Hello. My Cockatoo is always wanting cereal even if he’s hungry he still does not like seeds and veg or fruits I give get thrown down. he’s friendly and lovely not stressed like normal behavior
Hi,
Bird owners do tend to give in and let their birds have what they want rather than what they need. LOL This is common and usually it’s a matter of being consistent and continuing to offer healthy foods without giving in and letting him eat foods that aren’t as good for him. He is young and still learning, so you need to work with him on eating healthy foods. When you say cereal, do you mean hand feeding formula or human cereal? Either way, he is too old for hand feeding formula to be a main part of his diet, and human cereal is an occasional treat at the most. A handfeeding formula will be too high in some things, such as fat and protein. Baby cockatoos can develop a fatty liver when fed a formula too high in fat. He is still growing, and in the wild his parents would be supplementing him while teaching him to find food, so it’s OK for him to have a small amount of formula once or twice a day. But he needs to be graduating to self-feeding on what will become his daily diet. He should not be eating loose seeds, so it’s fine that he doesn’t want them – seeds offer almost no nutritional value, and he will overeat trying to get the nutrition he needs but instead he will get fat. He should be eating a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets as 80% of his diet. The remaining 20% should be leafy greens, veggies, a small amount of fruit and healthy table foods. I’ll give you the link to our food guide and a couple of webinars that discuss nutrition and how to get your bird to try new foods. Often the owner isn’t offering the right kinds of veggies, or preparing it the way the birds like. You should try different kinds and don’t give up. Try raw, steamed or cooked. Keep at it – if you had a child that throws their dinner and asks for candy, would you give in? This is the same thing – don’t let the bird be in charge.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
