Dear Parrot Lover,

Parrots are very intricate creatures and need to be very well cared for in order to live healthy and happy lives.

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you parrot lives a very healthy and happy life is to provide them with the right kind of food. A captive parrot’s dietary requirements differ from those parrots living in the wild. Suitable parrot nutrition should include a diet that consists of a mix of pellets, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables and grains.

Avoid those commercial parrot seed and pellet mixes that contain too many colored pellets, as these actually consist of food coloring that is high in sugar. Too much sugar, in any form, can be detrimental to your parrot’s long term health. However, there are other foods that are quite toxic, and others that are lethal to parrots. Seven of the worst foods are those that are salty, fatty, contain caffeine, contain alcohol, or consist of chocolate, avocados or rhubarb leaves. Apple seeds should also be avoided because they contain cyanide which is lethal to parrots. Please do your research and learn about the foods that your parrot would eat in the wild. Each particular breed of parrot has a distinctive dietary requirement.

Every parrot must have access to clean and fresh water, even if this means that you have to replace your parrot’s water three or four times a day. There are a lot of bacteria that can grow inside soiled water and parrots should not be allowed to drink dirty water. Some playful parrots have discernable pallets and prefer their food dunked in their water before they eat it. Be sure to remove this water as soon you notice any food residue to avoid harboring bacteria in your parrot’s water dish.

In the summer time, all parrots should have the opportunity to beat the heat by bathing themselves in cool water. This is easily achieved by placing either a large water dish on the bottom of your parrot’s cage for him to bathe in, or by filling up your bathroom basin with a little bit of water and allowing your parrot to bathe in it. Alternatively, if you have a very large parrot, you can fill a spray bottle with cold water and gently mist your parrot with the water to cool him down. Do not shoot water at your parrot as this can hurt them.

All parrots should be seen by a certified avian veterinarian for a health checkup at least once a year. Regular veterinarians lack the qualifications necessary to properly care for a parrot. These checkups are sometimes referred to as ‘Well Bird Exams’. Keep in mind that in the wild a parrot that is sick will not survive very long. Therefore parrots are masters of disguise and will usually not show any outer signs of being ill until it is almost too late to do anything about it. So, always keep a close eye on your parrot and take note of any change in their behavior, mood, or eating habits. As soon as you notice a significant change, you should immediately take your parrot to see an avian veterinarian.

Seed Diets Could Kill Your Bird

Do You Know How to Care for Your Bird?

Become An Expert On Parrot Care Health!

People are often surprised to learn that malnutrition is a big factor in bird illness and death. For example, seed diets are the number one cause of death in pet birds. Surprised?

Birds are beautiful animals and are a popular pet, but without the right knowledge on how to feed, house, and care for them, they become sick, ill behaved, or even die.

Click here to read what you should be feeding your bird for optimal health

Proper nutrition along with knowing all about cage/aviary care, vet care, and common diseases will help you keep your bird healthy for a long time.

How to Care for Your Pet Bird the Dr. Joel Murphy Way

Leading bird veterinarian Dr. Joel Murphy of the Animal and Bird Medical Center of Palm Harbor (www.pethealing.org) lends his veterinary experience to the revolutionary bird book, How to Care for Your Pet Bird.

In his years as a veterinarian, Dr. Murphy has seen too many birds suffer from easily preventable illnesses and death. These experiences have led him to create a comprehensive e-book that shares exactly what you can do to help your bird stay happy and healthy.

Click here and find peace of mind for you and the best care for your bird

You learn about essential things like:

Cage and aviary Management

Baby bird care

Myths and misinformation about bird care

How to pick out a healthy bird

Proper bird veterinarian exams

Emergency care

Supporting nutritional health and diet

Detecting illness such as common fungal and bacterial diseases

How to stop beak disorders and feather plucking

Parasitic conditions

And LOTS more!

Click here to read more about Dr. Joel Murphy and his e-book, How to Care for Your Pet Bird

Regards,
Nathalie Roberts

Dear Parrot Lover,

Parrots have quickly been gaining in popularity as being sought after household pets. In fact, there are just as many parrot households these days as there are cat households! However, whilst there is a ton of information available to help cat owners raise kittens to be wonderful cats, there is not a lot of valuable and accurate information available for parrot owners to do the same with their parrots.

One of the very first mistakes that potential parrot owners make is selecting an unhealthy parrot from a pet store. It is always a good idea to purchase a baby parrot from a reputable breeder rather than a pet store where your parrot could have been subjected to a myriad of diseases and abuse. Do your research by locating an online forum of owners of the specific type of parrot that you are interested in purchasing and ask questions about the breed. Also ask for referrals to respected breeders. Once you have narrowed down your choice of breeders, ask if you can visit their nursery. Due to certain airborne avian diseases, some breeders will not allow you direct access to their nursery but they will welcome you into their home to meet their breeder parrots and to view their set up.

Always look carefully at how the parrots are cared for in a breeding facility. Also look for any signs of malnutrition and physical or mental abuse of both parrots and their youngsters. Parrots that have been physically abused may cower away from you or will try to bite you as soon as you are near enough. Mental abuse in baby parrots is sometimes harder to ascertain as the common signs are a parrot that is not able to walk properly, eat properly or play properly. These can also all be signs of developmental traits that are still being learnt by young parrots. Baby parrots that are malnourished will appear to have very large breastbones when in actuality it is their overall muscle mass that is diminished.

When selecting a baby parrot to take home be sure to choose one whose feathers have a slight sheen to them and that are free from debris and plucking. A parrot’s eyes should also be clear and there should not be any kind of discharge either from their eyes or their nostril area. Depending on the age of a baby parrot, they should be able to walk, or at least waddle, from one side of their cage to the other without any significant concerns.

Once you have selected your new parrot, you must continue to work on their socialization skills so that they can grow into a well-adjusted member of your family. This is easily done by keeping your parrot’s cage in an area in your home where there is much traffic so that your parrot can feel like they are truly a part of your family. This will also help them to learn new words and phrases. Never stop training your parrot either. Every day spend a few minutes teaching your parrot to ‘step-up’, ‘step-down’, as well as teaching them new words and phrases.

Raising the Perfect Parrot

Do You Want Your Bird to Live Decades?

Click here to learn how to raise a healthy, happy and thriving parrot

A healthy and happy pet parrot should live decades, 5 or 6 decades even! But, his life can be shortened by improper care and living conditions, poor diet, or preventable health issues.

It’s a snap to keep your bird living a long, healthy, and happy life, if you know the secrets to doing so, which are really simple secrets.

Click here to learn about common parrot keeping mistakes

Keys to Health

Good parrot care really comes down to just a few factors:

1. Correct cage setup: knowing what kind of cage and where to place it

2. How to maintain those nice conditions within the cage. Dirty cages help breed diseases!

3. The right way to feed a parrot for total nutrition.

The combination of these three factors is the key to bird health. If his living environment isn’t clean, diseases can easily occur, and if he isn’t mentally stimulated with toys and engaging activities, his mental health will suffer. Using the wrong food can be detrimental for his health and lead to a shortened life as well.

Click here to see how these three factors affect your bird

How to Learn the Secrets to Parrot Health?

A professional birder has decided to share his parrot keeping system with the bird owning public. In his e-book Raising Polly: How to Raise a Happy, Healthy, Well Adjusted Bird, he details in non-technical language how to care for a parrot. His system allows you to
prevent many of the diseases and issues that cause premature parrot death.

It’s a must have for anyone that has suffered from a bird’s early death before or for a beginning parrot owner.

Click here to read more about Raising Polly:
How to Raise a Happy, Healthy, Well Adjusted Bird

Regards, Nathalie Roberts