Food that is considered as toxic to african greys

[birdmom]

Someone recently told me that the problem with onions and Parrots, is that raw onions can contain ecoli bacteria, due to how they are grown in the soil.

 

Has anyone ever heard of that?

 

The person tried to tell me that if you cook onions, it's ok for a parrot, since cooking would kill the ecoli.

 

I'm just not sure if I should believe this, I thought onions contained some kind of enzyme they can't digest....no?

 

I looked online b4 and couldn't find exactly waht I was looking for on this. Anyone?

[dblhelix]

Onions can be contaminated with E.coli. However they are less susciptible to E.coli contamination than leafy greens (lettuce, spinach etc) and all things growing on or near the ground could be contaminated.

 

It is more likely that uncooked onions are toxic to our birds. Some studies have linked onion consumption to red blood cell damage in certain animals. This is not yet conclusive in birds, but generally raw onions should be on the "prohibited" list as should raw garlic.

 

As most know, some raw onions are very sharp tasting. There are compunds in there giving them that bite. Birds are small so a little could easily be more toxic to them than to us. Cooking the onions breaks down these compounds substantially and converts starches to sugar (that is why cooked onions taste sweet).

 

Below is a general link with some good info on E.coli

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/escherichiacoli_g.htm

[ziggy]

As a chef most bacterias will die at 165 degrees. This goes for e-coli,saminella,and thats why you need to cook pork to 165 internal degrees. The bacterias are harmfull in a raw or under cooked state. If you are like me you cant order a burger less then medium well at most restaurants. I love my meat cooked rare and the only way I can get that is to make my own. These bacterias are treatable to humans but in the case of birds most if untreated are fatal. Please watch what you feed to you birds. As for the garlic thing it is not and I repeat not bad for your birds. There are actually antioxidants in garlic that are good for your bird. This like all other things are not harmful in moderation. Yes like the man that lost his grey from what he believes from garlic. The grey was only 6 months old and he gave him a whole clove. You cant say that was the reason for the birds death for sure. Even his avian vet said he believes that was part of the cause. Not the actual reason of his death. A piece of undigested garlic is not the real reason of his death. That just happened to be the last thing in the birds stomach. Like humans that parish we still have the remains of our last meal in our stomach. So if some one dies and has a piece of apple in his stomach does that mean he died from the apple, I think not. Garlic is great for the blood, and the reason is that it has antioxidents. I know people that take garlic pills for that reason it purifies the blood. Like everything else to much of anything is no good.

[Makena]

We WILL NOT feed Makena garlic. We take Makena to the same avian vet who did the necropsy for the bird that died due to the garlic a few weeks ago. When we were at the vet last week he spent a long time forbidding us from EVER giving Makena garlic.

 

This is what he told us about it:

When he opened up the bird the garlic that had been consumed more than 24 hours earlier was sitting undigested and black in his intestines. It was basically rotting and caused a major blockage. The blockage caused numerous ulcerations to the intestines. The blockage/ulcerations are what ultimately killed the bird. The vet said it was horrible and that he has never seen anything like it.

 

Sure garlic is GREAT for humans... So is avocado. And just like avocado I won't be giving garlic to Makena either. I am not trying to create an argument here... Just telling you what we were told. The choice is yours

[lovemyGreys]

Thanks for all the input guys

[judygram]

Well we can argue back and forth about the feeding of garlic to our birds, but could it have been the fact that it was a chunk of garlic that killed him since it was blocking his intestines and not the garlic itself. So maybe if the garlic was chopped up into small pieces it would not pose the same threat, this is just a thought. I don't presently give Josey any raw garlic but I have considered it and now I am unsure of what to do.:unsure:

[dumfatnhappy]

hmm...Lucy and Goofball LOVE home made garlic bread, I've never given it a thought. I'm on the "garlic chunk caused the blockage thus death" side...read it whichever way :ohmy: awful thing to happen regardless....

[Makena]

You are right Judy... It could have very well been the fact that he swallowed too big of a piece.

 

Here are my thoughts... I don't cut everything up in tiny pieces for Makena. He likes to hold things in his Talons and slowly tear through them. If I thought garlic was fine, I would just hand him a whole clove without even thinking. Just like I hand him whole soybeans, whole green beans, chunks of carrots, etc. I assume that Makena is capable of biting off his food to a point where he isn't going to choke or have intestinal blockages. After all, no one is cutting up things in little pieces for them in the wild.

 

The problem here is that the garlic was unable to be digested by the bird. He ate enough of it that it caused a blockage. If garlic can't be digested I am not going to risk giving him any amount. Who knows how much can be given before it causes a problem? Who's to say 1/2 a clove is fine or an 8th of a clove is fine?

 

The bottom line is... It is each and every persons choice to choose what they feed their bird and to have their best interest/nutrition in mind. After hearing what we did from the avian vet we made a decision to not feed Makena garlic. I feel that his diet is just fine without it... so why risk it?

 

The garlic issue is one that hit too close to home for us. I would be devastated if that happened to Makena... Especially knowing it was something I gave him that caused it........

[dblhelix]

Raw garlic in small quantities is "probably" ok for birds. Garlic on garlic bread is most likely cooked (even if slightly) so it would be less toxic. I am a strong supporter of the benefits of raw garlic for humans. But even if a human sucked down a whole clove of raw garlic my guess is your tummy would not feel so great and your throat would burn. Raw garlic is pretty harsh and it can be hard to digest. Again it is all relative, think of the size of our birds.

 

Many things are possible with the very sad and unfortunate story of the bird that passed where garlic was invovled. Maybe something unrelated to the garlic was the cause? Maybe this particular little one was alergic to garlic? Maybe if a bird eats an entire clove (or at least picks away at most but eats enough to fill the crop) in one sitting it is not possible for the bird to digest and the garlic eats through the insides? Have you ever cut fresh garlic and seen how it gets real "sticky" as it dries out? Maybe if they get too much in the crop and they can't barf it up? The statistics seem to favor the likely hood that the garlic was at least in some part related to the death. Everyone needs to decide what is best. I, for one, will keep fresh garlic away from Kip, but if she ate a little I would not panic.<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/12/13 02:22

[judygram]

Kristin and Mark, you both make good cases of not giving raw garlic to your greys and it could have been any of a number of causes that led to the demise of the member's grey that died after ingesting raw garlic. I guess we as individuals will have to make that decision for ourselves but I will err on the side of caution and not feed Josey any raw garlic.:huh:

[birdmom]

Uncooked potatoe and Pears? huh??? Is that right?

Help I need to know, they eat pears.

[dblhelix]

Pears are fine, its "avocado pears" (aka avocado) that can be poisonous to them. Cooked potatoes are fine too. I am not sure about raw potatoes as it is much more common to feed them cooked.

 

***Others have posted information regarding potential danger in raw potatoes. Please read more in this thread***<br><br>Post edited by: dblhelix, at: 2007/12/26 18:40

[mixtressariadne]

All my birds love sugary juice. Like Fruitopia... They smell it and come over and beg. I give them a bit, but don't drink sugary drinks all the time anyway since it's not healthy, yet tasty...

 

I also give them real pineapple juice, no sugar added, they love that too and I think it's healthier...:woohoo:

[Talon]

Talon drank some ginger ale one night, a lot of it. Our avian vet said not to let her drink fizzy drinks because being so gassy, they can't expel that. Ultimately, she did vomit some up that night shortly after. I don't think it should be given to them, there is nothing nutritional in it for them.

[lovemyGreys]

my belief of raw potato is to NEVER feed your bird raw potato, in the stomach it becomes cyanide and may poison your bird,i believe this originates from the fact that if potatoes turn green they can be poisonous and that it is recommended that as a precaution they should be cooked as this will neutralise any poison in tubers that are about to become green !As with all my advice this is my opinion based on what i have learned, i personally cook potatoes before feeding them to my greys,please air on the side of caution when feeding raw potatoes.

[judygram]

I have heard that also, Tracy, about feeding raw potatoes, so Josey always has them cooked first, I didn't know why but like you I like to err on the side of caution.

[lonewolf]

:laugh:

[SchroedersJen]

How about bird food that is toxic to humans? I poured Schroeder's Harrissons superfine pellets into my cereal bowl instead of my knock off grape nuts in a bag. I will admit that grapenuts are no treat, but his food nearly killed me. After that I went out and bought zupreem fruity pellets. Atleast they smelled good.

[judygram]

I can't help it, I just had to laugh at that one Jen, did you check the bag to see if it had a warning for consumption by humans, thanks for the laugh.

 

 

{Feel-good-0002006E}

[danmcq]

Jen - Those pellets aren't bad sauteed in a little butter before consuming. ;-)

[SchroedersJen]

Judy, I don't need to check the bag, those things are a lot like bleach, you KNOW theyre wrong when they are going down....Dan, if you like them so much, you can have the ones left over. I will even buy you a cube of fancypants irish cream butter.......Personally, I figured you as more of a sprinkle em on a cupcake kinda guy.