4 Foods You Should Never Feed Your Pet Bird
Learn which foods bad for birds to avoid: caffeine, chocolate, avocado and salt. See how each one harms a pet bird's health and singing performance.
Bird feed – Birds are among the most popular pets in Indonesia. Some people keep them as a hobby, and others see them as a status symbol, since there are now many singing competitions that bird enthusiasts (known locally as "kicau mania") can enter. It is no surprise that more and more owners are competing to get top performance from their birds. To get that performance, you can start by giving your pet bird a balanced diet.
A balanced diet means feeding manufactured feed and natural food in equal portions. Just as important, some foods should never be given to birds because they cause health problems, which also makes them unsuitable as bird feed. Here are the foods to avoid:
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Caffeinated Foods and Drinks
The first type of food to avoid is anything containing caffeine, which is bad for your bird's health. The effects are similar to those in humans: caffeine can cause arrhythmia and even heart failure. The difference is that people can tolerate a small amount of caffeine, while birds cannot tolerate even a little. You can offer plain water instead and avoid packaged foods with caffeine flavoring.
Chocolate
Many people love sweet chocolate, but it is not a good food for birds. A bird may eat chocolate if you offer it, but afterward it will suffer digestive problems such as diarrhea, sometimes with vomiting. Other effects include a faster heartbeat, tremors, and seizures. If you want a treat to go with its regular feed, you can give sweet fruits such as mango, grapes, and melon.
Avocado
Birds do need fiber to keep their digestive systems running smoothly, and fruit is one source you can give. One fruit that should not be fed to birds is avocado. Avocados offer many benefits for humans, but giving one to a bird only makes it weak and short of breath, and it can even be fatal.
Salt
It is best to keep your bird's food free of salt, because salt is a seasoning that harms a pet bird's health. Salt only lowers the bird's fluid balance. The bird will be thirsty all the time and become dehydrated easily. Not only that, a bird that is often fed salty food can suffer kidney failure.
Avoid the foods listed above to keep your pet bird in peak condition, especially if it will be entered in a competition. Keeping these foods out of its diet helps your bird sing at its best and stay fit until the day of the contest.
