Food Dyes

[Monica]

I've been concerned that people are unintentionally slowly killing their birds by the foods we feed them.... there's been studies about food dyes and their effects on kids, dogs, and mice....

Food dyes can be hard on a birds kidneys. (especially with problems that arise due to feeding dyes... they can cause allergies, blue 2 has shown to cause brain tumors in male mice, yellow 6 can cause tumors of the adrenaline gland and kidneys, etc...) here's more info on dyes...
The Dog Food Project - Ingredients to avoid
What Are Artificial Colors and Dyes in Pet Foods? (A+ Flint River Ranch FAQs)
Food Dye May Soon Be Banned If Advocacy Group Wins | Dogs and Human Health Information
CSPI: Artificial Food Dyes Linked To Behavior Problems - Food Safety
Hysteria Lane: You are what you eat and its eating you! #8
Food coloring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can't say what all is true, but I don't think that food dyes are healthy for a birds system when they are more sensitive to the foods we feed them as well as environmental pathogens... and yet, food dyes are found in many of the foods we feed our pets!


Simply put, natural is healthier.... and besides, there are alternatives to feeding dyes even when your on a low income budget!

[Sashagirl]

I do hope they put a ban on the dye in food a lot of my animals can't tolerate it to begin with it.It causes more harm than good.

Marcia

[Monica]

Here's what another person says on food dyes...

Colored pellets were introduced in order to get "Color Vision" birds to eat their product. But artificial coloring lead to many law suits over the years and what remained on the store shelves one week changed the next from insufficient testing and evaluation for the species of birds that were using the product. You see Chow's didn't need color on account of the Monochromats that were being fed. Bird pellets needed color to fool the birds. You have to understand at this time most of the birds were wild caught and thus provided the perfect storm so to speak, they wouldn't eat unless they had some sort of visual assurance what they were eating was like that in the wild.

Natural food coloring is the order of the day now. Testing and evaluation is far further than anything William H Danforth could ever have imagined. Each color pellet is actually a different taste and most contain different ingredients and come off a completely different line all together. In the end they are mixed proportionately to the diet percentage. When we read all these foreign sounding ingredients listed on the label for the pellets we are actually seeing what a natural "grown" product is chemically comprised of when it is packaged in a whole state. The companies do not sit there with all these exotic chemicals and "add" them to the mix, believe me! It looks worse than it reads! These are naturally occurring chemicals in the natural feed that is being pelleted. And you can take all those old wives tales about "cooking the pellets," the "color being bad for your bird," and thousands of others that are as old as PT Barnum himself, and forget about them completely.


But if you ask me, then why do all the cheap brands contain food dyes? If you ask a nutritionist on dog or cat food, they'll probably recommend to you brands that *DO NOT* contain food dyes? Why is that? They will mention that the majority of foods (for dogs and cats) found in regular petstores and grocery stores are crap and not healthy for our pets... and the majority of those foods, if not all, contain food dyes.... So if food dyes are not hazardous, and are more appealing to animals, then why are they not found in these better brands?

I can't find any way to justify that other than these "better" food companies keep out the "crap" (i.e. the things that the animals *DON'T* need, cause they aren't going out in the wild searching for food dyes... unless of course there really is something wrong with the dyes?) Although I guess I ought to ask these companies, but I don't really know the best companies out there other than their products are expensive!

[KDK241]

I'm glad I got my birds to switch to natural pellets. Zeke, came to me eating Kaytee Exact fruit pellets and those were the only pellets I could get Chloe and Moe to eat as well. When I fed them to Chloe and Moe their poops were normal shape but about 20x the size of normal poops (and they weren't nesting poops either) as soon as they started eating natural pellets their poops went back to normal. I still have 1/2 a bag of the fruit pellets left and I give them a few a week for treats. Everytime I feed them even a couple of the pellets their poops get really big. The only thing I could come up with that could be causing it is the dyes in the pellets.

[Gator]

I doubt it is the dyes in the pellets making their poops big. Not saying dyes are good though. Most likely, the pellets contain a lot of "filler" which the birds don't need so their poops are bigger. The same thing happens with dogs. If you feed a high quality dog food, there is much less poop. If you feed a cheap brand, there is a lot more.

[Monica]

One thing I noticed personally, is that when Charlie ate Zupreem Fruitblend, his droppings were watery, had no consistency other than maybe a few "gloops", and they were always red, orange, brown, purple, or some other mixed color! When I switched him to the Natural, his droppings became firmer, I could tell what each part of the dropping was, and they ranged in color from the sandy color of the pellets to the normal green.

If he was bleeding and thus blood in his droppings, I wouldn't know if he was eating the fruit colored pellets... but I'd know if he ate the naturals.. likewise, if he was suffering from liver disease, his droppings would take on a greent tint, to the ENTIRE dropping.... I wouldn't be able to see this if it was all dyed!

And it concerns me that if a bird is fed food dyes, but poops normal droppings... to me it sounds like the birds body is holding the food dye instead of releasing it into their droppings... and could possibly lead to health problems later down the road....


Another good point Gator about the dog food! Didn't think about that at the time, so glad you brought it up! I've seen dogs fed the CHEAPEST dog food and had, well it was so runny I wouldn't even call it diahrrea! It was more like brown piss it was disgusting and smelled horrible... But fed a better food, they had regular droppings....

It's because of what I know about dog and cat foods that I'm hesitant to even suggest feeding cheap bird food... most of which contains food dyes... (I feed Zupreem Natural, Kaylor of Colorado - Sweet Harvest, and some canary blend). In truth though, the foods I feed are cheaper than those found in grocery stores, but I also tend to buy in bulk rather than small bags, which makes a difference.

[KDK241]

I don't know what it was with the pellets. Zeke and Sophie always had normal poops with them. It was only Chloe and Moe. Foods affect birds differently so I will never know. I'm glad my birds are on Harrison's right now but I'm going to have to switch them over to something a bit cheaper since my vet said the price is going to be going up and I go through 5 pounds of the super fine a month.

[Monica]

Katie, you might want to try TOP, Foundation Formula or Roudybush then...

[Ashling]

Nothing I feed my lorikeet has dye in it as far as I know. Her nectar powder is white :D and I feed her natural fruit juices. Good information to know, though! Thanks.