Favorite Pet Bird Treats
My Favorite Pet Bird Treats
Tweet, tweet! Meet my pet lovebirds, Peach and Cherry.
I do everything I can to keep them healthy and happy, and that includes giving them treats! My little Lovies are very clear in telling me which treats they love and which treats they never want to see again, but I have to purchase it to try it, of course, so sometimes treats end up in the trash (if I had a yard or even a deck I'd compost, I promise).
To help you shop for your next bird treats I've created a list of Peach and Cherry's favorite treats. Some are healthy, every-day treats and some are once-in-a-while treats.
Vote for your favorite treats and then suggest your own favorite pet bird treat. What do YOU think should be on this list and why? If you would like, grab the list as an RSS feed or widget for your own blog or Squidoo lens.
It's easy to made homemade bird treats. I found this one at BirdsNWays.com. My Lovie, Peach, LOVES them, and so does Rascal, my pet rat!
P.S. Leave out the eggshell if you plan to share this with pocket pets such as rats and guinea pigs.
Tools Needed:
zipper bag
bottle or rolling pin
1/2 and 1/3 c measuring scoops
large bowl
8 or 9-inch square baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 1/2 cups Cheerios-type (unsweetened) cereal
- 1 egg (shell and all and cleaned)
- 1/3 cup chunky applesauce
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup raisins or dried currents (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2. Place the cereal in a zipper bag and slightly crush with a bottle or rolling pin (only enough to break into small pieces, not pulverize into dust!).
- 3. Mash the banana well in a large bowl and add all the other ingredients, folding them in well.
- 4. Spoon into a lightly greased 8 or 9-inch square pan and bake for about 45 minutes.
- 5. Allow to cool and cut into bars, size depending on your bird's size.
Never Gives These Foods to Your Bird
There are some foods your should never give birds under any circumstances. While they are safe for humans, these foods are harmful, toxic, or even deadly for birds. Others are okay in very small amounts but should not be fed more than once or twice a week. This list is not necessarily exclusive, but keep your bird away from these common foods:
- Alcohol
Some curious pet birds like to sip out of glasses--keep wine and other alcoholic beverages inaccessible. Alcohol depresses birdie organ systems and can cause fatalities.
- Avocado
Though it's been debated whether all or only parts of the avocado is unsafe it a better bet to keep all avocado out of reach from birds. The pit and skin, in particular, are known to cause cardiac distress and heart failure.
- Butter
Butter contains high concentrations of fat, especially saturated fat. Additionally, more than a small amount of dairy can cause stomach upset.
- Caffeine
Keep caffeinated beverages such as soda out of birdie reach. Consumption can lead to cardiac malfunction, fast heartbeat, arrhythmia, and cardiac arrest.
- Candy and sugar
- Chocolate
Chocolate act like a poison t0 birds causing first vomiting and diarrhea and then seizures and death.
- Dairy
Since birds cannot digest lactose (milk sugar) the sugar sits in the gut where it for ferments, usually leading to diarrhea. Only share the smallest amounts with your bird.
- Dried beans
Share well-cooked beans with your bird but never uncooked beans. These contain hemaglutin which is very toxic to birds.
- Fatty meats and foods
Continuous excessive fat consumption can cause at best oily feathers and at worst diarrhea, fatty liver disease, and death. Excess fat also interferes nutrient absorption including calcium.
- Holly
Ingestion can cause severe vomiting, diarrhea, and depression.
- Mistletoe berries
Ingestion can cause erratic behavior, hallucinations, severe vomiting and diarrhea, difficulty breathing, collapse, and death.
- Mushrooms
This type of fungus can cause digestive upset and, some types, liver failure.
- Nutmeg
Nutmeg contains myristicin, a type of narcotic. A small amount does not hurt humans but causes birds to experience dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
- Onions
Regular or excessive amounts of onion, including garlic, can cause vomiting, diarrhea, other digestive problems, and hemolytic anemia, a blood condition followed by respiratory distress and death.
- Potato skins and eyes, green potato
Plants in the nightshade family have healthy fruits but toxic leaves and stems. Potatoes, as part of this family, are safe unless green appears near the skin. Always keep from feeding your bird potato skin, eyes, or potato located near this green color, as they contain the toxin solanine.
- Rhubarb leaves
As they are to humans rhubarb leaves are toxic to birds. They contain large amounts of oxalic acid, an intestinal irritant which can also cause death.
- Salt
A small amount of sodium is necessary but much salt leads to excessive thirst, dehydration, kidney dysfunction, depression, neurologic hyperactivity, tremors, and death.
- Seeds or pits of fruit
Apples, cherries, peaches, apricots, pears, and other fruits' seeds and pits have small amounts of cyanide. Humans do not have gizzards and so the seeds are not digested in the same way, leaving humans unharmed.
- Spoiled produce
Spoiled produce, or even produce and other foods not visibly spoiled but possibly has unseen bacteria, has cause digestive upset and, possibly, death.
- Teflon
What? Teflon is not a food? Exactly, but it can be inhaled when Teflon is heated and flake into food when cooking. Teflon can quickly kill a bird, so just don't use it!
- Tobacco
As part of the nightshades family, tobacco leaves are toxic. Ingest can caus vomiting, diarrhea, and seizures.
- Tomato leaves
As part of the nightshade family tomatoes have healthy fruits but toxic leaves and stems.
- Uncooked eggs or meat
Like spoiled produce, uncooked meat and eggs, includes sunny-side up eggs, can have bacteria and viruses unseen by the eye. Thoroughly cook any meat and eggs you may share with your bird.
Transport Your Bird With Ease - with a pet carrier - great for vet visits, weekend trips, cage cleanings
Human Foods Your Bird CAN Eat
Although there is a long DON'T list, there's also a much longer DO list for what you can give your bird. In fact it's long enough that I decided to use some very general terms to include them. Exceptions are listed above.
Feel free to share these nibbles from your plate:
- Fruits
- Leafy greens
- Vegetables
- Unsalted nuts and seeds (only peanuts from the U.S.)
- Cooked or uncooked pasta
- Scrambled eggs (remember, eggs with runny whites or yolks are not completely cooked)
- Unsweetened cereal
- Unsalted crackers
- Wheat bread
- Other bread and grains products, plain
- Unsweetened fruit juice
**Never give your pet something from which you've taken a bite. Human saliva contains bacteria that can potentially seriously harm your bird. Give them their own, fresh portion.**
