Helping Your Parrots Cope With Change

Tobias, a 27 year old, wild caught African Grey, experiences so much distress and misgivings when there is even the slightest change from what he expects in the regular household routine that he develops a gastric yeast infection.

A Double Yellow-headed Amazon rescued from horrific living conditions inside a metal cargo container all year round, receiving only seed and water, experiences apprehension and nervousness that manifests in destructive feather behavior habits (feather plucking) and self mutilation.

When a bird, or other individual, experiences any situation they perceive as being stressful, their body’s metabolism is catapulted into a high speed rate of consuming all available nutrients. Because of this massive increase in nutrient uptake, the body quickly begins to experience under nutrition. And if this stress induced high-speed metabolic rate continues over time, malnutrition develops.

Read more in the magazine…