Cheerios, good treat or toxic time bomb??

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Fidgit_Green
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:35 am
Location: North Brisbane, QLD Australia

Cheerios, good treat or toxic time bomb??

Post by Fidgit_Green »

hi everyone.

i have read a few times on here of people talking about how much their bird likes cheerios as a treat.
i though that they would probably would make good treats being made of different whole grains, so i brought a box of cheerios to try them out with fidgit, but then upon reading the box noticed that one serve of they give a person 25% of their daily iron needs, 10mg in every 100g.

now knowing that parrots cant metabolize iron and can get poisoned from a build up of iron over time.
so i guess my question is, is it ok to feed him some cheerios as treats with training and such or is it not a good idea to give them to him at all?

thanks in advance everyone
Cheers
Melika
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Re: Cheerios, good treat or toxic time bomb??

Post by Melika »

It would take a lot of cereal to do that- although for a softbill the chances would be higher for iron-storage disease. The larger concern is sugar/starches and fiber levels in cereal made for humans. Too much sugar and starch compared to protein in human cereals (for what a parrot needs). But the fiber might make a parrot feel more full and feel as if it didn't need to eat anymore- thereby preventing it from eating food containing more nutrition.

As with all other processed human foods, a very little goes a long way. Moderation. :)
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
ellieelectrons
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Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:17 am
Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Re: Cheerios, good treat or toxic time bomb??

Post by ellieelectrons »

I've only bought them once - my concern with them was that they contained a lot of sugar, I didn't notice the iron content. I don't buy them any more because of the sugar content.

Ellie.
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