{"topic_id":"exotic_husbandry_pet_bird_nutrition","category":"exotic-pet-husbandry","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_husbandry_pet_bird_nutrition\ncategory: exotic-pet-husbandry\ntitle: \"Pet bird nutrition — all-seed diets deficient in vitamin A, Ca:P imbalance\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — Pet bird husbandry/environment\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/pet-bird.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-29\ntokens_estimated: 86\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Pet bird nutrition — all-seed diets deficient in vitamin A, Ca:P imbalance\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-29\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Pet bird nutrition — all-seed diets deficient in vitamin A, Ca:P imbalance\n\nThe text below is reproduced verbatim from the first-hand source (Merck Veterinary Manual).\n\n> Hypovitaminosis A causes squamous metaplasia of epithelium within the oropharynx, choana, sinuses, GI tract, urogenital tact, reproductive tract, and uropygial gland as well as hyperkeratosis of the feet. All-seed diets and even mixed diets of ½ seeds and ½ pellets (if not portion controlled) are deficient in vitamin A.\n> Seed-based diets are well known for their calcium:phosphorus imbalance and amino acid deficiencies. Sunflower seeds, which tend to be selected preferentially by many psittacines, are low in calcium, deficient in essential amino acids, and high in fat.\n\nSource: `pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/pet-bird.txt` (first-hand professional veterinary reference, tag-stripped).\n\n## Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)\n- `Hypovitaminosis A causes squamous metaplasia of epithelium within the oropharynx, choana, sinuses, GI tract, urogenital tact, reproductive tract, and uropygial gland as well as hyperkeratosis of the feet. All-seed diets and even mixed diets of ½ seeds and ½ pellets (if not portion controlled) are deficient in vitamin A.`\n- `Seed-based diets are well known for their calcium:phosphorus imbalance and amino acid deficiencies. Sunflower seeds, which tend to be selected preferentially by many psittacines, are low in calcium, deficient in essential amino acids, and high in fat.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-husbandry — Pet bird nutrition — all-seed diets deficient in vitamin A, Ca:P imbalance (retrieved 2026-07-29)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-husbandry","title":"Pet bird nutrition — all-seed diets deficient in vitamin A, Ca:P imbalance","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds","retrieved":"2026-07-29","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/pet-bird.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual (professional veterinary reference)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-toxicology/pet-bird.txt","tokens_estimated":86,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}