Vinegar-probiotic cycle

[gavagai]

I my first period with parrots, the vet we used, who had parrots himself, said that every three months we should put apple cider vinegar in the water for a week or two (I forget which at this point), followed by probiotics for the same period. I followed those instructions until I lost my sun conure to a bacterial infection, something this regimen has been designed to prevent.

At the time, I stopped with my remaining birds because I was wondering if the regimen might breed something akin to antibiotic resistance. I now realize that was probably a silly concern, since vinegar isn't as strong as antibiotics are, however I now have a different concern about the regimen, which I'm trying to decide whether I should do with my new birds.

A few years ago I read a book by a microbiologist called Missing Microbes, which suggested a whole host of problems which stem from the overuse of antibiotics, causing mass extinctions in the microbiome. The relevant one is that many native microorganisms protect against infections by locking them out of suitable territory and/or releasing their own local antibiotics. He also addressed the issue of probiotics, and said that a. they include a small fraction of the benign species that were targeted, and b. most of them are killed of on a trip through the digestive system.

Unfortunately, I doubt anybody has done controlled experiments to see what effect the vinegar-probiotic alteration has on birds. Still, I'm wondering if anyone here who's raised a lot of birds and had issues with infections has insight on how this regimen affects infection and survival rates?

 

[SilverSage]

My first thought is that you might have been doing what my friend did; using the wrong probiotic. But like you said, I doubt those studies have been done yet in parrots; if you find them, please share!


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[gavagai]

I used a probiotic that the vet specifically recommended. At this point, I don't real what it was though.

If someone did the study in zebra finches, which are a common model organism for birds (plus songbirds are the closest living relatives of the parrots), I'd say "close enough," but I don't think anyone has done such a study on finches either.