High cholesterol in 8yo, help with diet please!

[Petey]

My parrotlet Petey is going on 8 years old and started plucking his belly feathers on and off when I left for college a couple of years ago and left him with my parents. In the past few months his beak started to overgrow so we went to the vet and did bloodwork. Although the vet says his liver seems fine, his cholesterol turned out to be through the roof (I think around 500...I just remember it was 7 times what the vet said was normal).

He'd been getting Harrison's and/or Avian Miracle Diet (bird veggie mix no longer on sale in my area) and had seed mixes in his cage such as Nutriberries and Volkman's Parrotlet. At dinner with us he sometimes dared to touch veggies (very picky, hates wet stuff and afraid of berries) and devoured bell pepper seeds when we ate peppers.

After his cholesterol results came back I knew my parents need to make a change. I feel like since I left (I was also studying abroad last semester) his diet hasn't been getting much attention and the lack of Miracle Diet veggies did him in. With Volkman's, he just binges on safflower.

The point is I need a relatively easy diet plan for him that my full time working parents can follow. So far this is my low-fat plan but I would love some feedback:

In the morning-afternoon/ in cage: Plenty of Harrison's High Potency, thawed corn and peas (he hates carrots), broccoli and banana in treat clamps, sprouted wheat berries, corn flake crumbles, foraging toys filled once a week with Goldenfeast.

When my parents get home around 6pm / on play areas: Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill Formula (smaller version of hookbill legume blend), more broccoli given by hand, plus various healthy human food bits.

Do you notice anything really important missing or big imbalances???

I'm thinking about getting some bee pollen or Avian Trio. Also planning to have him try sweet potato instead of carrots. I'm also thinking about buying a sprouting mix for more grain variety. Also read some posts on here that said you can sneak in good veggies in birdy bread - I would use Harrison's as a base...what are a few of the most important veggies to puree for the bread?

How much can you add so it's not too soggy?

One last thing, do your parrotlets have any favorite foraging toys you could suggest/link me to?

Sorry this is so long, and thanks in advance for all your help!

[chapala]

Stop on the Harrison's High Potency asap - you want lower fat (and lower protein) Lifetime pellets. He needs the fat content of his diet lowered, so you want to eliminate all high fat seeds completely - sunflower, safflower, etc. I don't know the ingredients of the Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill - can you write that out?

I would be sprouting a grain mix for your bird - there is lots of information in the diet thread, including the diet sticky. Sprouting (or cooking) lowers the fat content. Also, I wouldn't feed the cornflakes at all - they are made from refined (degerminated) grains, and are fortified. Human cereals unless completely natural whole grains, such as rolled oats or a seven grain mix, are not appropriate for birds since they often are refined and are supplemented for humans, not birds. Sweet potato would be good since he's not getting carotene rich food in the diet, only supplemented synthetic Vit. A in the pellets.

[Petey]

Stop on the Harrison's High Potency asap - you want lower fat (and lower protein) Lifetime pellets. He needs the fat content of his diet lowered, so you want to eliminate all high fat seeds completely - sunflower, safflower, etc. I don't know the ingredients of the Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill - can you write that out?

What is a seven grain mix human cereal, can you give a brand example?

I know it is twice as fatty (12% rather than 6%) but he's on the High Potency because it's indicated for birds transitioning to pellets like he is and those that are overweight or have liver problems. He's not overweight (he's a pretty lazy bird but is not clipped so flies around the apartment in the evening) nor did the vet say he necessarily has fatty liver but he said the high cholesterol could be indicative of some liver malfunction. Do you still think we should switch to Lifetime?

The Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill Legume Blend is described below, can you suggest a better seed mix?

INGREDIENTS:
Canary grass seed, steel-cut hulled oats, dehydrated carrots, cantaloupe seed, chopped sunflower kernels, flax seed, toasted soy grits, sterile hemp seed, dehydrated cherries, white proso millet, roasted peanuts, Goldenfeast® Granola (consisting of: rolled oats, rolled wheat, brown sugar, canola oil, un-sulfured dehydrated coconut, sweet dairy whey, oat flour, roasted almonds and honey), black sesame seed, hulled sesame seed, red Siberian millet, dehydrated blueberries, bentonite crumbles, dehydrated broccoli, canola seed, Japanese millet, cracked corn, air freeze dried sweet corn, chopped pecans, chipped cashews, date pieces, caraway seed, cranberry seeds and dehydrated cranberry skins, orange peel granules, dried honey flakes, dried molasses flakes, granulated mangos, granulated papaya, cooked dehydrated black bean granules, granulated pineapple, sweet basil, whole bee pollen, freeze dried celery, and dehydrated parsley, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus fermentum fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, and dried Bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, and natural flavoring.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:
Crude Protein (min.) 14%; Crude Fat (min.) 7%; Crude Fiber (max.) 6%; Moisture (max.) 7%; Ash (max.) 4%.

[Petey]

Anybody else have any other ideas? Anybody else have a parrotlet that won't touch wet food?

We tried the sprouts, he wouldn't touch them. On the upside, he is now eating lots of dry Harrison's if you offer it to him in the afternoon and watch him eat it :p

He's also still getting the Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill Legume seed mix after he eats his pellets as a treat and in foraging toys. He used to eat lot of Harrison's bird bread with sweet potato baby food baked in but now I think he's gotten sick of it but he still gets it in his cage. He also gets cooked wheat berries and oats in his cage which I'd say he sorta likes but isn't crazy for.

[qtbirds]

Anybody else have any other ideas? Anybody else have a parrotlet that won't touch wet food?

We tried the sprouts, he wouldn't touch them. On the upside, he is now eating lots of dry Harrison's if you offer it to him in the afternoon and watch him eat it :p

He's also still getting the Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill Legume seed mix after he eats his pellets as a treat and in foraging toys. He used to eat lot of Harrison's bird bread with sweet potato baby food baked in but now I think he's gotten sick of it but he still gets it in his cage. He also gets cooked wheat berries and oats in his cage which I'd say he sorta likes but isn't crazy for.

I have a lovebird that doesn't like wet seeds. You can dry them out on a paper towel or a dehydrator set very low (105 or 110 degrees F) just until they're dry. They retain their nutrients. I eat mostly raw foods so I have a dehydrator. You can sprout a lot at once and then dry them out if you find out that he will eat dried sprouted seeds. You can get a cheap one that works fine for drying out seeds and other things for around $50.

For sprouting I suggest the Easy Sprouter. I love them. You can cook your sprouts in birdy bread too.