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Cockatiel · Vegetables

Can cockatiels eat garlic?

No — never feed

No. Garlic is harmful to cockatiels: it damages red blood cells, and fatal poisoning has been reported in a small parrot. Avoid fresh garlic, garlic powder and garlicky foods.

Sugar: 1 g / 100 g

If your cockatiel already ate some

Phone your avian vet for advice straight away and say how much was eaten and in what form. Signs of anemia can take a day or more to appear: weakness, sleepiness, fluffed feathers, labored breathing and dark or reddish droppings.

Emergency steps →

Why

Risks. Like onion, garlic causes oxidative damage to red blood cells, but it is more potent. A dusky-headed conure, a parrot not much larger than a cockatiel, died of acute hemolysis after being fed garlic.

Questions owners ask 1

Can cockatiels have bird treats flavored with garlic?

It is best to avoid them. Garlic is on avian vet lists of foods not to feed.

Garlic: nutrition per 100 g

Water	58.6 g
Energy	149 kcal
Sugars	1 g
Fat	0.5 g
Protein	6.4 g
Fibre	2.1 g
Calcium	181 mg
Phosphorus	153 mg
Calcium : phosphorus	1.18 : 1
Sodium	17 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	0 µg
Vitamin C	31.2 mg

“Garlic, raw”, USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, FDC 169230). Public domain.

Sources & method 5

The sources below discuss garlic for cockatiels (or for pet birds generally). Confidence: high. Rated on the JOMIZOO Feeding Scale; when good sources disagree we choose the more cautious level.

Hemoglobinuric nephrosis and hepatosplenic erythrophagocytosis in a dusky-headed conure (Aratinga weddelli) after ingestion of garlic (Allium sativum) — Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, 2004
Cockatiel Care Sheet (Maria Zayas, DVM) — PetMD
Unsafe Foods for Birds — LafeberVet
Garlic and Onion (Allium spp) Toxicosis in Animals — Merck Veterinary Manual (Cristine Hayes, DVM, ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center)
Foods That Are Toxic to Birds (Lauren Jones, VMD) — PetMD

Other pets

Can hamsters eat garlic?Never Can budgies eat garlic?Never