Can Cockatiels Eat Cabbage? What Should You Feed A Cockatiel?
Cabbages have many health benefits for humans, but they may not have the same effect on our animal companions. As vegetables are harmless and nutritious food for Cockatiels, you may think that cabbage also falls in the same category. But unfortunately, it doesn’t.
So if you ask, “Can Cockatiels Eat Cabbage?” No, they should not. Even though cabbage won’t suddenly kill your cockatiel, it poses serious health risks due to its oxalic acid concentration and potential calcium deficiency.
Likewise, it will have the most negative impact throughout a lengthy time, but its effects will be lethal regardless of the time frame. Let us continue with the article to know why you should not feed cabbage to your cockatiel bird.
Do cockatiels die if they eat cabbage?
Cabbage may kill your cockatiels, but not because it contains a poison that is fatal. Your cockatiel probably won’t die instantly, and may not even display symptoms after eating the cabbage. Therefore, it is neither harmful nor poisonous.
However, in the long term, it does a lot of damage. Oxalic acid, which is found in abundance in cabbage, is toxic for cockatiels. This chemical component is found naturally in a wide variety of plant foods, including many types of greens.
Calcium absorption is decreased by oxalic acid in cockatiels and probably other tiny parrots. Like all living things, birds need calcium to function properly. Without it, your cockatiel’s skeleton and muscles would weaken and break down.
Yes, it also plays a crucial role in the production of eggs. So, eating cabbage will gradually reduce the calcium in your cockatiel’s diet. The issue won’t arise immediately, but it will become problematic later. Hence, you should never feed your cockatiel cabbage since it is hazardous to them.
What To Do If My Cockatiel loves Cabbages?
In such a scenario, your bird may sometimes safely enjoy a tiny bit, but it shouldn’t be a mainstay in its diet. You may feel safe giving your bird additional cabbage treats since your avian doctor can provide a diet that will provide a balanced meal for your bird.
Birds are notoriously picky eaters, making it challenging to ensure they get the balanced diet that they need. Some birds like sifting through their food to find the best morsels to eat.
So, inadequate feeding is a significant contributor to avian illness. If your bird is healthy and well-nourished, you may treat it with small amounts of cabbage sometimes.
Accordingly, cabbage has low nutritional content. So a cockatiel would only likely eat cabbage because of its pleasant texture and taste rather than any positive effect on the bird’s health. Let us look into this research paper on how to feed a cockatiel.
What Else Is In The Forbidden Food List?
Cockatiels can be led to death if you feed them vegetables such as cabbages, asparagus, aubergine or eggplant, potatoes, and rhubarb. Also, do not let them eat houseplants or any kind of unknown plants to them.
Your adorable cockatiels are lactose intolerant as well. So, you can not feed them milk or cream. Caffeine is also harmful. Food like avocado, chocolate, alcohol, and onions can cause instant death to cockatiels.
What To Feed Instead Of Cabbage?
A cockatiel’s diet has to have fresh vegetables and fruits added to it regularly to be considered complete. Thus, a cockatiel that consumes nothing but seeds will almost always become unhealthy and overweight.
Experiment with the following:
Fruits
Your Cockatiels will remain healthy if you feed them apples, strawberries, pomegranates, guava, tangerine, mango, melon, kiwi fruit, orange, peach, pear, nectarine, grapes, plums, and watermelons. These are some of the fruits that you can include in this list.
Vegetables
Among a large number of vegetables, you can add bok choy, finely chopped or grated carrots, broccoli, chard, lettuce (but in tiny quantities and not too frequently, because it does not possess much nutrition), celery, peas, silverbeet, sweetcorn, spinach, watercress, and zucchini to your cockatiel’s diet plan.
Similarly, apple, egg, pasta, peas, rice, silverbeet, spinach, and sweetcorn are among the foods that cockatiels seem to like the most. Take note of the fruits and vegetables and know that you must follow these conditions, on the other hand:
- must be cleansed carefully
- in little chunks
- at a room temperature
- do not peel the fruits and vegetables
- not containing any unwanted cores, pebbles, cracks, or spikes
- uncooked (some cockatiels like some veggies cooked like beans and sweetcorn – apply your discretion here)
- has to be fresh
Apart from food, be prepared for the possibility that your cockatiel’s feces may be more liquid than normal after consuming food. Certain cockatiels take longer than others to warm up to fresh fruits and vegetables.
You may need to be patient since it may take as long as a year for your cockatiel to start eating them. Keep providing your cockatiel with clean and fresh fruits and vegetables daily; this is an essential element of its diet and should be considered.
If your baby cockatiel takes too much time in getting used to the diet, don’t worry. Let us look into this research paper on a baby Cockatiel’s food habits.
Can cockatiels eat red cabbage?
If you continue to give your cockatiel red cabbage, you may not observe any adverse effects right now, but your pet could get sick in the long term. In its natural state, it causes diarrhea.
Although it includes oxalic acid in smaller proportions, it will still contain a highly harmful substance. There isn’t such thing as an acceptable level of oxalic acid in the food that your cockatiel consumes.
However, red cabbage can seem like a distinct kind of vegetable, but it has essentially the same nutritional profile as green cabbage. Again, the issue with the amount of oxalic acid that is there will always be there.
Is White Cabbage Safe For Cockatiels To Eat?
Greener veggies tend to have larger quantities of oxalic acid. Nevertheless, white cabbage is perhaps the vegetable that causes the most problems.
As we’ve said before, the naturally occurring molecule may be found in many plants throughout the natural world, where it performs various purposes inside the plants themselves.
As it has the highest concentration of oxalic acid, white cabbage poses the greatest threat to your cockatiel’s health. Your cockatiel should never be given white cabbage to eat since it is toxic to them and might kill them.
If you are considering feeding your cockatiel more veggies, many other options are superior to cabbage with nutritional properties comparable to cabbage. Therefore, cockatiels should not be given white cabbage as a food source.
FAQs
Can cockatiels eat broccoli?
The nutritious density of broccoli makes it a great food choice for your cockatiel. There is a wealth of water, carbohydrates, and protein in broccoli. This vegetable has hardly little fat at all.
Broccoli has few carbohydrates that are easily absorbed by the body. Even so, your cockatiel will benefit from the moderate quantity of fiber in this food.
In addition, you should know that this vegetable has a high protein content. Without water, the protein in broccoli accounts for 29% of its weight. Its protein level is greater than that of most other vegetables.
Can Cockatiels Eat Asparagus?
Cockatiels can eat asparagus. Your cockatiels will benefit significantly from including asparagus in their diet, which should mainly consist of vegetables. However, too much of a good thing, even complex carbohydrates like asparagus, may be bad for your beloved cockatiel.
What kinds of plants should never be fed to cockatiels?
Cockatiels aren’t very delicate. Nonetheless, there are several plants they should avoid. To keep your pet safe, you should keep them away from the following: flowering plants such as avocado, lobelia, black locust, lupine, clematis, oleander, crown vetch, philodendron, dieffenbachia, poinsettia, eggplant, rhododendron, foxglove, rhubarb leaves, hemlock, Virginia creeper, lily of the valley, and yew.
Conclusion
As the contradicting information regarding cabbage continues to circulate, you must weigh the benefits and drawbacks before deciding whether or not to feed it to your bird.
However, there is no need to feed your cockatiel cabbage if it has never tasted this harmful vegetable. Cabbage lovers may be allowed to indulge in vegetables in small quantities, though. Thus, whether your bird likes cabbage or not, providing them with a balanced diet is still essential. Besides, various nutritious options are available for your cockatiel, allowing you to create a diet that is both fun and nutritious for your pet.
