Anyone like Totally Organic Pellets ?

[FeatherKaeru]

I know some of you don't feed pellets. Can understand why. Pellets are a lot like dog and cat food. Cooked down to the point of no nutrition. Stuff full of fillers and artificial vitamins. But, what about organic pellets and such ?

[Pajarita]

Well, not all organic pellets are made equal and Tops, the ones you mentioned, are the best (not only organic but human grade ingredients, no soy, no artificial vitamins, etc) and, if there was no other choice but to feed pellets, I would choose them. Thankfully, there are other choices...

But I would not compare bird pellets to dog kibble because, as long as you add water to it (I also add canned food), the good brands are actually quite good for them (dogs have been domesticated for over 30,000 years while parrots are undomesticated so their dietary needs are the same as the ones in the wild).

[FeatherKaeru]

Well don't dogs and cats ? Even parrots suffer if only fed pellets/seeds. Then for dogs and cats (kibble). Satistics show they are prone to diseases and only live half of their original age. So, all animals should have varity of food stuffs & more of a raw diet ?

[marie83]

I do think Totally Organic Pellets are currently the best pellets available ingredient wise however mine wouldn't eat it. I tried a few times and was very patient with them (my birds are small so 1 bag lasts ages) but they just crumble up the pellets into powder. I think I worked it out that about 75% of it was getting wasted. I can do patient, it took me years to get one of mine to eat anything but seed but personally I wouldn't bother with these pellets again. I took to sprinkling the powder on fresh food so it stuck but it still got wasted. I have to say my mice enjoyed the powder though!

Harrisons is another organic brand. These are like biscuits and there was never any waste with the two that were fed it. It has limited ingredients though and artificial vitamins and things put in it. It also contains soy. I used to feed about 75% harrisons and 25% fresh but now I do it the other way, they have 75% fresh (chop) and the other 25% is either seed or harrisions on alternate evenings.

I think there are other brands available now but not any I have experience with. I think now I'm back down to one bird I may try the TOPS again (instead of the harrisons) as Ollie was always better at eating it than Harlie although I will still get a lot of waste.

[Pajarita]

I don't know where you got the statistics that dogs or cats fed commercial food live only half their lives but this is not so. My dogs and cats live loooong lives - too long, sometimes! I have a 21 year old cat and a 100 lb and change (he used to be 120 in his prime) that is now 17 and half years old (average lifespan for a dog that size is 8 years so you do the math!).