In the previous two parts of “The Mutilation Syndrome” I very lightly made mention of yeast infections. I said nothing about the fact that they can contribute to feather plucking, skin mutilation or generalized picking, but they can. In this 3rd part of our continuing series of The Mutilation Syndrome I will be delving into yeast infections, how a bird develops a yeast infection, how an infection cycles and how to begin to reverse an infection. Once you have rid your bird of an infection it is of utmost importance to understand that from that point on your bird will always be prone to future yeast infections so you will need to be diligent and make sure you feed foods that don’t contribute to, but instead prevent yeast infections. I will do my best to help you understand this menacing ailment.
"Candida Albicans"
Yeast infections (candida albicans) are fairly common, even amongst human beings. Because of the kinds of diets we seem to be eating nowadays, highly processed foods that contain an overabundance of simple carbohydrates such as overly processed foods, highly refined pastas and breads, white rice, corn, wheat and grains that have been highly processed and not left with their outer shells or husks on them. Simple carbohydrates are loaded with sugars that, once in the body’s digestive tract provide an environment that is perfect for a fermentation process to begin. This is how yeast begins to grow. Add to the fact that the body provides a warm and moist internal temperature to “bake” the yeast and you have the absolute perfect environment for the yeast to continue to multiply and spread throughout the body rapidly.
However, it is rare for yeast to spread throughout the entire body unless a weakened immune system is already present. Normally the only areas a yeast infection will appear are in the warm, moist areas of your bird, such as the inside of the eyes, beak areas, under or on top of the tongue, or around the cloaca or anus areas. If you see the yeast infection appear on the skin, such as the legs (femur), next to the chest where the legs meet the chest, especially the keel bone and the surrounding area, or anywhere on the skin at all, then you know that your bird has a systemic yeast infection and your bird definitely has an overall weakened immune system.
If a yeast infection gets into the bloodstream it can be deadly, for this reason they cannot be taken lightly. Besides the point that your bird will become extremely uncomfortable, and unbearable to live with, yeast infections are an ailment that must be dealt with as if they are an illness that will eventually lead to advanced morbidity, because left untreated they can. If your bird has become lethargic and/or cranky, has begun to scratch and/or pick, pluck or mutilate its skin, you may have a bird with a yeast infection. With an already weakened immune system, along with the introduction of yeast into the system, your bird’s health will rapidly decline if left untreated. This will allow additional viruses and bacterium to attack at will and destroy any and all health reserves your bird may have.
So how do you go about reversing a yeast infection? Of course, legally I must tell you to visit your licensed avian veterinarian. So, do so. Now that I have done that I can give you some naturopathic opinions. You probably are beginning to understand me well enough by now to know that I like to approach health problems from a more subtle standpoint, with food as the healing medicine, as well as herbs, supplements, flower essences, essential oils and some less conventional methods such as healing gemstones placed in or around my pets’ favorite areas. It may all sound too “whoo-whooey” to you, but I experience tremendous results and my vet and doctor bills are much lower than many others I know.
I have found, and used on myself, Caprylic acid to treat my yeast infections, that being said, I do not recommend that you use straight Caprylic acid on your bird; it can be very drying to the mucous membranes if used alone and not via a transport as contained naturally in a foodstuff. Instead, you want to feed foods that naturally contain Caprylic acid, Lauric acid and Lysine. I’m going to sound like a bit of a broken record here because you will want to be feeding some of the same foods you feed when you increase your bird’s diet with foods high in Lysine. This amino acid is wonderful in preventing yeast infections. So you can go back to the list of foods high in Lysine and begin feeding those to your bird if it is suffering from a yeast infection. Lysine will not cure a yeast infection, but it will help prevent one from occurring, so these are the foods you want to feed once you have your bird cured of its yeast infection to prevent another one from popping up, so you may as well begin feeding those foods while your bird is still suffering the yeast infection. Wild Mountain Oregano Oil is good in clearing the body of yeast infections. You can normally find this at your local health food store. Use a couple of drops on top of your bird’s food daily. Do not add to your bird’s water as it will not mix well and may cause the water to become stagnate. White tea is a powerful antioxidant, even better than green tea, it is very helpful in attacking yeast growth cells, and we used it in our Yeastie Die-Off Diet™ when we were producing our BirD-elicious!™ foods. You can feed it in its raw form without steeping it. But one of the best foods to feed when your bird has the “yeasties” is coconut. Now, that being said, you may have a problem here. If you suspect that your bird is suffering from Arginine overload you should not feed coconut because it is high in Arginine and this could cause more mutilation, plucking and picking.
So you really need to know what you are dealing with, an amino acid overload or a yeast infection. Or both? If it is both I suggest you first deal with the yeast infection, get that completely under control and then begin to deal with the amino acid imbalance because one is an “infection” and the other is an “imbalance”, one is a medical issue, one is a condition. Hopefully you see my point.
Another very good food to address yeast infections is coconut oil, because it is very high in both Caprylic acid and Lauric acid. But again, coconut oil is high in Arginine, so be careful if your bird is suffering from an Arginine overload. However, palm oil is the best oil to choose if you are battling both Arginine overload and a yeast infection because it has a balanced chemical ratio of Lysine to Arginine and it has a fair amount of Caprylic and Lauric acid as well. It is exceptionally high in Oleic acid which has shown to hinder the formation of yeast.
In addition to the above, you will want to simultaneously feed good, reliable sources of antioxidants. I mentioned one above, white tea, but there are many others. For example, blueberries, wolfberries and schisandra berries are all wonderful natural antioxidants. Again, you will need to be careful with blueberries, wolfberries and schisandra berries if you are battling an Arginine overload because they all are high in this amino acid. This being said, if you believe you are battling both situations at the same time, Arginine overload and a yeast infection, it may be wise to use white tea as your bird’s primary antioxidant.
One more very important supplement to your bird’s diet I found very helpful in aiding my birds to regain their feathers and cease to pluck, mutilate and pick was vitamin C. Now most, if not all, mainline veterinarians, as well as your bird friends, will tell you that birds do not need vitamin C supplementation because they manufacture it themselves. I beg to differ based on this point, even though I do not believe birds are anywhere near being a “domesticated pet” suitable for household cohabitation, I do believe they have enough of the “wild” bred out of them that their basic genetics are beginning to change. Therefore their genetics are beginning to transition and they are losing their ability to pass down to future generations certain biological markers, or immunological genes. In other words, their genetics are being weakened by being “domesticated”. It is a well-documented study that Passerines are well on their way to losing their ability to manufacture their own vitamin C. It only stands to reason that Psittacines are not far behind.
One side note I wish to add, if you know your bird is suffering from fatty liver disease, vitamin C supplementation is vital because it is in the liver and kidneys where vitamin C is manufactured and stored in birds. Because vitamin C is a strong anti-oxidant, you will want to be sure your bird has enough to both detoxify its liver and kidneys while also combating any nervous system sensitivity due to Arginine overload..
I have found by adding a natural source of vitamin C to my birds diet, such as red bell peppers and red grapefruit their feather picking, skin mutilation and generalized picking decreased dramatically. Go ahead and use the whole fruit or vegetable, seeds, skin and all, it will not harm them in any way. Of course wash it thoroughly before you present it to them, and be sure to cut it up in pieces your bird can handle. Vitamin C is a rich antioxidant and it boosts the immune system dramatically. It acts to curtail the histamines, so you can say it is a natural “anti-histamine” too! It is almost impossible to overdose on vitamin C as it is a water-soluble vitamin and the body throws off what it cannot utilize.
Oh, I almost forgot, grapefruit seed extract is an excellent supplement to add to your bird’s drinking water to help fight yeast infections. You can find this online at Mountain Rose Herbs. It comes very concentrated so you will need to dilute it way down before adding it to your bird’s drinking water. Once you dilute it down, then add the dilution at the rate of only two or three drops only a couple of times a week. It will keep the water in the bowl from going stagnate, and it will help eliminate the yeast build up in your bird as well! It is on the more alkaline side of the Ph range so it will help balance out an acidic system, which is normally the case with a yeast infected bird.
Okay, so let’s bring all of this back around to a close that is compiled in a few paragraphs that make sense. Yeast infections are due to a suppressed immune system that gets invaded by an overabundance of simple carbohydrates like highly processed foods, pastas, corn, wheat, rice, sugary foods, even sugary fruits and vegetables that are fed in overabundance like beets, carrots, apples, grapes, juices. Yeast continues to grow and reproduce in warm, moist environments in body cavities. Left unattended it can even get into the bloodstream where it becomes dangerous and can even enter into the brain. In birds it can cause flushing, hives and itching which can, and almost always does, lead to feather plucking, skin mutilation and generalized picking. *Often times yeast infections go hand-in-hand with parasitic infestations, so be sure to have your vet check for parasites upon your bird’s check up.
Once we realize our bird has a yeast infection, which usually can be seen by white-ish film on the inside of the mouth, nostrils or on the legs or skin, then it’s time to head to the veterinarian. If we desire to take a holistic approach we need to begin feeding foods high in Caprylic and Lauric acid as mentioned above, with the addition of foods high in antioxidants as well as foods high in vitamin C to boost the immune system. Once our bird is clear of the yeast infection we need to continue with a diet to prevent further yeast infections and that includes a diet that is similar to the diet for a bird that has suffered an Arginine overload, a diet that is high in foods containing Lysine.
Now, I wish to address one more issue and that is the issue of “balance”. I am in no way suggesting that you completely remove ALL foods that contain Arginine from your bird’s diet. That would be impossible anyway. In life all of us must strive for a balance in everything we do. Arginine has a place in the nutritional profile; it is good for the heart. But used in overabundance it causes problems, just like “too much of any good thing” is actually bad for us. The problem with the highly processed diets that have been on the market for decades is, in my opinion, is that they are improperly balanced. They tilt toward using Arginine ingredients in overabundance, and they use very few of the ingredients that are naturally high in Lysine that would help prevent the Arginine overload as well as helping to prevent yeast infections. Yes, the manufacturer may add L-Lysine as a chemical substance to their diet to try to help balance the ratio, but overall, in my opinion, a substance cannot be isolated in that manner, without all of the other constituents naturally found in a whole foodstuff and expect it to perform to its peak performance in neutralizing its counterpart amino acid. In other words, you cannot expect a chemically produced amino acid to balance out an amino acid that is found in a natural foodstuff. So to have a large amount of Arginine provided in so many ingredients at the top of the ingredient list, and then place a dash of L-Lysine in chemical form at the bottom of the ingredient list just isn’t going to balance the amino acid profile, in my opinion. This is why we, as parrot lovers and keepers, MUST be diligent in research and educating ourselves. It is not only our responsibility, it is our obligation to make sure we are caring for our beloved creatures of the air to the utmost of our ability, regardless of the time and the money we have to spend on them. We made our commitment to them, and now we must keep it to the best of our ability as long as we are able. If a time comes that we are not able, then we must pass our responsibility off to someone who can care for them. But in the meantime, they are in our care, so we have the privilege and honor of beholding their presence in our lives.
Until next time, I wish the very best to you and your birds!
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Machelle Pacion / The BEST Bird Food / BirD-elicious! / Passion Tree House LLC © 2012 All Rights Reserved
*Information supplied by The BEST Bird Food or any of its contributors, associates, et al, does not intend to diagnose, treat or cure any symptom, illness or disease. Any information provided is strictly for the purpose of “sharing” resources. Should a reader decide to use any such information they do so at their own risk and holds author(s) and associates, et al, of The BEST Bird Food blog harmless in any and all legal matters concerning their health and the health of their family and/or friends and/or colleagues who they may share the information with as well as all of their pets and/or livestock whom they may practice the information upon.
Machelle
