Calling P'let owners age 7 or older

[Jose's Mom]

Last night I took Jose to the vet- and okay here goes I am about to start a whole new debate on here I just know it.. It was strongly suggested to me to change his diet to pellets and fresh foods. He is currently on fresh foods until about noon, birdie bread made by his breeder that has many good things in it for him that the vet agreed with, then I switch it out to seeds, as my husband leaves for work and he changes it for me. He always has pellets in his cage, about a 1/4 tsp. avail. a day and eats them all most of the time. I was told by the avian vet that seeds are like McDonalds- okay in moderation as a treat, but not good for everyday. Jose proved to her that he loves fruits and veggies as he went there with a red stained beak form pommagrantes from breakfast and red peppers! She was a bit concerned at first until I told her why his tongue was red! LOL!!

So now I am in a bit of a perplexing situation- not sure what to do. My approach to this all along is what would he get in the wild?? I try to think about that as this seems to be the best aproach, but then I think about that , and really who am I fooling- there is no way that I can mimic what he gets in the wild- so are pellets really the best way to go or not along with fresh foods.

My Question is to those owners of P'lets who have P'lets age 7 or older- What do you feed your P'lets and why.. how healthy are they and how did you get them to switch?? I am asking for the age of the birds as those of us with younger birds don't have the experience behind us to chime in on this topic and our birds are too young to know if what we are feeding them are causing health problems yet.. I also ask that we respect one another opinion and know that we are all experts in our own pets and what we can handle as far as raising our birds.


Other than this, his appoinment went well- she stated he is a very well socialized little guy and his colors are beautiful, and very healthy. He did'nt even try and bite her, which I was surprized by as he is molting right now and a bit nippy, I was very proud of him, he was a very good boy!!! We live an hour away and this was his first car ride since his trip home from the airport- of course it had to be only about 9 degrees last night! But I placed him in a cooler with a hot towel out of the dryer into the car then into his travel cage and he did fine..back into the cooler to get into the vet.. quite an ordeal ..

[Callie]

she stated he is a very well socialized little guy and his colors are beautiful, and very healthy.
If that's her assessment of Jose, why does she want to change what you are doing? Your care of him is obviously working! If it ain't broke, I'm not so sure I'd want to fix it!!

[Jose's Mom]

That is true in a sense- but many baby birds are born healthy, and then what we feed them determines how long they will live, liver disease takes many of our birds. Jose is only 4 months old. An example, my granddaughter who is a year old last August can grow up eating fast food every day of her life or she can eat fruits, vegetables and a little bit of meat (a healthy diet by most Dr. assessments). If she eats fast food for the next 3 years, we should start to see the negative impact relatively soon, for sure by the time she enters school by lower test scores, obesity and general overall poor health, if she continued down that path her life will be shortened by many many years. ( BTW- my baby granddaughter is a very healthy eater!! :))
What I am asking for is the tried and true techniques from the P'let owners who have had their feathered friends in their flock that have had healthy long lives and what they feed them. Not arguments, just the facts.. :)

[maryavnmom]

What color is Jose? There is some evidence that the mutations do not do well on pellets. In fact it is thought that a pellet diet can cause liver and kidney problems with the blue mutations.
Mary mom to 24 p'lets

[Cheryl's Fids R Gr8]

I have a 7 year old normal green Pacific. He is extremely healthy and has been all his life.

I feed him the same as all my birds. Pellets in the cage at all times, (I change brands to keep it interesting, and also in case a brand goes out of business, or the store is out of it. but most often it is Zupreme or Roudyboush). The change keeps them from being too picky also.

I feed cooked food at least 3 times a week (I still have fresh stock of Beak Appetit!) and fresh broccoli, carrots, apples, wheat bread, millet spray, etc.

Sometimes I buy a small amount of seed (safflower based, not sunflower) and let them munch on them for a day...

And fresh clean water in the cage at all times.

[Jinx n Noodle]

Well, Jinx was born sometime in 2001 (don't know her hatch date since she was adopted from the shelter and I estimated sometime in 2001 since I got her mid-late 2002 and she was suppose to be 1 1/2 years old). So she's about 9 years old now. I started her off on seeds when I first got her, learned better and added pellets. She's always been a good eater, so there wasn't difficulty to get her to eat new stuff. She also then would eat whatever else I was eating too. Now I learned some more info about diet and she's current on a seed/pellet mix with fresh foods available daily. I give her about 1 tbsp of seed/pellet mix (no sunflower seeds in the seed mix and I use natural Zupreem). Then I give her either birdie bread or fresh foods, about another 1 tbsp amt. That usually is consistent with her diet. She does pick out seeds first and then some of the fresh stuff and will munch on the pellets when that's all that's available...that's why her foods are measured, otherwise she will pick out the stuff that she only wants to eat.

With that said, I will mention that she is a normal green p'let. I do have blue and blue pied p'lets too and feed them the same diet, which they've been on for 1- 1 1/2 years now. I will also mention that pellets make up in the seed/pellet mix only about 40% of the mix.

I've had routine bloodwork done on her for a couple of years and then moved onto sporadic when it all came back normal repeatedly. I haven't had any illnesses with her, she has been one healthy bird.

I believe variety is good thing so that's what I do... probably will change some more the more I learn and the more information they find out about parrot nutrition.

[Jinx n Noodle]

Oh yeah, I'll also mention that I have a 14 year old tiel that I've had for 12 years. She's been on a seed diet only for 4 years, then slowly added pellets, took 3 years to transition her to a pellet that she likes (thus the Zupreem) and even then she still will eat mostly seeds (again I measure her food out to make sure that she doesn't just eat seeds only). I also offer fresh foods to her, but it has been a downhill battle for me mostly... she eats some, but mostly rejects it. I've also had healthy checks and bloodwork on her for multiple years, she's been pretty normal her whole life... besides a sinus infection and minor liver issues (incidental finding on routine bloodwork during one of her healthy checks by the vet) which has resolved.

[Jose's Mom]

What color is Jose? There is some evidence that the mutations do not do well on pellets. In fact it is thought that a pellet diet can cause liver and kidney problems with the blue mutations.
Mary mom to 24 p'lets


Hmmmm... He is blue- what is the evidence that suggests this and why would that be I wonder?? Just looking for information? Do you know where I would find this out?

[Jose's Mom]

Good info from all- so far Jose is rejecting the Pellets that were suggested from the vet- I liked them as they had no color in them. The ones that I had bought him originally had coloring in them- and I really am against artifically colored and dyes but could not find any in my area, he seems to like them, of course- but he was eating them at the breeder as well so he began eating them right away as an infant. Up until now he really has been what I woud call "free feeding". I look back on it now and I laugh at the amount of food I would put on his paper plate in the morning seriously it was FULL!!! (American way I guess- fill the plate even for a pet!), I have since gone down to a small paper plate and this keeps me in check somewhat! :) )
So I have learned to even measure out the food from this forum- I continue to learn from all of you! Thank you

[Sondra]

You may want to read this article on an explantion of the whys or possiblities connected with mutations and pellet diet (only)
http://www.internationalparrotletsociety.org/pellet.html