How much cacivet should be given to a senegal

[smithy]

How much calcivet should I give to my senegal?

[Eric&Rebecca]

Hi,

Why does your bird need this? Its a calcium breeding supplement?

Also it's liquid so its probably mostly ineffective anyway. If you want your bird to have more calcium this can be far better achieved through diet. Although widely available artificial vitamins aren't good for birds or particularly effective. If you have to feed supplements there are powder forms you can sprinkle on foods which are better but still not ideal.

Cuttlebones, (pellets if you wish to use them)- will provide all round vitamins if you use good ones like TOPS, although fresh fruits and veg would be better.

Perhaps you could outline why your bird needsit and we could advise you how to achieve this naturally?

[smithy]

This is a long one! Ozzy was three last Jan.
He started over preening and making himself sore,took him to see a good avian vet ,she examined him weighed him listened to his heart every thing ok.Seems to think its hormones.
I do give him a good diet but he just picks out the same things to eat,pretty bird,harrisons,tropical parrot mix,I put a bit of each in his bowl and mix it up,he also gets fruit and veg,chicken bones and sometimes half a boiled egg.Just thought it worth a try giving him a calcium supplement and feather up vits,both are supposed to have got results.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Ah ok...

Well the first thing I would try is food management. Serve Ozzy in meals where he can't have a choice between things but just be served one thing and then eat it. This is how we had success changing our birds diet, ALL birds will pick out what they like if given the choice but when that is the only choice slowly but surely you get improvement.

Secondly, indeed your bird needs some help. However, I would say a powder form is certainly better than a liquid... Nutrobal or Avi(something...) come in powders which you sprinkle on foods. Unfortunately, liquid and water dissolved vitamins degrade very fast so if you are using supplements its best to use the powdered ones. These should come with instructions on the back of a packet for each bird.

Also the breeding supplements are totally different from the restoring health vitamins so I'm not sure why the AV prescribed ones for breeding and much less didn't tell you the dosage. Another way you could introduce more calcium is again cuttlebones and gradual but dietary changes. These will work better long term for your birds overall health.

[smithy]

The vet didn't tell me about them,its what I have read on parrot forums and Northern Parrots.
Thanks for your help

[Eric&Rebecca]

No problems... if you on northern parrots they have those supplements that you sprinkle instead of dissolve

[Pajarita]

Birds get enough calcium from food (collard and mustard greens as well as broccoli been excellent sources) but they can't get the vit D3 they need to absorb this calcium from food because it's not found in any vegetable, it's produced by an animal body, so unless you feed animal protein which is never good for a herbivore (there are only three species of parrots that are considered omnivorous and none is a companion parrot species so chicken bone with marrow full of cholesterol is a no-no for them) they would not be able to utilize the calcium they eat. In order for your parrot to produce vit D3 on its own, you need to expose it to direct sunlight (no glass in between the sun and the bird) or supplement them with it. I use the human liquid form of it (vitamins do degrade rapidly in water but Vit D3 is not a true vitamin, it's a secosteroid hormone) and add it to their morning water (when they drink the most).

The thing about vit D3 is that you have to be EXTREMELY careful about how much you give them because any excess will be stored in the liver in the form of a fatty nodule and the bird will never be able to get rid of it so, giving a parrot a steady excess of it (even if it's very little) will end up giving it hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease).

Same thing with calcium paired up with vit D3 - too much will kill the bird.

You are much better off tweaking the bird's diet until it eats well or supplementing it with things like birdy cookies and/or birdy bread made with fruits and veggies in them and exposing your bird to sunshine as often as possible.