IMPORTANT WARNING FOR PET BIRD OWNERS: The food that we normally give to the canaries (and other companion birds) consisting of a "complete, balanced and top-quality seed mixture" bought in pet shops or supermarkets, makes the owners trust that their pet is well fed, but it is not like that: indeed the health of the pets is at imminent and serious risk. The owners of canaries, parrots, cockatoos, parakeets, nymphs, etc., WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO DOMESTIC BIRD BREEDERS AND VETS and keep in mind that although we feed them with such a typical seed mixture, our birds are very likely in danger of suffering an unexpected, painful and practically inevitable PREMATURE DEATH BY FATTY LIVER HEPATITIS. Canaries, for example, will surely die at 4 - 6 years of age of the more than 14 that they can live. It is discouraging that in a time like nowadays, in which food is studied in detail for other pets such as dogs and cats, pet birds are condemned to die painfully and prematurely in so many cases. You have to warn people so they can avoid it! This deadly disease is very common in pet birds but owners usually don’t know or detect it in time. And we can not imagine that THE CAUSE IS IN THE FOOD ITSELF that we provide to our birds, in which such a typical mixture contains low-fat seeds such as canary seed together with other VERY fatty seeds such as niger, hemp or nabine and, in addition, the birds usually prefer to eat the fatty seeds, so that its REAL DIET is unbalanced by excessive fat, gradually causes the fatty infiltration of the liver and in a few years causes fatty liver hepatitis and PREMATURE DEATH to companion birds in general. It is a cruel disease that progresses silently and, when its unexpected symptoms suddenly begin, they are imprecise, easily confused with other ailments, so the owners usually postpone the visit to the vet at a time already critical for the life of the bird (besides that not all vets are trained to recognize this elusive disease, even to administer lipotropic liver protectors and regenerators in curative doses, just in case it is that and not a supposed blow). It's a process of slow and asymptomatic progression, but when their visible symptoms unexpectedly begin (acute phase) the disease accelerates. SYMPTOMS OF THE ACUTE PHASE OF FATTY LIVER DISEASE: First, emotional decay or progressive lack of interest, hard belly (in many specimens, with a dark spot with a half-moon shape on the belly, to see it you have to wet your fingers to remove the down), falls from the sticks of the cage that seem for "errors of calculation" and then lameness more or less accentuated (that make believe that they are by the previous falls, but both symptoms are due to that it hurts the liver), lack of flight and singing, the bird fluffs up its feathers or inclines more or less slowly; Then, within a few weeks and even in a few days, forced breathing with an open beak, remaining lying on the floor of the cage near the food, sudden spasms from time to time (which make people believe that the bird is "epileptic" or which has a "tumor" but it are twinges of pain of diseased liver), abundant greenish stools (caused by biliverdin which if it's not fasting, it means hepatic harm), then black and watery (from hepatic hemorrhages), then a strange somehow purple color of skin and beak, an exaggerated appetite and the final "improvement" of a few days (in the last phase, the already degenerated liver becomes deflated by what seems to be getting better), after which it suddenly dies among seizures (which may seem a heart infarct). For the first symptoms the liver has already degenerated to 80% and only an urgent (and accurate) veterinary action can save your bird and revert the liver situation. If you simply feed your bird with the loose seed mixture (even if you give it fresh fruits and vegetables and let it exercise, for example by letting it out of the cage at home), right now your pet's liver is degenerating, and neither you nor your bird know. Also the breeding paste and its pigments and sunflower seeds can attack the liver if they are taken too much or for too long. Without liver protectors, it is almost certain that your bird will prematurely die and in many cases you will not be able to determine its real cause. Hepatic lipidosis it's not only deadly by itself when the visible symptoms begin (sometimes even it does not warn at all until few moments before the death). Even before the acute phase it predisposes the bird to suffer infections, as it weakens the immune system. Furthermore, obese pet birds have an increased risk of many other diseases, including arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Obesity in birds it's not so apparent but it's more dangerous than in other animals like mammals. For these reasons, in addition to administering to the birds lipotropic and detoxifying / regenerating hepatic protectors preventatively and routinely, breeders usually make their own mixtures with low fat seeds. The time to act is NOW that your pet does not have yet the visible symptoms. It is necessary to ACTIVELY PREVENT THE HEPATIC DEGENERATION. Fortunately it is easy to do it: You have to substitute the mixture of loose seeds for some pellets compound feed of seeds and fruits / vegetables (preferably those that already include liver protectors), because this prevents the bird from eating mostly what it likes the most and, whatever the diet, it is ESSENTIAL to add every day to the drinking water or to the food a LIVER PROTECTOR, a lipotropic that includes the famous carnitine (which is also indicated for humans) and / or choline, lysine, betaine, methionine, threonine (and it is very convenient to supplement with another liver protector detoxifying and regenerating with milk thistle, boldo, artichoke extract). The liver protectors are amino acids, vitamins (of which they have a protective effect on the liver, such as vitamin C), fatty acids and essential oils that remove the fat from the liver, clean it, protect it and favor its recovery. They are cheap food supplements and it is essential to add them to your pet birds diet to conserve their liver. It is something that professionals as breeders and vets know, but we the owners usually don't know. Even, it are increasingly appearing in the market compound feed for companion birds that don’t include fatty seeds and that already include several liver protectors. But the vast majority of owners still confidently feed their birds with the typical mixture of loose seeds with little fat and other very fatty seeds... And their birds continue dying of hepatitis due to fatty liver in a large number of cases (probably, in most cases). Now we know that, as fatty liver disease develops from the daily food itself, it’s most likely THE FIRST CAUSE OF DEATH OF PET BIRDS, and more likely as the bird ages. Some web pages that I have found about it (in Spanish). For example, this page echoes the wrong food situation in which these animals are too often: www.timbrado.com/malnutricion.shtml And on this other page: www.veterinaria.org/revistas/redvet/n111110B/111004B.pdf it’s described that the clinical manifestations of hepatic diseases in ornamental birds are much more frequent than people could imagine and that in many cases they are not appreciated, progresses in a silent way and when they are evident, veterinary action may (usually) arrive late. To remark that, in general, practically any avian symptomatology should be considered as if it were a pathology that could be serious, and not allow the disease to develop because then it will probably be too late. To do this, we must thoroughly investigate the symptoms, take preventive measures that do not harm (such as giving liver and intestinal protectors according to the leaflet) ask for advice from veterinarians, breeders, etc. and administer the most appropriate treatment RAPIDLY, but without rushing in the treatment or with the doses in such small animals. If the days go by and the bird does not improve, it is necessary to continue investigating and, if necessary, change the medication in an informed and contrasted manner. Doing nothing or stopping research usually ends up with the bird dead, but acting without being sure of what is done and in what dose, it likely ends the same way. Finally, it is necessary to obtain and confirm the sufficient veterinary experience and have the serenity to determine in each case whether it is convenient to hasten to do and / or administer what medicine and in what dose, or if it is better not to do and let the situation evolve without medicating for the time being, or according to the medication that has already been administered. And that a limp in a bird is not always an injury caused by a blow, but the symptom of a disease of some organ (usually the liver or an intestinal disease) that needs to be discovered and treated as soon as possible. When in doubt, change diet to one with the lowest possible fats (only birdseed, or birdseed with other low-fat seeds such as millet, chia, fresh fruits and vegetables) and administer lipotropic and regenerating liver protectors in curative doses immediately ... although nothing could foreshadow a fatal outcome. Acidcare also has protective properties of the intestinal mucosa and stimulants of the immune system. In doses according to the leaflet do not cause damage and will surely save the life of your bird (if it is not too late). Hopefully these comments will be useful to save your pet birds from an absurd death and to keep them with a basic wellness.
