TheTameParrot.com - Say “BYE” To Your Parrot Problems

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OK, allow me a few moments to vent, let off steam, and do some primal screaming. I know my birds are having a field day with this. I hear them giggling in their cage. They read the news in the newspaper on the bottom of their cage and they are laughing at me!

Buttered microwave popcorn is bad? No way!

A group of doctors have decided that based on one single known patient, and very little research, that the butter flavoring in microwave poses a major health risk. This single patient was known to eat two bags of popcorn per day, and has been doing it for ten years!

The problem, according to Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center is with the food flavoring additive Diacetyl. This ingredient has been around for many years. It is a naturally occurring flavoring found in a wide variety of foods, including butter, milk, cheese, and fruits. It has already been examined and approved by the FDA for use in food manufacturing.

The disease, known as bronchiolitis obliterans, has been researched at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. Their research indicates that there are numerous infectious agents that can cause this disease. It’s extremely rare, and mostly develops in patients who have gone through lung transplants and are already in high a risk group.

One case of “popcorn lung” is diagnosed….out of how many millions of people who eat buttered popcorn? And now it gets a bad rep. My wife tossed out all my popcorn! What do I eat while watching television now?

So why are my birds making fun of me? It’s payback time because I tried to change their food over to organic pellets!

THE PELLETED FOOD DEBATE

If you have read my book The Easy Parrot System – Feeding and Nutrition, then you know I’m a big believer in pellet diets. They contain all of the vitamins, minerals, and protein that your bird needs. But if it doesn’t taste good, your birds will not eat it. If it doesn’t look appealing, or doesn’t have any flavor, the birds will not want to eat it.

>>My book also goes into great detail about pellet food diets, and gives you a step-by-step method to convert your birds from a seed diet. It’s very easy to do, and you will extend the life of your bird, plus eliminate a lot of health problems. This information and much more is available at The Easy Parrot System – Feeding and Nutrition

Many of the “organic” pellets do not contain artificial coloring or flavoring. That assumes that you use a very liberal definition of what “artificial” means. They taste like cardboard. Go on…taste it! Would you eat that stuff? Does it smell good? Then why would you want your bird eating it?

Don’t get me wrong! I am not against the “natural” or “organic” brands of pellet or formulated diets on the market. If your bird will eat them, that’s all that counts. My problem is that there are a lot of uneducated bird enthusiasts who are dead set against many brands of pellets. When you ask them why, they give you the same set of responses. So let me give you my opinion on these “facts”.

“PRESERVATIVES ARE BAD FOR YOUR BIRD”

This one is easy. Without preventives the food will go stale, become rancid, and very unpalatable. Your bird will refuse to eat it. Like it or not, you have to put preservatives into the food.

Many of the ingredients that are used in pellets (organic or not) use ingredients that already come with preservatives in them. They seem to forget this fact when talking about their products. As long as “they” don’t add more preservatives, it is ok, and they can still call it “organic”.

These are grain and protein products, and they only have a certain amount of shelf life. Unless you send them directly from the factory to the store, and they are sold within a couple of weeks, they will go bad. But bird pellets are manufactured and shipped to distributors, where they will sit in a warehouse for several weeks. Then they are shipped out to stores where they are again shelved for weeks or months! Ask your pet store how often they rotate their products? Even with preservatives, the shelf life of most pellet diets is only 1 year.

Therefore preservatives are added. The problem is which one to use. Many manufactures, such as Kaytee, Zupreem, and Prettybird use an antioxidant called Ethoxyquin, along with other natural antioxidants like Vitamin E and C extracts. This makes people nervous because they can’t pronounce it and do not know what it is. Used in small quantities these preservatives are perfectly safe. This is an FDA approved additive.

However, due to a narrow group of organic food enthusiasts, panic set in when they began to spread rumors about this product. Their concern was based on lab studies where rats were fed huge amounts of ethoxyquin in their diet caused transient depression and organ damage. But upon reading the study, it clearly goes on to report that “chronic toxicity in animals is reported as ‘apparently low’”. Isn’t it funny how this statement never got out in their warnings? This original study was done many years ago, and proven to be flawed and poorly developed. Numerous studies since then have proven this preservative to be very safe.

Some manufactures (such as Roudybush and others) caved in to the pressure (and lost a lot of sales) and changed over to a vitamin E derivative called D-Tocopherol. While this is a more natural preservative, it is not as effective or long lasting. It also has not been tested for safety in birds. They may be one reason it’s not readily available at pet stores, due to the short shelf life.

I guess that fact never gets mentioned in the anti-organic literature either.

ARTIFICIAL FLAVORINGS OR COLORINGS

In nearly every article I’ve read about the evils of these in pellet diets, they rarely ever target any particular chemical. But when they do, they go after them in vague accusations. Try this one:

“Artificial colors are derived from coal tar dyes or petroleum.”

The fact is that in the US, there is only a small handful of approved food colorings used in human and pet food production. And with these colorings, they are made of a huge variety of ingredients. Some are derived from tar/petroleum products, but to label the entire coloring as such is extremely deceptive. You will note in these articles that they never mention natural coloring or flavoring…..many of which are used in pellets, and are completely safe.

“Norway banned all products containing coal tar and coal tar derivatives in 1978”

True. But they lifted the ban in 2001 when the claims of their danger were proven false.

“Erythrosine is linked to thyroid tumors in rats”

Yeah, you remember this one I’m sure….the Red Dye #3 scare. Feed a lab rat 1000 times the normal consumption and it certainly did cause problems. So if you intend to drink 40 gallons of red soda a day, you need to be very concerned about this. The rest of us can relax.

My point is that even though many of these chemicals have been researched and approved by the FDA for human consumption, they should also be safe for your pets. And if it makes the food more palatable and appealing for the bird, without causing an unreasonable health risk, why all the fuss?

I am more concerned that birds are not getting a proper diet. I do not need tons of lab research to tell me that an all seed diet will cut the lifespan of a domesticated bird in half! I’ve seen too many cases of this myself, and my eyes do not lie to me.

So in conclusion, it is my “educated” opinion that the vast majority of pellet diets are safe, and I will continue to encourage them. If your bird will eat the “natural and organic” brands, so much the better. But my experience is that they will be more likely to eat the colored and flavored pellets such as Kaytee, Zupreem, Pretty Bird, and the rest. This does not make them better! But birds are like kids, and they can be very picky. They want their food to taste good, and not taste like cardboard.

Now, if you will excuse me…I need to run to the store and replace the buttered microwave popcorn my wife tossed out yesterday!