Harrison's... High Potency or Lifetime Blend?

[Vickiesbirds]

I'm in the process of doing my food order online. My birds normally get Adult Lifetime Coarse, but they've been kinda picky lately with the big pieces. I've decided to switch to fine, but I'm not sure if it would be okay for me to go high potency?

My reasoning for considering is that I believe Tiki may be falling a bit underweight. Her keelbone is easily palpated and she is much less "meat-y" than Remi. I won't know her weight for sure until they go for their yearly vetting next Wednesday.

Another reason is that my work schedule hasn't been the greatest lately, which doesn't allow me to cook them a fresh meal every day... they usually eat fresh 5 times a week. I figured the high potency would give them a better nutritional intake on those off days.

Any thoughts anyone??

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Harrisons themselves recommend starting your bird off on the High Potency to build up your bird's nutritional equilibrium and then switching to Lifetime after four to six months. The only problem I had with that was that there is apparently a difference in taste between the two and my birds were quite unhappy with the Lifetime after starting off on the High Potency. They also recommend High Potency for breeding birds. I ended up continuing on the High Potency for the CAG and Senegal since it is less than fifty percent of their diet; but went to Lifetime for the tiels and small birds because they tend to not do well with high levels of vitamins.

 

[penguin]

I'm feeding high potency to my tiels right now, one is on eggs and one is sick on and off. They do eat the high potency more than the lifetime.

 

[Stormcloud]

My recommendation for Caiques would be Adult Lifetime Fine. Given that your birds have been on this formula for some time I don't see any benefit in going up to High Potency. The HP formula is really designed for breeding birds or medium sized (150g+) birds that haven't been on pellets before. If somewhere between 50-70% of their intake is pellets and the rest fresh & other you should have more than enough vitamins, minerals, trace elements, protein, fat and fibre in their diet. Before you go switching around I recommend you get a blood panel done on one of them by your AV to see where their levels are at. If they don't have any deficiencies don't change what ain't broke.

 

[Vickiesbirds]

Thanks guys... Glad I waited for some feedback before buying. I think I will just go with the lifetime... don't wanna get them all outta whack with too many vitamins. I'll have to see what my vet wants done for Tiki... she was improperly hand fed and weaned so she has a lot of digestive issues because of that. Certain food brands really bother her... so I switched her and Remi over to a (mostly) organic diet a few months ago. Pretty much everything they get now is organic except fresh foods because I really don't believe anything grown in our polluted soil here can truly be organic. She hasn't had a yearly in a good couple years and I just switched to a new vet... he's not a certified A vet as we have none in my area, but he has a lot of interest in birds and my friend who runs a rescue vets her whole flock with him and loves him ... so I'm hoping he'll offer me a different perspective than my old vet, who wanted to run all kinds of invasive tests that I really don't think Tiki ever needed as they were all within normal limits. We shall see

 

[Bokkapooh]

I feed ONLY High Potency Coarse.

My birds are fully flighted, active and also eat more than just the pellets. So I feel, as well as the vets feel that High Potency works great in our situation.

I would wait until after their yearlies to see how their blood levels look before switching diets. Its a bad idea to switch diets 1-2 weeks before a yearly is performed!

 

[Vickiesbirds]

Great point there!!! Don't wanna give them something that will skew their results.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Is the HP higher in actual VITAMINS? I thought the ingredients were just a tad different making it have more protien and crude fat. Not the vitamin intake.

 

[Vickiesbirds]

Not sure... I'm gonna have to check their website .

 

[Bokkapooh]

Thanks guys... Glad I waited for some feedback before buying. I think I will just go with the lifetime... don't wanna get them all outta whack with too many vitamins. I'll have to see what my vet wants done for Tiki... she was improperly hand fed and weaned so she has a lot of digestive issues because of that. Certain food brands really bother her... so I switched her and Remi over to a (mostly) organic diet a few months ago. Pretty much everything they get now is organic except fresh foods because I really don't believe anything grown in our polluted soil here can truly be organic. She hasn't had a yearly in a good couple years and I just switched to a new vet... he's not a certified A vet as we have none in my area, but he has a lot of interest in birds and my friend who runs a rescue vets her whole flock with him and loves him ... so I'm hoping he'll offer me a different perspective than my old vet, who wanted to run all kinds of invasive tests that I really don't think Tiki ever needed as they were all within normal limits. We shall see

You may want to try and avoid any "off days" where they only get pellets if you have a bird with digestive issues. A more fresh diet is recommended for a bird with GI issues.

 

[Katy]

My vet who is quite "pro" Harrisons wants me to gradually switch from the HP to the lifetime as soon as is practicable. He thinks long term use of the HP can be too much on the organs, etc. so we are still on the HP but planning to go lifetime soon. The reason we were on HP in the first place were, cold climate, a baby, converting, a tough moult with some plucking issues and some other stuff I can't remember. Anyway, everybody here eats it, loves it, and is in good feather.

 

[roxynoodle]

I know there is at least more vitamin A in the HP, and calcium, but not sure on other vitamins and minerals.

It's a hard question to answer since I don't know much about Caique diet. The HP is definitely beneficial to conures, macaws and maybe Greys (and perhaps other African birds). Some are starting to think maybe it's not best for Greys though due to their predisposition to blockages in the arteries from a diet too high in fat. I'm trying to research that myself right now.

I do have my amazon on the HP because he seems to do much better on it with his liver disease. My vet thinks it's due to the extra vitamin A, but we are a little surprised by this as the extra fat and protein should be worse for him.

 

[Katy]

Sometimes it seems so hard to do the right thing....