Camelot macaw

Birds eat…and they poop…and then they poop some more. A cockatiel might relieve himself every 15-30 minutes – that’s a lot of relief. Have you ever wondered about the journey your bird’s food takes before it becomes an embarrassing stain on your shoulder?

Let’s go through each step…

The Beak and Esophagus:

It all begins in the parrot’s mouth. The tongue and the inside of the beak are dry – a fact which your fingers may have discovered in ...

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Blue throated macaw

There was a question following one of my recent posts that I thought would make an interesting topic for a new blog post.  I had made a reference to adding crushed egg shells to an omelet I was preparing for my birds.  I do this often because of the added calcium provided by the shells of the eggs, which are made mostly of calcium.  This is particularly a good idea for parrots producing eggs during breeding season.

It was asked if the shells weren’t harmful to the bird’s throat ...

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Blue throated macaw

PDD is a disease that causes a failure in the parrot’s digestive system. While it is also called “Macaw Wasting Syndrome”, it is absolutely not exclusive to the macaw.  In fact, it has been seen in many species of our companion birds and their wild counterparts.

So that you can better understand the impact of this disease, first let me describe the parrot’s digestive system:  The bird breaks down food with its beak and passes it down to the crop.  The crop slowly delivers food to a two ...

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Congo African Grey Parrot

Veterinarians say that obesity is the most common health problem they see in companion parrots today.  Many experts say that owners tend to overfeed their birds, offer too many snacks, or are just poorly educated about nutrition.

Parrots suffer from the same ill effects from obesity as do humans. An obese parrot is predisposed to cancer. They are at risk for  atherosclerosis, where fatty substances are deposited on the walls of thick and hardened arteries, including the ones leading to the heart.  This can lead to collapse ...

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