Webinar: Ask the Vet with Dr. Tom Tully
Date: Friday, July 25, 2025
Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter)
Join us for a FREE, live, interactive webinar hosted by Laura Doering, former editor of Bird Talk magazine and Birds USA magazine. Our special guest Tom Tully, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice), DECZM (Avian), will answer your questions about pet bird health, nutrition, & care. Dr. Tully, a decorated Professor & practicing Vet at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, is an internationally known Veterinarian who has earned specialties in Avian medicine in the United States as well as in Europe. Having this type of access to a Veterinarian of his status is rare, but Dr. Tully believes that the educated bird owner is the best bird steward. Dr. Tully answers each question in detail and shares his vast knowledge of birds, particularly parrots. Is your bird’s problem health-related or behavioral? Are you offering the right foods to your pet bird? Ask the Vet!
I am having a lot of trouble picking a healthy food for my senior bird. Part of the reason is that I try not to bring known carcinogens into my home. Birds are messy and bird food in an active house gets tramped around. I want to protect my family. The major organic brands have carcinogens in the mix – one is bentonite known to contain arsenic. With humans anyway, there is NO acceptable safe limit. For the other two companies it is Cayenne. When you look at the human research, that ingredient too is considered carcinogenic. I have written the companies about this but not gotten much in return – my sense is that they think at low levels it is OK to include these additives rather than find alternatives. With a 1in 2 human cancer rate in the U.S. now – I’d rather play it safe for my family and bird. The other issue is that my bird is a senior and only one company makes senior food and that is NOT organic although its ingredients are “human grade”. Any advice would be most appreciated.