{"id":39952,"date":"2010-10-08T09:26:14","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T14:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/vet\/?p=39952"},"modified":"2018-07-14T09:33:28","modified_gmt":"2018-07-14T14:33:28","slug":"the-nutritional-content-of-pet-bird-diets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/vet\/the-nutritional-content-of-pet-bird-diets\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nutritional Content of Pet Bird Diets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Little is known about the nutritional requirements of companion bird species. Dietary recommendations for pet birds are extrapolated from domestic poultry nutritional requirements; however these parameters are generally calculated to minimize cost while maximizing meat and egg production. There are also anatomical and physiological between gallinaceous birds and pet birds, which undoubtedly affect nutritional needs. Anecdotal reports suggest that the use of formulated diets in avian nutrition<\/a> reduce the prevalence of nutritionally based disease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

A published study (Hess L, Mauldin G, Rosenthal K. Estimated nutrient content of diets commonly fed to pet birds. Vet Rec 150:399-404, 2002) directly compared the ability of seed-based diets and commercial diets to meet the current recommended nutritional requirements of pet psittacine and passerine birds. The owners of 135 pet birds were surveyed by questionnaire to determine their birds’ food consumption during one week. Birds were divided into six food groups, according to the amounts of seeds, human food, and formulated products fed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Group 1<\/td>\n1-25% formulated diet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group 2<\/td>\n25-50% formulated diet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group 3<\/td>\n50-75% formulated diet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group 4<\/td>\n75-100% formulated diet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group 5<\/td>\n100% seed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group 6<\/td>\nSeeds and human food only<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Formulated products and seed were analyzed for their nutrient content by two independent laboratories. The nutrient content of human foods was obtained from a standard nutrition reference, and each bird’s nutrient intake was estimated. The dietary content of individual nutrients was then compared with the estimated maintenance requirements for pet birds.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Seventy-eight of the birds (57.8%) consumed less vitamin A than recommended for maintenance. (The diet of birds in Group 5 contained significantly lower levels of vitamin A than birds in all other groups).<\/li>\n
  • One hundred and thirty-three of birds (98.5%) consumed less vitamin D3 than recommended for maintenance.<\/li>\n
  • Only 29 birds (21.4%) consumed less vitamin E than recommended for maintenance.<\/li>\n
  • One hundred and twenty-nine of birds (95.6%) consumed diets containing less calcium than recommended for maintenance; 125 (92.6%) consumed diets with less phosphorus than recommended for maintenance.<\/li>\n
  • Eighty percent (80%) consumed less crude protein than recommended for maintenance. Although the total protein content of seeds may appear to be almost sufficient, they are generally deficient in several amino acids, including tryptophan, methionine, arginine, and lysine. Only birds in Group 3 consumed sufficient crude protein levels.<\/li>\n
  • Diets containing 25-50% formulated diet (Group 2) contained significantly higher levels of vitamin A than diets containing large amounts of human food (Group 1 and 6).<\/li>\n
  • Diets high in human food were low in protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals. Feeding a large proportion of human food apparently reduces the intake of dietary protein and available vitamins and minerals.<\/li>\n
  • Seventy-seven percent (77%) of birds consumed at least 1.5 to 2 times of the maintenance dietary fat requirement (Groups 2,3,4). Eighty percent consumed three times maintenance fat requirements (Groups 1 and 5)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

    References<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Little is known about the nutritional requirements of companion bird species. Dietary recommendations for pet birds are extrapolated from domestic poultry nutritional requirements; however these parameters are generally calculated to minimize cost while maximizing meat and egg production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23075,"featured_media":14730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[644,1287,1259,1451,554,1261,292,1254],"class_list":["post-39952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-calcium","tag-fat","tag-formulated-diet","tag-mineral","tag-protein","tag-seed","tag-vitamin-a","tag-vitamin-d","content_types-article","topics-nutrition","topics-preventive-medicine","species-avian","species-parrot","species-passerine","contributor-hess"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Nutritional Content of Pet Bird Diets - LafeberVet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Little is known about the nutritional requirements of companion bird species. 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