Liver and Kidney Disease
Fatty Liver Disease: Starch and Glycogen
Foods such as potatoes, yams, rice, corn, wheat and other grains as well as legumes such as peas, lentils and beans contain multi-unit carbohydrate polysaccharides known as starch and glycogen. These are termed “storage polysaccharides” because they are stored in the liver and slowly metabolize into the blood as useable sugars as the body needs [...]
Carbohydrates: Choosing the Right Carbs for Our Companion Birds
Carbohydrates play an important role in the health and nutrition of our companion birds, but unfortunately they are grossly misunderstood. What is a “carbohydrate”? How are carbohydrates utilized by the body? What are the right kinds of carbohydrates? What is the difference between “simple” and “complex” carbohydrates? First of all we need to understand that [...]
Fatty Liver Disease and the Use of Dietary Fats for Companion Birds (Hepatic Lipidosis)
I recently wrote a fairly comprehensive overview regarding dietary fats for companion birds. In that review I mentioned “fatty liver” disease but I did not go into great detail. I think it might be a good idea to explain just what fatty liver disease is and how it develops as well as how it can [...]
Liver and Kidney Disease – Part 2 – Hypervitaminosis A
In “Liver and Kidney Disease – Part 1 – Protein” we discussed how too much protein, or more accurately, the wrong kind of protein, may contribute to liver and/or kidney disease. In part 2 we will be discussing how hypervitaminosis A, or too much vitamin A, or again, more accurately the wrong kind of [...]
Liver and Kidney Disease in Parrots – Part 1 – Protein
Liver and kidney disease runs rampant among companion birds. One holistic veterinarian, Robert D. Ness, DVM, believes, along with me, that it has to do mostly with the diets we are feeding to our beloved feathered friends. He believes that we need to lower the amount of protein we are feeding to our birds.[1] I [...]
Machelle
