Dr Kavi­ta Per­sad

DIS­CLAIMER: Par­rots are among Trinidad and To­ba­go’s most trea­sured na­tive wildlife and sev­er­al species, in­clud­ing our Ama­zon par­rots, are pro­tect­ed by law. The cap­ture, pos­ses­sion or trade of wild par­rots is il­le­gal and con­tributes to a de­cline of wild pop­u­la­tions. This ar­ti­cle is NOT in­tend­ed to en­cour­age the keep­ing of wild-caught birds. Rather, it is to ed­u­cate those in­di­vid­u­als who legal­ly own li­censed par­rots or who have ap­plied for nec­es­sary per­mits through rel­e­vant au­thor­i­ties, to pro­mote re­spon­si­ble own­er­ship and im­prove the health and wel­fare of birds al­ready in hu­man care.

As Tri­nis, we un­for­tu­nate­ly have the com­mon mis­con­cep­tion that ba­by or young par­rots are raised on a di­et of bread soaked in milk. While this prac­tice has been passed down through gen­er­a­tions, it is nu­tri­tion­al­ly in­ad­e­quate and can have se­ri­ous, life­long con­se­quences for a bird’s health. Prop­er nu­tri­tion dur­ing a par­rot’s ear­ly de­vel­op­ment is one of the most im­por­tant fac­tors in­flu­enc­ing growth, im­mune func­tion, feath­er qual­i­ty, be­hav­iour and longevi­ty.

Ba­by par­rots have dif­fer­ent nu­tri­tion­al re­quire­ments from adult par­rots, and their di­et should con­sist of a com­mer­cial­ly for­mu­lat­ed hand-feed­ing for­mu­la, mixed to the cor­rect con­sis­ten­cy, fed at the ap­pro­pri­ate tem­per­a­ture and fre­quen­cy un­til the wean­ing pe­ri­od to sol­id food. An avian or ex­ot­ic vet­eri­nar­i­an will be able to fur­ther guide nu­tri­tion­al re­quire­ments for young chicks, as well as prop­er feed­ing tech­niques.

Grow­ing and adult par­rots re­quire a wide range of food to form a healthy di­et. This in­cludes high-qual­i­ty for­mu­lat­ed pel­lets (which pro­vide bal­anced lev­els of pro­teins, fats, min­er­als, etc.), fresh veg­eta­bles, es­pe­cial­ly those rich in vi­t­a­min A, seeds and nuts, lim­it­ed fruit and fresh, clean wa­ter. The con­se­quences of a poor di­et can lead to vi­t­a­min A, D and cal­ci­um de­fi­cien­cies, which fur­ther caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­ease, poor feath­er and skin qual­i­ty, weak­ened im­mune sys­tem, weak bones, poor growth, obe­si­ty, in­creased sus­cep­ti­bil­i­ty to in­fec­tions and more.

As men­tioned, vi­t­a­min A de­fi­cien­cy is one of the most com­mon nu­tri­tion­al dis­eases in pet par­rots as it plays an im­por­tant role in main­tain­ing healthy skin and lin­ing of res­pi­ra­to­ry, di­ges­tive and re­pro­duc­tive tracts. Lack of vi­t­a­min A al­lows these tis­sues to be­come dam­aged and eas­i­er for bac­te­ria and fun­gi to in­vade. Vi­t­a­min A-rich foods in­clude dark green leafy veg­eta­bles such as kale and pak choi, or­ange or red veg­eta­bles such as pump­kin, sweet pota­to, car­rots or red pep­pers.

Cal­ci­um is need­ed for strong bones, mus­cle and nerve func­tion and to pre­vent con­di­tions such as egg bind­ing. Sources of cal­ci­um in­clude a bal­anced pel­let­ed di­et, eggshells and cut­tle­bone.

Seeds and nuts can be giv­en oc­ca­sion­al­ly but, be­cause they are high in fat, should not be giv­en as the pri­ma­ry di­et in par­rots. Again, Trinida­di­ans have a mis­con­cep­tion that sun­flower seeds are the pri­ma­ry di­et for par­rots when, in fact, it can lead to obe­si­ty and fat­ty tu­mours such as lipo­mas. The same ap­plies to fresh fruit, as these should be giv­en in mod­er­a­tion due to nat­ur­al sug­ar con­tent, even while pro­vid­ing valu­able vi­t­a­mins and an­tiox­i­dants. Some in­clude paw paw, man­go, guavas and ba­nanas. Clean, fresh wa­ter should al­ways be pro­vid­ed dai­ly to pre­vent al­gae and bac­te­r­i­al growth.

In con­clu­sion, good nu­tri­tion dur­ing the first months of life lays the foun­da­tion for a par­rot that can thrive for decades. By mov­ing away from out­dat­ed prac­tices such as bread and milk, own­ers can en­sure their birds en­joy health­i­er, hap­pi­er and longer lives.

Dr Kavi­ta Per­sad (Hons) is a vet­eri­nar­i­an at Lu­na Light Vet­eri­nary Clin­ic. She is com­mit­ted to pre­ven­tive health­care, client ed­u­ca­tion, and com­pas­sion­ate vet­eri­nary med­i­cine.

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