ct92404
New member
- Oct 14, 2012
- 153
- 0
- Parrots
- My first bird was a parakeet named Buddy (passed away November 8, 2012). My newest friend is a parakeet named Chipper.
This might be kind of long, but please bear with me.
I've been having some weird health problems, which really I'm way too young to be getting.
One is hypothyroidism, and now it's possible I might have thyroid cancer. I've been feeling really tired all the time, and my short term memory sucks. I'm taking medicine for the hypothyroidism but it seemed like it wasn't working as well lately. My doctor had me get a blood test, and it turns out I'm severely deficient on Vitamin D. (It's supposed to be around 50 and my doctor said mine was 22!)
Well, since my vitamin D is so low, I'm pretty sure my parakeet Chipper probably has the same problem. She looks fine, and seems to have plenty of energy but I'm still concerned that she's probably not getting enough vitamin D. Even here in California, it still gets really cold and cloudy. And even on clear days, I think the sun is too weak and there's not enough ultraviolet to create much vitamin D. I do have a florescent full spectrum light for Chipper. My question is, do they really help? I mean, has anyone had a situation like where a vet said a bird was low on vitamin D and a full spectrum light actually helped to bring the level up to normal?
Chipper's vet has NOT said that she is low on vitamin D, but I'm just assuming she probably is since my level is so low. We both haven't been getting much sun, since it's been too cold/cloudy/windy etc.
I've been having some weird health problems, which really I'm way too young to be getting.
One is hypothyroidism, and now it's possible I might have thyroid cancer. I've been feeling really tired all the time, and my short term memory sucks. I'm taking medicine for the hypothyroidism but it seemed like it wasn't working as well lately. My doctor had me get a blood test, and it turns out I'm severely deficient on Vitamin D. (It's supposed to be around 50 and my doctor said mine was 22!) Well, since my vitamin D is so low, I'm pretty sure my parakeet Chipper probably has the same problem. She looks fine, and seems to have plenty of energy but I'm still concerned that she's probably not getting enough vitamin D. Even here in California, it still gets really cold and cloudy. And even on clear days, I think the sun is too weak and there's not enough ultraviolet to create much vitamin D. I do have a florescent full spectrum light for Chipper. My question is, do they really help? I mean, has anyone had a situation like where a vet said a bird was low on vitamin D and a full spectrum light actually helped to bring the level up to normal?
Chipper's vet has NOT said that she is low on vitamin D, but I'm just assuming she probably is since my level is so low. We both haven't been getting much sun, since it's been too cold/cloudy/windy etc.
