We live in a land of fast food, fatty snacks, and junk food junkies. French fries dripping with grease, hamburgers packed with calories – most of us are painfully aware that our diets are less than ideal. Could our pets also be suffering from a similar situation? If that pet is a bird and it's on an all-seed diet, the answer's an emphatic “Yes!”
While nature lovers can safely supplement wild birds with feeders full of seed, too much seed for your pet bird can lead to serious problems. Just ask Dr. Vanessa Rolfe, an avian veterinarian at Avian & Exotic Veterinary Services in Salem, Va. “Seventy to 80 percent of the problems I treat in birds are due directly or indirectly to inadequate diets – usually seed-based diets,'' Rolfe says. “Seeds are high in fat and deficient in many other nutrients, including amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. So an all-seed diet can be associated with a long list of medical problems.”
These p.. [More]
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