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I’ve had a lot of my avian nutritional consultation clients coming to me lately asking what kind of “pro-biotic” I recommend for birds. Well the fact of the matter is I usually don’t recommend a “brand” of pro-biotic because I don’t believe in them. I believe that if a bird is being fed the right diet it will not need pro-biotics (digestive enzymes).

Digestive enzymes are something your bird’s digestive tract naturally contains if your bird is basically healthy. Birds have a slightly acidic digestive tract, on the lower side of the Ph level, about 2.3 -3.2 and sometimes as high as 4, suitable for digesting berries, fruit, plants, seeds, nuts and insects.   

The natural digestive enzymes your bird produces are good enough to begin breaking down any foods your bird would naturally consume in the wild, similar to the foods you should be feeding to your bird. For instance, in addition to hydrochloric acid and pepsin, your bird’s digestive tract contains mucous. The mucous acts as a barrier against microorganisms to prevent infection.  The hydrochloric acid is a mild gastric acid with a low Ph that begins to break down even the toughest of seeds and nuts as well as fibrous grasses. Together, the hydrochloric acid and the mucous get proteins ready for the pepsin to do its job by denaturing the proteins. Once the proteins are denatured, the pepsin begins to do its work and further breaks down the proteins into a useable nutrient for the body system to absorb and metabolize.

How do we ensure that our bird maintains healthy digestive enzymes? It’s mainly in the diet we feed. Birds are meant to eat lots and lots of berries, fruit, the right kind of vegetation, seeds, and some amount of nuts if they are of the larger species. Without this constant influx of vegetation into their digestive tract their system will become sluggish and eventually they will most likely need some form of “good bacteria” re-introduced into their digestive tract in order to rebuild their digestive enzymes. Here again we have another reason why I am such an advocate for feeding whole-foods to our companion birds.  Whole foods already contain a myriad of natural enzymes, acids and all kinds phyto-chemicals a living creature needs to maintain a well-balanced digestive system. These fresh, whole foods are known as “pre-biotics” and are the food that “probiotics” feed on in order to make the live bacteria, the healthy gut flora our birds need in their digestive tract to help digest all of the other foods they consume. Some of the best “pre-biotics” to feed our birds so they can grow the “pro-biotics” are papaya, pineapple and slightly green banana, but really all of the fresh berries, fruits, tender leaves, grasses and herb are to be considered “pre-biotics”.

When we rely on highly processed foods, such as ingredients that are finely ground and then re-mixed with other finely ground ingredients, then formed into shapes, dried or baked at moderate to high temperatures, the manufacturing process “pre-digests” the wholesome nutrients to the point where there is no real nutrition left in those “foods”. This is why you see so many added laboratory-produced “vitamins” added back into these processed foods, to help ensure that the “food” contains the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of each standardized nutrient the FDA has set for basic survival. Unfortunately, after all of these years of allowing laboratory-produced nutrients to be added back in to our nutrient-deficient highly-processed foods, scientists are still debating whether a living creature actually has the ability to absorb, metabolize and utilize the artificial vitamins and nutrients in the very same manner as Nature’s very own naturally-occurring nutrients found in whole foods!

I have heard people say they feed laboratory-produced probiotics on a regular basis to their birds to ensure their bird has good digestive enzymes in their digestive tract. In my opinion this is not only unnecessary if a good, healthy diet, high in a variety of organic whole foods are being fed, but could actually be harming your bird’s own ability to manufacture its own digestive enzymes, primarily hydrochloric acid and pepsin.

But what do you do if your bird has been ill and its digestive enzymes have been depleted by illness and/or antibiotics? Again, some people feed pro-biotics to ensure their birds have adequate digestive tracts. I am strongly against using products that tout they are able to build your bird’s digestive enzymes. They normally contain preservatives, colorings or ingredients that are high in the amino acid L-Arginine, which, as I have discussed in earlier articles, can be potentially harmful to our companion birds. But there is an answer if you need to replenish your bird’s gut flora in a hurry.

First of all, like I have mentioned, be sure you are feeding a diet high in vegetation such as herbs, fruits, and tender grasses. But if your bird has been ill, and/or on antibiotics for any length of time, I recommend using something I don’t normally recommend because it is an “animal-based” product. But for the reason of re-building your bird’s digestive enzymes, I will recommend the product. And this product is organic “Goat’s Milk Yogurt”, preferably organically produced.

Now the yogurt has to be specifically organic unflavored goat’s milk yogurt, not cow. The reason being is goat’s milk does not contain the same kind of lactose or casein as cow’s milk. The kind of lactose found in cow’s milk is too difficult to digest because of the complex proteins, and the casein it contains is a glue-like substance that our office glue is literally made from. It causes everything that is ingested to stick to the innards and slows down the absorption process overall.

And besides once cultured into yogurt the live bacteria in yogurt will literally “eat up” the lactose in the yogurt. This means that our birds digestive tract will never have to deal with the digestion of any lactose in the yogurt since birds don’t manufacture “lactase” the digestive enzyme necessary to digest lactose.

Neither does goat’s milk yogurt contain the same kind of casein like cow’s milk.  And both human milk and goat’s milk lacks this large-curd indigestible casein all together. In addition, the fat globules are much smaller than those in cow’s milk, thus easier for their smaller digestive tracts to handle.

In other words, goat’s milk and the products made from it are relatively easy to digest for even the most delicate of digestive systems. So introducing the “good bacteria” through the goat’s milk yogurt to your bird is a fairly safe method.

I recommend offering only a tiny amount, say about 1/16 Tsp. per up to 75 grams of body weight, about 1/8 Tsp. from 76-125 grams of body weight, 1/4 Tsp. from 126- 300 grams of body weight, 1/2  Tsp. from 301-500 grams of body weight, 1 Tsp. from 501-750 grams of body weight, 1 – 1/4 Tsp. from 751-1026 grams of body weight and 1-1/2 Tsp. for any weight over 1026 of body weight  per day for two to three weeks to see how your bird’s system is going to respond to it.  And this little amount is so packed with “good bacteria” is should be enough to restore your bird’s digestive enzymes.

After that time period discontinue for one or two weeks and see how your bird is doing. If it seems like your bird is still suffering digestive problems, or that your bird’s system is still slow to digest and eliminate, or not completely digesting its food, then place your bird back on the goat’s milk yogurt for another course of two to three weeks, then discontinue again and see how this works out. If this doesn’t work, it may be time to visit your avian veterinarian for medical help in rebuilding your bird’s digestive enzymes, or to test to see if other medical problems are involved. In fact, it would probably be a good idea to have your bird visit the veterinarian anyway to rule out any serious illness or disease if you notice that your bird isn’t digesting its food properly.

Digestive enzymes are one of the first levels of defense against illness and disease, plain and simple. If a living creature’s body cannot properly break down the food it is ingesting then the creature will not have the benefit of utilizing the food as its “homeopathic medicine”, because that’s one of the roles food plays in a living creature’s existence, to prevent disease. Besides offering the building blocks to muscle, organ and skin tissue, as well as providing energy, yes, food really does offer healing capabilities. The body must be able to break the food down into microscopic particles, then further down into liquids so that the body can use the micro-nutrients to provide sustenance as well as healing properties to the entire body chemistry on a metabolic level. Without the digestive enzymes, one of the very first parts of the digestion processes, all of this would not be possible.  And this is why it is so vitally important that we make absolutely sure we are feeding a diet high in natural, organic whole foods consisting of lots of the right kind of vegetation, seeds, and if your bird is of a larger species, some amount of nuts.

I have a lot more to offer regarding “digestive enzymes” in my upcoming book regarding “avian nutrition”. Please be sure to stay tuned as I continue to provide updates regarding how my book project is coming along!

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