Palm Oil Extract

[JaydeParrot]

Midland Parrots is currently selling palm oil for parrots, was just wondering if it's good/healthy for parrots to eat?

[Wolf]

There has actually been more than one discussion about this product, see

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7565

I hope this helps.

[Pajarita]

I don't use it. For one thing, it's cultivation is destroying the wild orangutans natural habitat, for another, it's not needed when the bird eats a good diet and, lastly, I personally think it's way too high in betacarotene and there is liver damage and cancer risk with it.

[liz]

I don't use it. For one thing, it's cultivation is destroying the wild orangutans natural habitat, for another, it's not needed when the bird eats a good diet and, lastly, I personally think it's way too high in betacarotene and there is liver damage and cancer risk with it.

Well that is scary.
My vet told me to give it to Rambo for his dry feet. He won't take it so I rub it on his feet instead of the olive oil I was using.

[Wolf]

I would try lanoline or mineral oil for his dry skin. Lanoline is sheep fat or more precisely made from sheep fat and mineral is usually pretty safe for anyone but I would double check to be sure that they are safe for parrots. I did check on my lists and neither are listed as being unsafe for them. Also I would use them topically only and make sure that you work it into the skin well.

[Pajarita]

I would not use oils or creams, they are never recommended for topical use on birds. I would use aloe vera gel and increase the betacarotene and vit E rich food (carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, fresh corn, etc). Now, one reason why parrots can develop dry skin is mild dehydration which is more common than people think, especially if you feed pellets, so I would try to switch him to
'wetter' food (lots of produce, cooked whole grains, etc) and increase his water consumption, too. It helps if you put out fresh water very early in the am (at sunrise - this is when they all drink as most prey species are crepuscular drinkers -the twilight makes it harder for predators to see them clearly) and if they really like their drink so you can try adding a bit of organic apple juice, orange or white grape to his plain water). Parrots skin is scaly-like (courtesy of their dinosaurs ancestors) and, as they get older, it looks a bit dry but it's normal for them as long as there are no scales sticking and, when I say 'older' I mean over 50 years of age. I have an amazon that is thought to be around that age and her legs and feet are fine -as are the ones of the 30+ zons so I tend to think it's more a dietary issue than an age problem.

[Wolf]

Dealing with it from within is a great way to go, unfortunately I didn't have the knowledge to pass on. Thanks for the info.

[Wolf]

I don't use it. For one thing, it's cultivation is destroying the wild orangutans natural habitat, for another, it's not needed when the bird eats a good diet and, lastly, I personally think it's way too high in betacarotene and there is liver damage and cancer risk with it.

Forgive me if I am in error, but I thought that the problem with this product was that it is too high in cholesterol not betacatotene. I know that I may be wrong, but I don't know a better way to correct my information than to ask. Thank you.

[Pajarita]

No, you are right, bad cholesterol is a huge concern with it. It depends on whether it's red palm oil (from the 'meat' of the fruit) or palm kernel oil (from the seed), the former been 80% saturated fats and the latter a bit lower than 50% but both too high for birds and that's for sure! There is a very new school of thought that says that the saturated fats in palm oil are similar to the ones in coconut oil and that they have a neutral effect on human cholesterol but it hasn't been proven yet and you can't compare humans to birds because humans are meant to consume bad cholesterol (animal products) so nature gave them a way to get rid of it while birds are not and have no mechanism for it.

The reason why I mentioned the betacarotene is because this is the reason why people give it to their birds. Namely, to provide them with a rich source of vitamin A precursor which, until very recently was thought to be 100% safe. Vitamin A in its final form (that of the actual vitamin) was never meant by nature to be ingested as it doesn't exist in plants, only in animal products. The precursor which is found in plant material is, as you know, betacarotene. And we though the body just took what it needed and a tiny touch more of the betacarotene in plants, made it into vitamin A, used it immediately and the tiny extra was stored in the liver for future use, in case there wasn't a ready source later on. But we have started to realize (through studies) that ingesting large quantities of betacarotene is not 100% safe, that although the body does get rid of most of the excess (the body cannot get rid of vitamin A excess) there is still a bit too much of it that end up in the liver in the form of fatty nodules (fatty liver disease) and that people who consume too much of it have a predisposition toward a certain type of cancer. I was trying to make the point that there are better and safer ways of providing a bird with vitamin A.

[Wolf]

Thank you for helping me with this, just like everyone else, I find that there is a lot of information and it is hard to keep up on all of it.