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Post by Gary M on Jul 2, 2017 13:14:13 GMT -5
I'm a new owner if less than a year counts as new.
My parrot lives on a screen porch and is free to move about. In my yard are two feral cats that I have also adopted. I used to feed the cats in the morning and removed the excess food to the porch to keep from feeding the whole neighborhood.
To my surprise I found the parrot in the cat dish one day going to town, so now the catfood stays in the house. Just another thing that the parrot has changed in my life.
Now, whenever I feed the cats the parrot demands some catfood too. I only give it one piece.
It is high quality cat food... but it it OK?
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Post by easttex on Jul 2, 2017 14:56:24 GMT -5
Generally speaking, cat food is not a good diet for a parrot. Its very high in protein, and in addition to normal dietary concerns, lots of protein can encourage a parrot's hormones to gear up around breeding season. But as long as he is on a healthy diet otherwise, one piece a day is probably not going to hurt. I'd probably try substituting a different treat of similar appearance just because I hate to think about where all that protein in cat food comes from.  |
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Post by julianna on Jul 7, 2017 16:17:16 GMT -5
Wow.... cat food... I would have never of guessed. I offered my Quaker a bit of a dog food treat one day and he just dropped it so I never did that again. Not that I wanted him to eat it... I just thought he is a good judge of food and wanted to see if it was good or not... lol... Oscar eats too much... but I am always looking for something different and not fattening for him to have.
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Post by cnyguy on Jul 7, 2017 20:16:24 GMT -5
Cat food wouldn't be the best thing to feed a parrot. Maybe when your parrot sees you handling the cat food, you can sneak in a substitute treat, something that's parrot-appropriate and that your parrot would enjoy at least as much as the cat food.
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Post by siobhan on Jul 10, 2017 19:06:17 GMT -5
My starling eats cat food, at the suggestion of the wildlife rehab who gave her to me, but I can't imagine my parrots eating any. I think the others are right, and finding something that looks similar but is good for him would be worth a try. Not that I think one piece of cat food is that bad, but if he wants a treat, might as well try something like that. You can even pretend to fish it out of the cat food bag/bowl.
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Post by easttex on Jul 11, 2017 8:54:00 GMT -5
If you're rehabbing wild birds, there are some dry cat foods you can use to help make up a baby bird formula in a pinch, but of course at that stage they need a lot of protein.
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Post by siobhan on Jul 11, 2017 10:53:41 GMT -5
Ringo, if you meant that for me, is long past rehabbing. She turned 5 in May and has lived with me since she was three weeks old. I followed the instructions the rehab place gave me until she was eating on her own, and they told me to feed her cat food. She still eats Purina Cat Chow. I've tried other brands and she won't eat them. She's healthy and energetic, so it must be okay.
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Post by easttex on Jul 12, 2017 7:38:23 GMT -5
It was just general commentary - I know you've had Ringo quite a while. I did get curious enough to compare typical diets of starlings and quakers in the wild, and the cat food makes a lot of sense for her. Over 99% of quaker food is plant matter, while about 75% of the starling's is from animal sources.
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Post by siobhan on Jul 12, 2017 12:26:36 GMT -5
She supplements her own diet by catching moths who get into her room in summer. LOL And I give her dried mealworms for a treat. They're not very nutritious, but she "drowns" them in her bath and enjoys tossing them around before eating them. Sort of like offering foraging opportunities for a parrot. I just visited the rehab center this week to do a story and the director asked about Ringo. She can never remember Ringo's name and just calls her "the starling," but she was glad to hear Ringo's doing fine. So I told Ringo, when I got home, that Jane asked about her. Ringo tipped her head to one side and squawked and I took that to mean, "tell her I said hello." LOL
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