I have two Amazons & 3 Cockatiels currently & last Saturday my 33 year old Amazon Sassy had his annual checkup & nail trim at my Veterinarian. I have had Sassy since he was 12 weeks old. Sassy is fed a homemade seed diet & fresh food 3 times a week as are my other birds. My Vet does her exam & he is a good weight, respiration is good, heart sounds good, ears, nostrils & feet all look good, but when she checks for the Choanal Papillae on the roof of his mouth they are blunted, this is a sign of a Vitamin A deficiency. These Papillae are V shaped structures that line the choana & form a barrier between oral & nasal passages. These papillae are a fool proof indicator of a birds nutritional profile & health. Characteristics of a sufficient Vitamin A assimilation. They play a critical role in a birds feeding & respiratory process. Blunted, shorter, or change in coloration or absence of these papillae altogether is an indication of lack of Vitamin A assimilation. These papillae play a critical role for a bird’s Immune system.
Obesity can have a tendency to prevent optimum assimilation for Vitamin A, but that is not the reason for Sassy’s deficiency.
Vitamin A deficiency is a concern because it can cause:
- Respiratory Infections
- Oral Abscesses
- Blunted chonoal papillae
- Squamous Metaplasia- A condition that when healthy mucus producing cells are replaced with thicker non-functioning cells. More vulnerable to infections & digestive issues.
- Kidney disease
- Conjunctivitis (Eye Infections)
- Hyperkerotosis – This condition that causes the skin to thicken & become scaly, particularly the feet & beak. Can develop sores in skin & they can become infected. These diseases are serious & can be life threatening.
Fresh foods that are high in Vitamin A are very important to a birds help. Captive birds rely on us as they are not out in the wild forging & finding what they need. Most manufactured seed diets (& pellets) do not have enough Vitamin A, even when added. It is often synthetic & & in a powdered form, then added to bags of food. These forms are not assimilated into the body like whole foods are. This is the same whether it is our pets or ourselves.
Some fresh foods that are high in Vitamin A are as follows:
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Red Peppers
- Squash (such as Butternut, Acorn,)
- Swiss Chard
- Parsley
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Leaves of broccoli
- Cantaloupe
- Papaya
- Chili peppers
- Turnip greens
- Beet root
- Spinach
- Dandelion Greens
- Collard Greens
- Endive
- Egg Yolk
- Mango
- Passion Fruit
- Guava
- Grapefruit
- Watermelon
- Apricot
- Tangerine
- Nectarine Red & Orange vegetables are usually higher in Vitamin A, Fruit should only consist of about 25% of the fresh food you feed. Homegrown or organic is best, but it is not always possible, be sure & wash the food very thoroughly before giving to your bird. Fresh food should be given at least 3 times a week & removed from the cage after 2-3 hours so bacteria doesn’t start to grow.
Foods that are low in Vitamin A are:
- Corn
- Summer squash
- White Potatoes
- Grapes
- Lettuce
- Apples
- Bananas
- Oranges
I feed my birds a variety of fresh foods, so as my Veterinarian is telling me about Sassy & that is papillae are blunted I am thinking what else can I do to help him get more Vitamin A. She asked me if I was feeding sweet potatoes & carrots & I said he is not a fan. He likes Mango, but obviously isn’t getting that much as it is a fruit. I asked her If I could give him raw sweet potato , and she said “try it”. I got to thinking on my way home that many people don’t like all vegetables prepared the same way. I thought he doesn’t like sweet potatoes cooked, maybe he doesn’t like carrots raw, so I could steam them. The next day I did both these things & low & behold he has eaten raw sweet potatoes & steamed carrots the last 3 times I have given them. NOTE: You can’t store sliced sweet potato in the refrigerator or the favor changes. You can blanch it & freeze it, I cube it, boil it & eat it myself or share it with my dogs who both enjoy it (if your dog is overweight this may not be a good regular part of their diet, but as a treat you should be fine).
I have several other blog posts about birds, if you haven’t checked them out they are Post numbers 4, 10, 13, 28, 53 & 54. #4 is about helping your bird eat more fresh foods & it has a bunch of ideas as I have had birds since about 1985. My blog homepage has a Table of Content under the Show tab so you can see all my post titles.
I hope you have found this helpful & will click the like button at the bottom. Please visit often & check out my previous posts. My goal is to help others help their pets, so more pets will Thrive & not just survive. Please subscribe to my blog (won’t get spam just an email when I publish a new post). I appreciate all my subscribers & look forward to seeing more of you click subscribe. Share my site on your social media sites, comment about my posts & let me know what you liked or learned. I recommend items sold on Amazon, check out the links & get your pet something new. All these things help my blog to be seen by more people. If you have an idea or topic you’d like to see on my blog, shoot me an email & let me know your thoughts. My email is echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thanks, Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 