Feeding Your Bird

Socrates & Mirage

In an earlier blog, I told you about my bird Socrates. He was a peach-faced Lovebird. Such a comical little creature who loved to play with the dogs and with me. He had this brass bell in his cage that was hanging from a long chain. I would flick it with my finger and he would try to catch it and throw it back to me. I have had parakeets in the past and really didn’t know that much about birds. I used to feed him bird seed all the time because that is what I thought birds ate. I kept his cage clean and gave him fresh water a couple times a day. I notice that he just wasn’t himself and thought I should take him to the vet.

Photo from free-extras.com

That was a problem in itself. I had never had to take my bird to the vet and when I called to make the appointment my vet told me he didn’t treat birds. Then began a round of calls to all the local vets. I finally found one about 25 miles away and made an appointment. This in 1998 and the vet was with Kindness Pet Clinic in Indianola and they are still our vets to date. I put Socrates in a travel cage and took him to the vet. We found out that he had liver disease from being on an all seed diet. The vet recommended I change his diet to pellets, which had more nutritional value than seed. I also had to give him a series of shots every day.

Photo from http://tinyurl.com/bmqafro

Well…that was an interesting experience, to say the least. Have you ever tried giving a bird a shot? I had to hold him in one hand, holding his head between my thumb and forefinger and give him the shot in his breast muscle. Socrates used to come sit on my hand and visit with me until I had to give him those shots. He never trusted me again after that.

Photo from www.wbeph.com

Changing his food was another experience. He hated the pellets. I found an alternative with Nutriberries, which was better than straight seed, but still not optimal. Did you know that birds can eat people food? They love fresh fruits and vegetables. At least all birds but Socrates do. They also like rice, pasta, beans, etc… No matter what I tried, Socrates wouldn’t eat it. He wanted his seed.

Photo from thepetwiki.com

I was reading this article when I thought it would make a great blog, because how many people know that birds should eat a wide variety of food and just eat seed as a treat? This is one reason I always stress doing your research before you get a pet. Socrates would have had a much longer healthier life if I had known how to properly care for him. He did live another 5 years after this illness and always made me smile.

Be Well & Be Happy,

Pet~Pourri