker parrot for 17yrs named Spanky that I had lost 8 months previously. Spanky filled much of my days with love and attention soooo I surfed the web on companionship birds and found a match for myself. That night I purchased 4 online books on Eclectus parrots and their care. Next day I surfed the web for the closest breeder which I found in downstate NY, I made a phone call and was told that there would be a 6 month wait. I didn't care if I adopted a male or female but did my homework on both. I read everything I could get my hands on. As I read, I found peace and awe in the details of their social lives, structure, and beauty. I found my other calling....a little parrot named Lollipop!

Lollipop

 

LEARNING TO BE PAITENT

Waiting was the hard part. Soon I received a call from the breeder letting me know that it was a girl! I wanted to name her something that I could sing to her so that is where I got the name Lollipop and to this day every morning when I wake her up to transfer her to her daytime cage that is the song I sing to her, and now she is the one that does the popping sound that is in the song. When she first arrived I had butterflies and I shook from head to toe, my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it. I took a week off of work to be with her to start the bonding process. She was a big baby. After all, I only had small parrots and getting used to her size took some time.

Lollipop was a total brat in the beginning, striking out at me with that very big black beak, puffing up when I walked next to the cage was an every day occurrence. Screaming was her favorite pastime. After one month she seemed all settled in and I felt confident enough to start the "step up" command. Slowly I reached in my hand talking softly to this beautiful creature that I thought was meant for me. She took a chunk off the top of my hand so quick that I didn't even know she did it until the air hit the open wound. It wasn't the bite that made me cry that day, my feelings were hurt to the core. After all, she was suppose to have been hand trained and was not a biter. This is not what I wanted, she was not what I wanted and as far as I was concerned she was going to go somewhere to just be a breeder, and I would get a baby that I could hand feed and bond to. As I stood there crying my heart out, hurt and disappointed my companion came to me and said "she has only been here a month, give her more time she will turn around and love you back." I agreed to give it a couple more weeks, no more no less before I sold her, after all she was untrained, unfriendly and evil.

The following morning I uncovered her cage to be met with a sweet "hello darling," her first words. She came to the door of the cage, jumped on my shoulder and I froze. Ok so today I am going to lose my ear or she is going to put a hole in my face, I thought. Gently she took her black baby beak, rested it on my cheek, fluffed up her baby feathers and repeated "hello darling." From that day forward she has made a 180 degree turn, she knew she hurt my feelings the day before, she knew I wanted her to love me. She understood my conversation with my companion and she understood that we were meant to be together.

 

MY VIEW

I have been asked numerous times about my view on pets and spirituality. Do they go to heaven, do they have souls? Yes, I do believe they go to heaven and yes to get to heaven you have to have a soul. I find comfort in knowing that they are there. I was told as a very young child, "you never own an animal, you only borrow them till their true Master calls them home , so you must take very good care of them for Him". Today, in this world, it seems many have lost their way and their identities as spiritual beings. They have transferred their priorities that they traditionally placed on nature to their own accomplishments . Many are unaware of their connection to their relationship with nature, they instead are focused upon a superficial and material world. Many have lost sight of the fact that they are all a part of the world of nature and the Creator Himself, which is responsible for the whole of life, and all living creatures.

SHARING THE JOY

I recently had my parents come and live with me. My mother suffers seizures, is in a wheelchair, and is deeply depressed. My dad is totally blind, has heart disease and is dying of cancer. This little parrot has brought many hours of laughter to the both of them. To see my mother smile is something rarely seen but when she has Lollipop on her shoulder or watches with me as Lolli plays in her toy box, steals cat toys or feeds the dogs peanuts, she transforms into the mother I remember years ago.

My dad asks every day if I would bring Lolli to him . To see someone that is dying smile because of the joy of holding a 560 gram bird shows how much love has been put into her creation. She helps my parents emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically....wow.

Lollipop helps me attain "living in the moment." That's what she does, a moment in which Spirit can be most easily accessed. Just look into a birds eyes and not find life a miracle, I dare you. Celebrating life with my parrot has become a way of life for me.

Lastly

If I could mimic the same faithfulness and acceptance in my relationships that I experience with my parrot and all my other pets, then I am a better person for it. If the only thing that changed is how I live my life today, the joy of companionship and friendship, living more in the moment as it happens, then that's enough for me.

 

Editors Note:  Kathy also has a leopard gecko rescue:

http://adirondackgecko.com and has just adopted a sun conure named Sunny from parrot rescue.