Dear Parrots magazine,
Fresh fruit and veg
We read quite a lot about the right foods that we should feed our birds with an emphasis on fresh vegetables and fruit, which in my opinion, should always be included in a captive bird’s diet. And don’t forget, living in a captive environment means they have to rely solely on what we feed them. Of course, veg and fruit are not the only answer, as there are many other dry foods, seeds, pellets and other ingredients that contribute to a good healthy diet.
Recently I got involved in a quite heated conversation with someone who also has a parrot and lives quite close to me when we occasionally bump into each other when walking our dogs. She tells me she has a Blue-fronted Amazon, although I’ve never seen it, and she says it is fed mainly on a seed diet and according to her, he loves sunflower seeds. Well, as a great supporter of fresh foods I could not resist but contradict what she was saying, as it seems her Amazon is not getting a good healthy diet.
She said that lots of fresh foods are contaminated with a multitude of pesticides and herbicides and that buying organic is not really an option for her as she has a very limited income. I agree that it is not easy in today’s modern world to source foods that are free, not only from pesticides and herbicides, but all manner of other horrible ingredients.
Obviously, cost can be a major factor in buying the best quality for our birds. I will always source the best I can from health food shops and buy organic fresh foods for the health of my cockatoo. No matter how hard we try, it is not always easy to find foods that are 100 per cent free of additives, but can only do our best. My cockatoo is 38 years old and active all day long, so I don’t think I’m doing that much wrong. I just hope owners will always strive to buy the highest quality food, as the health of our birds is the number one priority.
Amanda Patel, by email