The Pellet Project: A Glossary of Pellet Ingredients

One of the most common questions I read on forums is, “Is this brand of pellet any good?”  Regardless of the brand, the answers will usually run the gamut from “My vet highly recommends them,” to “That pellet killed my bird,” to ” The protein levels are way too high,” to “It’s the only pellet my bird will eat and therefore the best.”  Of course the opinions and advice of others are important (in fact, it’s the whole purpose of forums in general), but I would love to see more bird owners capable of making informed decisions about their parrots’ food on their own.  I always try to offer an objective analysis of the pellet by posting the ingredients list and nutritional analysis, then commenting on the quality and types of ingredients and the overall formulation.  It’s astounding to me how many people never bother to read the ingredients at all, but purchase a food solely based on the recommendation of a friend.  That said, reading the ingredients can be quite an ordeal in and of itself, and figuring out what exactly that scientific-sounding, chemical concoction is, isn’t always easy.  I hope that this glossary of ingredients will help parrot owners to be able to make a sound decision on their own.

Since it will obviously take me a while to get through every single pellet ingredient, this will be a living, breathing document that I will update constantly over time as I get through pellet by pellet.  I have created a separate page for it here, and I will update it as well as post to the blog every new pellet added.  I was thinking of doing a separate entry on each type of pellet individually, providing an analysis of each pellet on its own, but I would rather that parrot owners make their own decisions about the overall formulation with this glossary on individual ingredients to help them.  I will, however, include in each ingredients’ description, which pellets contain it.  Each ingredient will be given a category based on the role it typically plays: base ingredient (most pellets have grain bases but some include other vegetables or legumes), preservative or color/flavor additive, and finally vitamin (both synthetic and natural).  I will then describe it in terms of why it’s added to pellets, any safety concerns, or any other items of note for parrot owners.  I will post any updates to the blog, as well as keep a running list of all of the types of pellets accounted for at the bottom of the page itself.

The first pellet will be Totally Organics and hopefully will be all done tomorrow! 🙂