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The Finster Log
Truth In Labeling
Posted on: 05/01/07, 18:22:30
We have a futon couch that can be set in "lounge" position, which is how we use it. A little bed tray sits in the middle, to act as a coffee table for humans, or an everything table for birds. Peanut used it while he was eating our lunch, and now Harley uses it for playing, eating, and just sitting around. The rounded edges aren't quite big enough for his feet, or maybe they're just a little too slippery, but he treats the edges as perches anyway, mostly with his tail hanging over the edge.
So we quickly learned to put an old towel underneath to catch all his poops. Since although his poops aren't as big as a Finster, they are still too big to ignore, the way we could sort of ignore Peanut's poops. The towel gets changed every day, or maybe every other day if he spends more time in other places, or he's been uncharacteristically neat while eating snacks.
Now, at least one reader has mentioned that I write about poop an awful lot. This comment was not made in the spirit of "Gosh! Everyone loves to read about bird poop!," but rather "Eeeeeewwwww." Which is understandable enough. And it's not like I'm a scatologist, or anything like that. But monitoring poop is one of the best ways to keep track of an animal's health.
Take, for example, Zupreem FruitBlend Flavor extruded pellets. Harley likes to eat these after he's softened them just a bit by dunking them in his water dish. They come in several shapes, five colors, and are apparently quite tasty — to birds. The yellows taste faintly like banana, the blues taste even more faintly like grape, the reds are vaguely red-flavored, and the orange and green are moderately orange and green, respectively. The ingredients include sucrose, which explains the sweet smell (although they don't taste sweet to me), and ground bananas, oranges, apples and grapes. Other ingredients include ground corn, soybean meal, ground wheat, and vitamins and minerals. A lot of birds seem to like the different shapes and colors, and they're really handy for determining how quickly food is processed by your birds' digestive system.
Take, for example, Red Day.
Don't worry, no pictures. You can figure it out. Go on.
Despite the fact that I'd read about this on the internets, I have to say that Red Day is pretty darned alarming. Especially when Red Day lasts for several days. In. A. Row. And especially when Red Day is exacerbated by a Lafeber's Nutri-Nut, which come packaged like tasty hand-made chocolates, nestled in individual papers — these come in yellow, orange and red. Of course.
RED DAY. REDDDDDDDDDD. DAYYYYSSSSSS.
And nowhere on the labels of these foods does it warn you that your bird will poop bloody red on Red Day. But they really should.
They really should.
So we quickly learned to put an old towel underneath to catch all his poops. Since although his poops aren't as big as a Finster, they are still too big to ignore, the way we could sort of ignore Peanut's poops. The towel gets changed every day, or maybe every other day if he spends more time in other places, or he's been uncharacteristically neat while eating snacks.
Now, at least one reader has mentioned that I write about poop an awful lot. This comment was not made in the spirit of "Gosh! Everyone loves to read about bird poop!," but rather "Eeeeeewwwww." Which is understandable enough. And it's not like I'm a scatologist, or anything like that. But monitoring poop is one of the best ways to keep track of an animal's health.
Take, for example, Zupreem FruitBlend Flavor extruded pellets. Harley likes to eat these after he's softened them just a bit by dunking them in his water dish. They come in several shapes, five colors, and are apparently quite tasty — to birds. The yellows taste faintly like banana, the blues taste even more faintly like grape, the reds are vaguely red-flavored, and the orange and green are moderately orange and green, respectively. The ingredients include sucrose, which explains the sweet smell (although they don't taste sweet to me), and ground bananas, oranges, apples and grapes. Other ingredients include ground corn, soybean meal, ground wheat, and vitamins and minerals. A lot of birds seem to like the different shapes and colors, and they're really handy for determining how quickly food is processed by your birds' digestive system.
Take, for example, Red Day.
Don't worry, no pictures. You can figure it out. Go on.
Despite the fact that I'd read about this on the internets, I have to say that Red Day is pretty darned alarming. Especially when Red Day lasts for several days. In. A. Row. And especially when Red Day is exacerbated by a Lafeber's Nutri-Nut, which come packaged like tasty hand-made chocolates, nestled in individual papers — these come in yellow, orange and red. Of course.
RED DAY. REDDDDDDDDDD. DAYYYYSSSSSS.
And nowhere on the labels of these foods does it warn you that your bird will poop bloody red on Red Day. But they really should.
They really should.
Comments
05/01/07, 20:02:40
Don't worry: Other bird keepers will understand your unholy fascination with bird poop. I certainly do. I've been known to hold up one of Rembrandt's poops and praise how round and firm it is (with meaningful glances at Mango, Queen of the Drippy Poops).
05/01/07, 21:26:57
Our cockatiel used to eat only particular colors of pellets too. I specifically avoided Zupreem for that reason when Bug was young. Consequently, it is only vegetables that change the color of poo (try beets for some real dramatic color). Later, I bought a little baggy or cheerio sized bird treats and she wanted nothing to do with them.
05/02/07, 13:40:54
My canary is a big fan of red cabbage and when i give it to him he'll eat all the cabbage before he eats anything else. Purple everywhere.
05/11/07, 09:43:40
I think I will never feed Harley beets. Nope, never. Nor red cabbage, neither. In fact, I'm tempted to pick out all the red pellets from the mix, except that Harley seems to prefer them, so it hardly seems fair.
Could it be that Mango eats more vegetables than Rembrandt? Peanut's poops were always round and firm, but he never ate veg. Harley, on the other hand, has his share of Drippy Poops. Maybe I should stop feeding him vegetables, too....
Could it be that Mango eats more vegetables than Rembrandt? Peanut's poops were always round and firm, but he never ate veg. Harley, on the other hand, has his share of Drippy Poops. Maybe I should stop feeding him vegetables, too....