# Cheese?



## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

I heard you could give pigeons cheese, is it true?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

While I have never done this myself, my dad used to give crusts off of the Gouda cheese rounds that we ate. He cut it up finely and they enjoyed it. They only got it once in awhile. My grandfather in Holland gave it to his pigeons many years ago.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

I wouldn't really see much point in giving them cheese, as it would be a pretty un-natural food for them.

Certainly should not give a pigeon milk, but whether that applies to other dairy products (like cheese) or only milk is the question I guess.

John


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

I think Rallow gives his birds small pieces of American cheese that are first dried out and they love it....perhaps he'll weigh in on this.

Linda


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Milk is produced by mammals, and the milk sugar lactose requires the presence of the enzyme lactase for digestion. (Whales are mammals and nurse their young). We hear of pigeons producing "crop milk" for their young for a short time after they have hatched, but this is not the same as dairy milk. 

Got this from* Wikipedia*: (*excerpts*. For full article go to source).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance 



> Lactose intolerance (or hypolactasia) is the condition in which lactase, an enzyme needed for proper metabolization of lactose (a sugar that is a constituent of milk and other dairy products), is not produced in adulthood. A lactose tolerance test, a hydrogen breath test, or a stool acidity test is required for a clinical diagnosis.[1]
> 
> Lactose intolerance can sometimes be confused with milk allergy. In reality, the former is a lack of the enzyme lactase, while the latter is an aberrant immune response (usually) to milk proteins.
> 
> ...





> *Biology*
> 
> The normal mammalian condition is for the young of a species to lose the ability to digest milk sugar (lactose) effectively after the end of the weaning period (a species-specific length of time often equal to roughly 3% of lifespan). In humans, lactase production usually drops about 90% during the first four years of life, although the exact drop over time varies widely. However, certain human populations have undergone a mutation on chromosome 2 which results in a bypass of the common shutdown in lactase production, allowing members of these populations to continue consumption of fresh milk and other milk products throughout their lives.





> *Etiology*
> 
> Without lactase, the lactose in milk remains uncleaved and unabsorbed. Lactose cannot pass easily through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, so it remains in the intestines. Soon, enteral bacteria adapt to the relative abundance of lactose (relative to other sugars like glucose) and switch over to metabolizing lactose. Along the way they produce copious amounts of gas by fermentation.
> 
> The gas causes a range of unpleasant abdominal symptoms, including stomach cramps, bloating, flatulence and diarrhea. Like other unabsorbed sugars, e.g. mannitol, the lactose raises the osmotic pressure of the colon contents, preventing the colon from reabsorbing water and hence causing a laxative effect to add to the excessive gas production.





> *Avoiding lactose-containing products*
> 
> Since each individual's tolerance to consumed lactose varies, according to the US National Institute of Health, "Dietary control of lactose intolerance depends on people learning through trial and error how much lactose they can handle."[5]
> 
> ...


Rallow's pigeon *Dinkster* likes hard white cheese.

I suspect some of our pet spoiled pigeons will eat expensive, exotic things that not even their owners can afford to eat because ... well, they are ROYALTY, and feel the need for the ROYAL treatment. (Are you reading this, Rallow?).

I see Cologne city pigeons eating pizza (with cheese topping, French fries, and occasionally pulling at what appears to be chewing gum on the pavement. If they taste pigeon poop among the seeds, they quickly avoid ingesting it. 

I have seen ducks eating the remains (some of the breast muscle tissue) of another duck in a city park. To be strictly accurate, I have seen them pull at the tissue. I cannot attest to whether they actually swallowed it. Seemed to me they did.

One nice thing about Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia: it can save a person from having to remember things he once knew, or had to remember for school, and now can only mumble gobbledy-**** and blather when others ask questions. 

Larry


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

I remember this post from Cynthia on the topic of birds and cheese consumption and thought I'd look it up:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=68772&postcount=6

And this from the same thread:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=68737&postcount=2

Hope this helps.

fp


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

You are a wealth of resources, fp.  

I remember the link also, I really don't think it ever hurt any of my birds to get dried cheese cut into itty bity pieces (I was just a kid) , once in a while. It was a calcium boost, but I would never even consider giving the very fatty baby cheese. They always got daily excercise too, to keep the lbs. off.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

It is not only the Lactose which is of concern...

But also, the Casein, which is a serious auto-immune antagonist and typically an allergen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casein


Phil
Las Vegas


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

So I can give them it. I'm just looking up what I can give them because I thought that all they could have was the wild bird seed untill I think it was Matt? posted a thread on what they could eat and it suprised me so i'm giving them a bit more cariety in their food since I wouldn't like to eat the same thing all over again every day.

Can I give them the slices you make a taostie with?


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Trees Gray said:


> You are a wealth of resources, fp.
> 
> I remember the link also, I really don't think it ever hurt any of my birdsmy to get dried cheese cut into itty bity pieces (I was just a kid) , once in a while. It was a calcium boost, but I would never even consider giving the very fatty baby cheese. They always got daily excercise too, to keep the lbs. off.




Hi Tressa, all...


I do not have any sources handy to reference, but my recollection is that the amounts of Calcium present in dairy products are not even as much as are in most Fruits or Seeds or fresh Greens anyway...

Just because Milk is 'white' ( technically, the white of Milk is 'pus' and some fat cells) does not mean we should believe it to denote Calcium content...

Calcium is technically a Metal, anyway, and is not itself 'white' at all...but may be white in the form of Bones, Egg Shells, Teeth and so on.

And, that the other consituants in dariy, actually rob one's system of Calcium more than their content of Calcium can replenish...as well as interfering with various metabolic and vitamine assimilations, auto-immune functions, allergys...


Overall, the whole apochraphy of milk ( etc ) being a good source of Calcium, is entirely false, and has been merely an advertising gimmick, which is totally contradicted by endless medical and scientific papers.

While some Yoghurts or hard Cheezes may be forgivable...almost nothing else dairy-wise is, as far as benifits verses liabliltys is concerned.


Best wishes,

Phil
Las Vegas


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Phil and all,

I am not an advocater of giving pigeons dried cheese or any other dairy product, just stating my dad did, but I wouldn't recommend it.


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## SkyofAngels (Jun 28, 2007)

"*technically, the white of Milk is 'pus' and some fat cells*"
So when we drink cow milk we are drinking pus?!?!  That is soooo gross I am never going to drink milk again!


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Milk is pus?*

Technically speaking, the breast is a modified sweat gland (source not remembered, but reliable).

So, the human female breast is a modified sweat gland. 

Also: the body, topologically speaking (in mathematics, topology is the study of geometric properties and spatial relations unaffected by the continuous change of shape or size of figures) is a torus or do-nut/doughnut. Open the mouth and the anus and the interconnecting digestive tract _wide enough_ (in imagination, can't be done in reality while alive), and you have a body in the shape of a do-nut, and a hole in the middle. So, topologically speaking, your digestive tract is on the outside of your body, not the inside. So what's a little pus (dead white blood cells with bacteria with tissue debris and serum, most produced by your own body except for the bacteria)) on the outside? 

Larry


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## Becca199212 (May 10, 2007)

Thanks alot milk WAS my fav. drink!


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