Pellets Question

[carolz7]

I recently came upon some bird expert who says we are poisoning our birds by giving them pellets, no name all pellets are poisoning them. Apparently you can google it and read about it. I did not do the google part because i have been feeding pellets forever. But he can look at your bird and tell if it shows signs of poisoning. Has anyone heard of this or are aware of it. I do not want to do anything to harm my birds but my birds are on pellets recommended by my vet. Sure there is a kick back for him to tell you that but the companies surely would not be making food for our pets to kill them> Please help and explain if you could. This is really upsetting to me.

 

[Patty Girl]

Hi Carol, I will be watching your post too! As I've been feeding my baby Linnies pellets as a big part of their diet, Everyone seems so afraid of seed and their weight. Hopefully you'll get some good advise here, thanks for your post!

 

[Macaw Lover]

Never forget the crap China put into the dog food and so many dogs died some year back. A friend of mine had a little dog that suddenly died during that time period. They never did a necropsy nor file any suit against the dog food company but you have to wonder if there was a link to the food or not.

A lot of the pellets are made from corn. What good is that to our birds except as more of a filler. Most of the corn now a days is GMO which a terrible thing for us and our birds. The government has allowed Monsanto to put this out on the market without all the testing that is usually done. Face it, WE are the testing subjects because testing of something of this magnitude would take years and so Monsanto got around this (with plenty of kickbacks). So what happens in say 20 years when babies are born with untold birth defects and all? You can bet your last dollar that Monsanto will claim they had no knowledge of anything causing that and claim they are no responsible.

 

[Mizzely]

I would ask for cited sources backed by actual studies.

 

[JLcribber]

I recently came upon some bird expert

Yea. There's a lot of those around. Facemob is full of them.

There is "some" truth to his claims. But I would have to say there is nothing worse in their food than they lie to us about putting in our food.

Unless one is growing their own food and cooking from scratch. We are eating the same crap.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

A lot of what you are seeing on-line is pure fear mongering! When someone reads a Facebook post or email forward that starts with the header "The food we feed WILL KILL OUR PETS!!" will raise the blood pressure. The first thing many people will do is hit forward or like without spending any time thinking about it. That is why stuff like this circles the Internet in the blink of an eye.

Granted there are differences in the quality of pet food. There are many discount brands of petfood that are not as healthy for your pet as they could be. Because in the USA regulations for pet food are lax when compared for human food, some companies will take advantage to make a buck. That is why you always want to look for a premium food for your pet. I have seen the stuff they sell at Walmart and most grocery stores most of it is pure crap.

Zupreem, Harrison's and TOPS are some of the quality foods available on the USA.

 

[aooratrix]

I've seen the information to which you refer. It was compelling, but, ultimately, has little basis in fact. If you're feeding natural, species-appropriate pellets, you're fine. I feed Zupreem natural now, but my Amazon has eaten various pellets for all of her 21 years. And from her feather quality, vigor, and vet checks, I'm confident she's not being poisoned.

Obviously, pellets are just part of a good diet, as I'm sure you know. I feed them because if something happens to me, anyone can give them pellets.

 

[Begone]

I feed them because if something happens to me, anyone can give them pellets.

That is a very good reason. I do the same, but I use seed + pellets in small amounts.

 

[aooratrix]

That is a very good reason. I do the same, but I use seed + pellets in small amounts.

My macaws get 1/8 tsp. of safflower gold every day. Morgan does not.

 

[Tyrion]

I don't feed pellets ..but I feed a very diverse diet of fruits , veggies, seed , nuts, herbs, flowers and grains....

 

[Mizzely]

I have a few more minutes to talk now.

In addition to researching these claims with legitimate resources, research the flip side on how pellets have impacted parrot lives.

A lot of vets haven't had much nutrition training. However there are some that really excel at diving into that subject. Dr. Scott Echols comes to mind. You can reach out to him on the Facebook group Nutrition for Pets. He actually goes to study parrots and their eating habits in the wild and still advocates pellets.

 

[Mizzely]

But he can look at your bird and tell if it shows signs of poisoning.

What types of signs? If he can't tell you the signs, or has a "unique" gift, sounds like a gimmick to me. I'm not convinced anyone can look at any animal and "know" they are poisoned without some sort of testing.

 

[Hankmacaw]

I would ask for cited sources backed by actual studies.

Absolutely - any time someone makes outrageous claims, start researching and researching and asking for Peer Reviews for the studies. There are a lot of "Snake Oil" salesmen out there.

 

[aooratrix]

Unless there's an obvious physical trauma or the bird no longer has the strength to fake it, you can't tell a lot medically by just looking. Parrots hide illness because if they don't, they are more likely to be the victims of predation. I wouldn't trust my birds to a vet who diagnoses by just looking. That's bullcarp.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

But he can look at your bird and tell if it shows signs of poisoning.

Holy crap I was so overwelmed with the smell of BS I missed that line that Mizzely quoted.

If someone tells you that they can see a bird is poisoned they are selling snake oil.