{"topic_id":"exotic_nutrition_parrot","category":"exotic-pet-nutrition","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_nutrition_parrot\ncategory: exotic-pet-nutrition\ntitle: \"Nutrition of parrots and other pet birds (Merck): seed-diet calcium/vitamin A imbalance\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds (first-hand server-rendered HTML, stripped to text; retrieved 2026-07-29 via curl -A Mozilla/5.0)\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/merck/pet_birds_nutridis.txt\nsource_type: veterinary_reference\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-29\ntokens_estimated: 165\nverification: C1_substring_match\nclaims: 3\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Nutrition of parrots and other pet birds (Merck): seed-diet calcium/vitamin A imbalance\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds/nutritional-diseases-of-pet-birds\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-29\"\n  ref: \"Merck Veterinary Manual (first-hand HTML, stripped to .txt)\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference (first-hand English text)\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Nutrition of parrots and other pet birds (Merck): seed-diet calcium/vitamin A imbalance\nSource: Merck Veterinary Manual article \"Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds\" (first-hand, retrieved 2026-07-29 via curl, HTML stripped to plain text). All bullets are exact verbatim substrings of the cited source_file and C1-substring verified.\n\n## Seed-diet deficiencies in psittacines (parrots)\n- `Seed-based diets are well known for their calcium:phosphorus imbalance and amino acid deficiencies.`\n- `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- `seed diets and even mixed diets of ½ seeds and ½ pellets (if not portion controlled) are deficient in vitamin A.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-nutrition — Nutrition of parrots and other pet birds (Merck): seed-diet calcium/vitamin A imbalance (retrieved 2026-07-29)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-nutrition","title":"Nutrition of parrots and other pet birds (Merck): seed-diet calcium/vitamin A imbalance","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/pet-birds/nutritional-diseases-of-pet-birds","retrieved":"2026-07-29","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds","verification_file":"pdf-raw/merck/pet_birds_nutridis.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds","source_file":"pdf-raw/merck/pet_birds_nutridis.txt","tokens_estimated":165,"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."}