Health Care for Pet Birds

Besides all the necessary care a pet bird needs, as illustrated on Zachary's Amazon Parrot Information site; there are other health measures that you must take on a regular basis to ensure your bird's good health. Knowing a good avian vet is very important, even if you have very healthy birds. Emergencies can happen and you must know and have someone on hand. The best time to begin the vet relationship is when you adopt your bird. Every pet bird upon a new owner adoption, should be taken to a vet for an overall checkup. A good avian vet will do the necessary tests to make sure that you have a healthy pet bird. They will also be able to advise you to quarantine all new birds, and follow up with vet checkups yearly.

Pet birds should be weighed every month, even through adulthood. All our birds get their weights checked at home every month. It allows you to monitor their weight and make sure that they are not losing (or gaining) too much. For a bird, a small weight drop can mean a serious illness. Too much weight gain also calls for medical attention.

Zachary's weight varies between 445 - 454 gms. He gets weighed first thing in the morning, & in the afternoon, one day a month. Before his breakfast he normally weighs in at 445gms. After a meal, he weighs in about 454gms.

Amazon weights vary depending on species type and built. You can see some comparisons on our Amazon Types page. The best measure is feeling your bird's body with your hand. You can feel your bird's body and know that it is not carrying excessive fat and weight. The weight charts are just guidelines as to what those birds should weigh; given what we know about them generally.

Parrots as household pets should have their flight feathers clipped, for their own safety. There are continuous debate over this matter, but here we will illustrate what we know, believe in, and do. By no means should you start clipping your birds if you've never done it before. Our illustration is for education purposes only and all trimming should be done by an experienced groomer.

This is just a guideline. Most important is that your bird should be trimmed in a way that allows him to glide 45 degrees to the ground when startled. Birds must not be trimmed where they fall hard on the ground, which can be fatal. Start with the heavy-bodied type cut and test your bird's flight before trimming more.

We allow Kimo, our lovebird (far left) the ability to fly upward a little, hence the light trim. He's so tiny and we feel it's safer for him to fly up from the ground to a chair if need be. Kimo is not allowed to go outdoors because of this. Our senegal, Sidney, and Zachary and both clipped to glide 45 degrees to the ground, but not upwards. We do take the two of them with us for outdoor excursions. Remember that flight feathers grow back like our own hair. It must be clipped every other week or month, and checked weekly - especially if your bird travels with you outdoors.

Pet parrots also need to have their nails trimmed on a regular basis. See diagram on the right - trim nails without touching the blood vessels. Nails should not grow until they curl backwards.

*** Once again, please make sure that only experienced bird groomers and veterinarians handle wing & nail trimming for you. ***

We do not feed our birds vitamins, because we make sure that their diet is rich in high-vitamin content food, that are fresh and varied. An example of what our birds eat can be found in Zachary's Food Prep Page. That diet is also supplemented by pellets. Vitamins are sold to people who feed their birds primarily seed mixes, or pellets alone. Pet birds need a varied and fresh diet to be healthy. Birds in their natural habitat do not forage for vitamins in the wild. Rather, they eat lots of different fresh food types. These varied and fresh foods must be available to them in a household pet situation, if you want to live with a healthy, happy pet bird.

We have stressed cleanliness in our website several times. We felt it needed to be here again, as it goes with the idea of feeding pet birds fresh foods. It is equally important for a bird's health that all fresh foods be removed before bedtime, and should not be left on the cage floor or grate after a few hours. The best guideline is this: clean the cage thoroughly first thing in the morning, pick up any eaten foods during the day, and do another thorough cleaning of the cage grate and surroundings before putting your pet bird to bed every night:

Cage floor and grate should look like this first thing in the morning, and again at night before the bird goes to bed.

Pet birds need to breathe fresh, ventilated air in your home. It is also wise to purchase & use a HEPA air filter for your home. Their health will suffer if they are forced to breathe stale, unventilated air, & worse is smoke-filled air. That will bring about behavioral problems such as aggression and feather picking. Their moods will be affected and the saddest part of all is that they will suffer in pain without being able to tell you. Take good care of your bird's health and in return you will be rewarded with a loving and trusting friend for life.