[johnzimm]

Sorry for the misspelling, Enterococcus not Endococcus **smiles**

I've been getting mixed results from several people on the presence of this bacterium in vitamin sources. I've found several documents on this, and I know this can be one bad bacteria, but it's found in so many things (Probiotics, Vitamins, etc..)

I wondering if anyone in here knows anymore about these "products" and whether we should stay away from them? Our birds do not get many vitamins, with exception to their extruded diet, but their main diets all consist of fruits and vegetables (more heavy on the vegetables), and homemade seed mixes, as well as sprouted seeds.

Thanks in advance!!

John & Angela

 

[tielfan]

There are good strains and bad strains of this bacterium. It's still accepted for use in animal feed according to https://pentec-consulting.eu/enterococcus-faecium-is-it-safe-views-from-taiwan-usa-and-eu/

Probiotics are heavily hyped as beneficial, but in reality they probably don't do much for a healthy individual. If you've been buying probiotics but don't like this particular organism, you're not likely to lose anything if you stop using probiotics completely. I have an article on probiotics and birds here: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-probiotics.html

 

[johnzimm]

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. As I previously mentioned, our cockatiels, and other birds do not get many vitamin supplements nor probiotics, because of their diet and our birds check out to be healthy. So I've not considered them to be of any real value to us, at the current moment.

This conversation was actually brought up by someone that I've talked to, where as they were concerned about the bacteria in their canaries and said we should be worried about it with all of our birds. Personally, I have never had a problem with this, and I know many people who have used said products for many years, but I was curious as to where some of this was coming from.

I took time and read both of the articles that you referenced and found them quite useful and informative and I thank you very much. I do not plan on using any probiotics or vitamin supplements unless I have been directed to by a Vet, as I believe that with a proper diet (not just pellet nor just seed), that our birds will do just fine as they have with us for years.

Again, thanks for the food for thought, and I will continue to educate myself on this matter And our cockatiels thank you for the sharing of knowledge as well ied: