Kara Burns, MS, MEd, LVT, VTS (Nutrition), VTS-H (Internal Medicine, Dentistry) presented this talk for the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Avian & Exotics Club as part of the Lafeber Company Student Program. This recording was created for students unable to attend the live event.
Dr. Thomas Boyer presented this live, interactive webinar. The RACE-approved recording discusses nutrition, the leading cause of disease in reptiles and amphibians. Chronic nutritional diseases remain common, including nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, hepatic lipidosis, protein deficiency, hypovitaminosis A, hypervitaminosis A, pyramidal shell growth, renal disease, urocystoliths, thiamine deficiency, vitamin E/selenium deficiency, steatitis, corneal lipidosis, and obesity. The goal of this web-based seminar is to educate veterinary health professionals such that they can provide sound nutritional advice to reptile and amphibian keepers. Dr. Boyer has also shared his client education handout on growing mealworms and superworms.
Dr. Jason Crean of Saint Xavier University presented this distance-learning event on whole food nutrition in birds for the University of Minnesota College Veterinary Medicine ZEAW Club. This presentation was sponsored by the Lafeber Company Student Program.
One of the most valuable items in avian practice is a reliable formulary. Although pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data is slowly growing, the vast majority of drug doses in companion parrot medicine rely on extrapolation and/or clinical experience. It is crucial that the clinician have access to this wide range of information and experience.
In 1998, an expert committee met to discuss the nutritional needs of companion birds. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and develop nutrient profiles for companion birds, focusing on profiles for formulated feed.
The expert panel developed maintenance guidelines for two broad groups of birds: psittacines and passerines (regardless of size or genus). These conservative, generalized guidelines are extrapolated from the National Research Council requirements for poultry and…
Created with a focus on the bird, LafeberVet’s Nutrition Glossary is an extensive list of vocabulary terms. Listed terms range from nutrients like vitamins and minerals, nutritional strategies ranging from frugivore to fungivore, and related anatomy or physiologic terms like crop and coprodeum, and even nutrition-related diseases like goiter and gout.
In their native habitat, some parrots like cockatiels, budgerigar parakeets, as well as many
cockatoos and macaws are seed-eaters. These birds are able to balance their diet because of the
large numbers of seeds eaten (over 60 types). Companion birds are often weaned onto all-seed
diets, but the number and type of seeds offered in captivity is insufficient to offer a balanced
nutrition. Commercial seed mixes lack the normal complement of nutrients including vitamins A,
D3, E and K, certain amino acids (the building blocks of protein), calcium, and other minerals.
Over time, seed diets lead to vitamin A deficiency, poor feather quality, and…
The types of foodstuffs consumed in the wild are often used to classify the nutritional requirements for groups of animals. Usually birds within the Order Psittaciformes are considered to consume plant-based foodstuffs and are classified as florivores. Subdivisions within this category include granivores (budgies and cockatiels), frugivores (many of the macaws), and nectarivores (lorikeets and lories). Yet these artificial lines are sometimes too simplistic, as many psittacine birds cross over a category to consume a larger variety of foodstuffs…
