Companion Animal Birds and Nutrition

1
Companion Animal Birds and Nutrition

• N. Matthew Ellinwood, D.V.M., Ph.D.
• Spring 2009

2
Companion Animal Birds

• Types of birds and their origins
• Suitability of specific species as companion
  animals

3
Australian Species

• Budgies
• Cockatiels
• Cockatoos

4
Budgies

• 7 inches long
• Several color varieties
• Relatively short lived
• Hardy and inquisitive
• Good first time bird pet

5
Cockatiels

• Larger and longer lived than budgies
• 12 inches/18-30 years
• Not Noisy
• Companionable birds
• Can be finger tamed

6
Cockatoos

• Large crested psittacines
• Very long lived
• 75 years
• Can be talkative
• Many different varieties
• Companionable but demanding
• Bond to one person

7
Sulfur Crested Cockatoo
8
Umbrella Cockatoo
9
Australian Species

• Over 20 species
• Islands of South Asia, Pacific, and Australia
• http//www.aviancompanions.com/species.htm

10
New World Psittacines

• Macaws
• Hyacinth
• Military
• Blue and Gold
• Scarlet
• Amazons
• Conures

11
(No Transcript)
12
Macaws

• Long lived
• 100 years
• South American
• Large
• Companionable and demanding

13
Amazons

• Many species of Amazons
• Medium sized
• 10-18 inches
• Central and South America
• Relatively long lived
• 20-30 years

14
Conures

• Small to medium sized
• Central and South America
• Largest class of psittacines
• Vocal

15
African Psittacines

• African Grey parrot
• Long lived
• Intelligent
• Medium-sized
• Lovebirds
• Small
• 5-15 years

16
Canaries

• Domesticated finches
• Atlantic Islands
• Origin of name
• Primarily kept as songbirds

17
Canary in the Coal Mine

• Risk of toxicity in birds
• Very sensitive
• High metabolism
• Specific enzyme differences
• Heavy Metals
• Zinc
• Lead
• Smoke and fumes
• Non-stick cookware
• Nicotine

18
Toxicities

• Anatomy and metabolism put birds at risk
• Zinc
• Lead
• Nicotine
• Inhalants
• Avocado

19
Anatomical Differences

• Bones
• Lungs
• Beaks

20
Common Diseases

• Mites
• Cause scaling of beak and feet
• Parrots, budgies, canaries
• Egg binding
• Low calcium

21
Nutrition

• Unsupplemented seed is inappropriate
• An appropriate balance of the following (as
  required by the particular species)
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Grains
• Nuts
• Pellets
• Fortified seeds

22
Bird Nutrition

• Birds have a relatively high metabolic rate
• Starvation can occur quickly in small birds
• Birds do not naturally select a balanced diet
• Commercial balanced diets are available
• Diet types come in pellets, crumbles, bars...

23
Bird Nutrition

• Birds have a unique digestive system
• No teeth for chewing
• Grit in diet
• Crop for moistening
• Two compartment stomach
• Proventriculus for acid/enzyme secretion
• Ventriculus for crushing (grit facilitates)
• Also called gizzard
• Well developed, paired ceca
• Usually observed in ground dwelling foul

24
Poultry Tract
25
Bird Nutrition

• Free choice feeding with seed bars common
• Meal feeding may assist the bird in developing a
  bond with caretaker
• For variety and enrichment
• Baby chick scratch feed
• Corn on the cob
• Fruits and vegetableslimit table foods to 25

26
Bird Nutrition Seeds

• Birds prefer seeds, but there are considerable
  differences in seed preferences
• Seeds are easy to feed
• Within seed species, nutrient variability is low
• Considerable variability between seed types

27
Bird Nutrition Seeds

• Seeds tend to be low in calcium, but adequate in
  phosphorus
• Seeds are not good sources of many vitamins,
  especially A
• Seeds do not have a good essential amino acid
  balance

28
Selected Seeds

• corn - low protein crack for bigger birds?
• sorghum - low protein rejection?
• flax - high oil/energy
• millet - low protein major use small birds
• niger/thistle - very small seed finches
• hulled oats/groats - cockatiels, small birds
• sunflower - high fat high hull

29
Domestic Birds

• Chickens/Ducks/Geese
• Commercial feed readily available
• Plus free range items

• Ostrich/Emu
• - Commercial feeds
• Fresh/processed alfalfa commonly fed

30
Avian Nutrition

• Nutritional deficiencies a leading cause of
  disease
• Metabolic demands
• Small animals
• Species specific requirements
• Diet types and origin of species
• Dry versus tropical environment
• Seed versus mixed diet

31
Inappropriate Diets

• Even bird species which subsist on primarily seed
  diets in the wild cannot be fed an unfortified
  diet
• Fortified seed
• Pelleted feed
• Cuttlefish bone

32
(No Transcript)
33
Hand Reared/Captive Bred

• Hand reared birds
• Better bonding to humans
• Health and disease
• Captive bred
• Import restrictions?