Can Cockatiels Eat Peanut Butter? (Answered!)

I was making a sandwich the other day, and as much I wanted something a bit fancier, in the end it was clear all I could do was a PB&J.

Which I don’t mind, but it’s a bit basic.

While I was putting it together, though, my cockatiel flew over and started making a huge fuss about the peanut butter.

I’d never let him eat peanut butter before and I wasn’t sure it would be safe, so I decided to look into it.

So, can cockatiels eat peanut butter?

In strict moderation, peanut butter is a good snack for your cockatiel. It’s highly processed and there is a lot of fat in most kinds, so you should be very careful of exactly how much you give them. Too much can become a problem very quickly, so you should be careful about quantities.

So, like with many similar processed foods, a little bit can be a good snack for your cockatiel, but you’ve got to be very careful about moderation.

Peanut butter should never replace part of your cockatiel’s ordinary diet.

Let’s look further into this.

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Is peanut butter good for cockatiels?

While there may indeed be some good health benefits, as I will get into, the simple answer is that it isn’t especially good for them.

There is nothing in peanut butter that your cockatiel could not get elsewhere, so keep that in mind.

It’s a nice treat—you shouldn’t think of it as being particularly healthy.

That said, in good moderation and as part of a balanced diet, there are a lot of benefits to peanut butter for cockatiels.

Peanut butter is rich in protein, and this helps your cockatiel’s bones and muscles to keep strong and sturdy.

Peanut butter also contains a number of healthy minerals, like magnesium, phosphorous, and zinc.

Minerals serve a variety of functions in the diet, such as building healthy cells, immunity from illness, and overall chemical processes.

Peanut butter also contains large amounts of Vitamin B-6, which plays a role in the body’s enzyme reactions.

So, there are a number of potential benefits to eating peanut butter, but the fact is that you can get all these benefits and more from naturally occurring foods.

The attitude to peanut butter should be more as an indulgent treat than a healthy part of their diet.

Let’s look at the potential downsides.

Is peanut butter bad for cockatiels?

As I said, the important thing is always moderation.

In very small amounts, it’s fine as a treat.

However, the fact is there is a lot of things in peanut butter that are bad for cockatiels.

Peanut butter is, as I said, very high in fat.

Cockatiels can benefit from small amounts of fat, but too much will quickly become a problem.

Peanut butter is very highly processed and a lot of fat is added, not to mention peanuts themselves are already quite high in fat.

Oil, too, is found in high concentrations in most types of peanut butter, and can also be very bad for your cockatiel.

So, peanut butter is an indulgent treat, and you should only let your cockatiel have it once or twice a week at most.

Swap it out with other treats in the rest of the week like fresh fruit and vegetables.

This guarantees the best diversity of nutrients and that it won’t get bored, either.

Can cockatiels eat Skippy peanut butter?

Skippy peanut butter is one of the less processed and more natural varieties of peanut butter available in the US.

It’s low in salt and fat making it a great choice for your cockatiel, either straight off a spoon or smeared on bread or toast.

Skippy peanut butter, if you can get it, may be your best choice.

It’s still not exactly healthy, though, so you should keep that in mind.

Still don’t feed it more than once or twice a week.

Can cockatiels smell peanut butter?

To an extent, they can, although in general birds don’t have a great sense of smell.

They will usually identify food by sight, or by seeing you eating it.

Peanut butter doesn’t produce a particularly strong odor, either, so it would be quite difficult for cockatiels to smell it.

It may often seem as though they have smelled it, since they come over when you open it.

They’re most likely just hearing you, though.

Conclusion

Peanut butter is a really tasty treat, then, but that’s as far as your cockatiel’s relationship with it should go.

Any more than once or twice a week, in small amounts, has the potential to cause problems for your cockatiel.

It’s a highly processed, highly fatty food that is, obviously intended for humans to eat and not cockatiels.

That said, peanuts, in general, are a really great part of a cockatiel’s diet—but peanut butter is just a bit too processed to be a regular snack.