Zupreem vs. TOPS?

[BayuCah'ya]

For those of you having difficulty converting your birds, it's most likely because your birds are addicted to the sugar in the Zupreem. Zupreem has a lot of sugar in their pellets (sixth ingredient), so your birdies have a sweet tooth, I'm afraid. As long as they will eat fresh foods well, you can always try just switching to a different pellet cold turkey and then waiting it out. It won't hurt them to be without pellets for a few days or weeks and eating fresh foods only until they decide to try the new pellets. Remember that it takes a minimum of 28 days for brains to rewire themselves, so it could very well take a month for a sugar addicted bird to decide that sugar-free food is actually pretty yummy. There are also other ways to do a diet conversion, but it's late, I'm tired, and I don't feel a particular need to monologue right now. If you're interested in some other ideas, though, let me know and I'll do something about it later.

[emdh]

I went on line and the second listed ingredient for TOPS is sunflower-isn't that a concern since they're so fatty and suggested only in really limited quantity? The ingredients for Zupreem Natural and Roudybush are reallly similar.

[Macawnutz]

There is no perfect pellet. In fact if your bird is eating pellets at all you are doing well. The majority of birds ( not on this site of course ) are eating zupreem fruity, kaytee exact or pretty bird pellets. Go into any pet store and that is what you see. If that is all your bird will eat, you are still doing fine. If you are trying to switch your bird to a more healthy pellet Great!!! It may take some time though. If your bird is eating zupreem fruity and you want to switch to something like tops. That may take awhile. As Emily said, zupreem fruity is high in sugar and is almost sweet to them, tops is not. I have noticed switching them from fruity to naturals is not that difficult after a few weeks. Naturals is better than fruity. Then adding in tops to the naturals is not such a shock to them because most of the sugar is already removed and they are not looking for that sweet taste. ( it's a three step program ) AND... You'll love this.... If you don't understand why your bird does not like something... taste it. Ever eat a tops pellet?

[lzver]

My 3 are switched to Tops pellets. All 3 of them love it. I still mix in a little Pretty Bird Gold and Roudybush. Tops is the only pellet all 3 of them like. I was feeding each their own pellets up until recently.

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[wonderb]

I went on line and the second listed ingredient for TOPS is sunflower-isn't that a concern since they're so fatty and suggested only in really limited quantity? The ingredients for Zupreem Natural and Roudybush are reallly similar.

Sunflower is the 5th ingredient (I posted the ingredient list earlier in the thread). Birds do need some fat, and the rest of the ingredients except for sesame are all very low fat.

The pellets breakdown as follows:

Protein min 13%, Crude Fiber min 12%, Fat min 7%. This means that the pellets are still 68% digestible carbohydrate, and have more fiber than fat. All this is very good. Zupreem contains "not more than 5% fiber".

[Mizzely]

Sunflower seeds are actually very good sources of vitamin E and phosphorus too

[emdh]

The pellets are as follows: Rice, barley, sunflower seed hulled, alfalfa leaf, sesame seeds unhulled, amaranth whole, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, millet hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, wheat grass powder, barley grass powder.

So would you recommend the crumpets instead where the sunflower ingredient is further down the list? I'm feeding a sun and a senegal. To be honest, my Senegal can use some fattening up!

[wonderb]

The pellets are as follows: Rice, barley, sunflower seed hulled, alfalfa leaf, sesame seeds unhulled, amaranth whole, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, millet hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, wheat grass powder, barley grass powder.

So would you recommend the crumpets instead where the sunflower ingredient is further down the list? I'm feeding a sun and a senegal. To be honest, my Senegal can use some fattening up!

I see where the discrepancy is coming from. I am getting the information from this page: http://totallyorganics.com/t-pellets.php -- while you are getting it from this page: TOP Ingredient Highlights

The former page has the ingredient list that is listed on my actual bag of pellets. My bag also says: [The following ingredients comprise no more than 5% of total volume each.] before sunflower, sesame, and on.

I would probably recommend the crumplets for your size birds. I like to get smaller pellets because there is less waste.

[Peacelovepets]

I don't know that she is convinced yet, so thanks for all the suggestions! If I need to, I will switch her to Zupreem Naturals then to TOPS. I really appreciate it. She has been trying different food, right now she is actually sitting nect to me eatong the African Sunset Worldly Cuisines bird mix Thanks so much!

[Peacelovepets]

O and right now I am soaking them, so size isn't too big of a deal. The only size the store sold in bulk was the bigger size. When I am sure she will eat the, I am planning to get the crumplets