#188408 - 12/21/08 04:36 AM
Dairy Products
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,145
EchosMom
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Florida, USA
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Birds are angels who lift us up when our own wings forget how to fly.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ Noelle, A Rehabilitation in Progress
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#188449 - 12/22/08 03:42 AM
Re: Dairy Products
[Re: EchosMom]
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,721
spinnyspoo
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Lives Here

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Western Canada
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Interesting, although I would have some questions for her.
Why is she feeding her Gray's mozzarella cheese everyday? For the calcium? There are much much better sources of calcium than dairy products. Kale, sesame seeds, almonds to name a few. Completely nondairy.
Vitamin D? If you don't ahve avian lights and give them lots of betacarotene, then you might want to supplement, but why do it with dairy? They're not more baby cows than we are and handle it less well. Dairy's vitamin D is a supplement too. They add A and D to milk. Why not just use a supplement?
Coming from a family that are all allergic to milk or lactose intolerant, I don't understand why you would feed a substance that a) even humans don't handle so well, and b) can be completely avoided without almost any trouble. Easier to avoid than lots of other allergies. (try avoiding cane & corn sugar!!)
Wanna Bill? Wanna Bill? -No Bill, I'm busy- Dontcha wanna Bill? Dontcha wanna good boy?
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#188465 - 12/22/08 05:05 PM
Re: Dairy Products
[Re: BE2Cassie]
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,721
spinnyspoo
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Western Canada
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Nancy, I wonder whether the nutritional deficiencies are because the 'nutritionally complete' pellets are not actually species specific. They're sort of a broad brush to feed what are naturally pretty specific eaters.
I know that my cockatoo will have different nutritional requirements than your cockatoo. Mine is australian. They live off of different things than indonesiann ones. Do I know exactly HOW it will be different? Nope, but I'm SURE that his nutrition should be somewhat different than a goffins or u2. Enough so that Australian cockatoos and Indonesian cockatoos tend to like different flavours (sweet vs starchy for eg)
Does a Timneh and a Congo need the same diet? A U2 and a M2? A 'teil and a budgie? But we're feeding them very similar if not exactly the same food.
This is my little theory that's been rolling around in my head for a while. 3 different kinds of pellets for 200 species of birds just CAN'T be nutritionally ideal. It makes no sense to me.
When it comes to dairy ...or anything really... I don't trust 'diet' or 'modified' foods. Low fat often has molecularly altered stuff in it to make it feel 'creamier' in the mouth, sugar free almost ALWAYS has fake sweetener in it (eek poison!), and now we know that lactose free has additives in it to make it lactose free.... they don't just take out the lactose?
Stick to the basics and it's really hard to go wrong.
Last edited by spinnyspoo; 12/22/08 05:13 PM. Reason: my cat was helping too much
Wanna Bill? Wanna Bill? -No Bill, I'm busy- Dontcha wanna Bill? Dontcha wanna good boy?
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#188473 - 12/22/08 07:16 PM
Re: Dairy Products
[Re: spinnyspoo]
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 10,790
BE2Cassie
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Wrentham, MA
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On top of her pellets which constitute a small percentage of her diet she gets all the healthy greens, carrots, sweet potatoe, green beans, mixed beans, chili peppers, all types of squashs, brown rice, corn, cranberries, papaya, quinoa, oats, wheat, pumpkin & squash seeds, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, flax seed, all sorts of mixed grains and organic breads. They are truely a delema when it comes to diet! How in the world do the birds that get a purely seed diet survive?!?!? Nancy
Nancy & Cassie BE2
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#188476 - 12/22/08 07:38 PM
Re: Dairy Products
[Re: spinnyspoo]
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,591
FeatheredAngels
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Lives Here

Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,591
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When it comes to dairy ...or anything really... I don't trust 'diet' or 'modified' foods. Low fat often has molecularly altered stuff in it to make it feel 'creamier' in the mouth, sugar free almost ALWAYS has fake sweetener in it (eek poison!), and now we know that lactose free has additives in it to make it lactose free.... they don't just take out the lactose?
Stick to the basics and it's really hard to go wrong. I agree with you 100% Spinny! We dont use any of these processed foods ourselves. I just dont trust what they do to them  . We do offer pellets, but as our vet explained to us they are more of a fillin rather than a main diet. They may offer some vitamins that are missed that day and that is the way we think of them. Like Nancy posted, we offer such an abundance of healthy foods daily that we are confident that Ozzy is getting all he needs from them. He will munch on his pellets at bedtime and a few seeds, but I think he views this food as a snack rather than his main food source lol.
Deborah A Too is not a pet, it is a choice for life!
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