Reply #21: Why not human cereal [View All]

[nadinbrzezinski]

the bird pellets is akin to feeding dog food.

Here is the analogy... I can sell you a pound of bird food, dog food, what have you for ten bucks... but there is no way in hell I'll be able to sell you a pound of frozen vegies for ten dollars, just becuase it is bird special, now is there? (That is part of their diet by the way)

And the attitude we took, the bird was going to die from malnutrition if we kept him on that bird seed diet, which is all he'd have... he would not try anything else

We tried to be gentler before... as in mix it half and half, he'd have none of the good for him food, pellets, cereal did not matter

These days he eats a complete diet, his feathers shine, and he has energy. (And he screams, he was to the point that we had a very quiet Nanday and anybody who knows a thing or two about Nadays realies how weird that is)

But truly if he chose not to eat, he would have died anyway, and after talking to our vet when I took him he also said the choices were grim and nobody felt like force feeding the bird. In the past they gvae him vitamin shots, but we all knew those were bridging options

So we did the least harm and hoped for the best.

These days he begs for different things... and now tries just about anything we put in his food dish. This is a heck of a change and ss I type he is by my side playing with his wooden block. It was not easy to watch, but within two hours of seeds out... he started playing with the cereal, within three he was eating... and the cereal I bought for him, which I eat from time to time, ain't bad, looks like seeds, but gives him a complete protein... we noticed the changes (due to the fast metabolism) within a day... and he did as well... he made the connection and slowly started eating OTHER stuff he'd never try before.

Birds, we don't give enough credit, are very intelligent beingss. We treat ours like full members of the family... and with the respect a sentient being deserves... and we have been rewarded by seeing behaviour that astounds us. (for the level of sophisitication in problem solving)