High Cholesterol levels in Noble Macaw

[noblemacaw]

Oh Oh Oh....Dr. Blair called with Mihijo's well bird blood panel and it is sooo not good! I am really freaking out with his numbers. Mihijo is diagnosed with very severe hyperlipidemia. His choloristal level is ..... 1,243! Normal for a Noble Macaw is 96 to 264. I about fainted when she told me. Mihijo is a walking time bomb!

Anyway I cut out the nuts and dried fruits (goldenfeast mix) bought the "low fat" pellets, added flax seed to his wet food and am giving him two drops a day of pure flax seed oil. As soon as I can find the needed grains I will be adding them as well. I also am slowly introducing timed feeding. I let him eat in the morning the soft food for about an hour, take it away, then let him have it for an hour in the evening. Dr. Blair wants him to be eating 80% the pellets with the rest being the grains, my fresh mix, fresh veggies.

I also am to exercise him twice a day for about 5 min. This I am starting out very slowly because I don't want him to keel over dead. I also need to get better control of his hormones. Easier said than done as this is a 16 year old bird use to his...horny ways. He might have to go in for Lupron shots if I can't get his hormones to drop.

Needless to say the other levels are off the charts as well. Levels like uric acid, bile acids and all. Dr. Blair said this is probably because of the high cholesterol level and this is what we must work on first to lower.

I would love to hear from others that have this problem with their birds. I will repost this in the general section as well. Thank you for replies and inputs. I am seriously worried for my companion of 16 years.

Noblemacaw

PS I would like to know if anyone has had this serious of a problem with their parrot and would like to know how long it took for them to turn it around. My hope is to lower these numbers quickly without killing my bird. I fear every morning when I go down to uncover his cage I will find him dead. Right now I can't even do it and make my sister go uncover him.

 

[henpecked]

Your stressing won't help , after 16 yrs he can read you like a book.Put on that happy face and start with the exercises.

 

[OOwl]

When I adopted my BF Amazon 11 years ago (at the age of 9) she had SEVERE high cholesterol from the horrid diet she was fed by her previous owners (a steady diet of twinkies, fast food burgers and fries, and sunflower seeds). It took two full years to get her to eat pellets, beans, pastas, and fresh fruits and veggies but we finally managed it. I weaned her off the sunflower by feeding her a sprouted seed mixture. The biggest change for her was teaching her to fly. She'd never learned to fly and absolutely dropped like rock if she tried. I started by letting her flap on my hand, then ran with her through the house (looking like a fool, I'm sure), then taught her short recalls (I cried like a baby the first day she flew on her own, about a year after we started exercises). Today, she's my only fully flighted bird (I just can't bear to take her so-hard-won flight away). She can navigate the entire house and go anywhere she likes, when we're home, of course. Her bloodwork was completely normal from that second year on. Another thing I think has helped is that I got a large outdoor aviary, where she spends nice days outside on the covered patio. She gets a lot more exercise out there than in her cage. Good luck with your rehab. I offer lots of encouragement. The results are very much worth it.

 

[noblemacaw]

OOwl...thank you so much for your story. Although Mihijo's diet was and is not bad his vet believes because the hormone levels do not drop the cholesterol levels kept going up. They are so high I am frightened for my parrot.

Like you did for your amazon I to run around the house flapping my bird. Mihijo yells "WHEEE! when I do this and gets the house riled up. Because his wings are so stripped due to his overpreening and plucking he will never be able to fly. He does play in his cage but I also do take him out and do the flapping thing with him.

Mihijo's diet is pretty good. I added two drops of flax seed oil and changed his pellets to a low fat kind. I also cut out goldenfeast mix and increased grains. He gets limited fruits which consists of only berries. I will get Mihijo healthy again. His life depends on it.

Noblemacaw

 

[moribstatam]

High-fat foods can contribute to obesity and high cholesterol, and in time, can cause life-threatening problems such as hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), atherosclerosis, strokes, and heart disease. Sugary foods can add to the obesity problem as well, especially if the bird isn’t getting much exercise. Too many high-salt foods can cause dehydration, pulmonary edema, brain congestion, kidney failure, enteritis, and high-blood pressure.
​

You should also be careful about giving your bird heavy, starchy foods like stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, tater tots, hash browns, cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, and fettucini Alfredo. Granted, these foods do offer some nutritional value so they aren’t “junk food,” but they’re very fattening and loaded in way too many calories for the average bird to eat a lot of.​