Iodine supplements

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:26 am

Want to know who is using Iodine supplements and with what other forms of food you are giving to your goulds?

Chris

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:33 pm

I put liquid kelp in their water occasionally

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:09 pm

I have submitted this very same question to Zupreem's customer service website and should have an answer within 48 hours...

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:21 pm

Interestingly I submitted the same question to Zupreem this morning also regarding pellets and Iodine supplementation in Gouldians.

Chris

Post by **Hilary** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:01 pm

I put liquid kelp in their water about once a week and have a dish with kelp granules, eggshell and charcoal in all of their cages.

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:48 am

Apparently Zupreem's stance on this issue is that their diets are 100% balanced nutrition, no additional suplementation is needed.

I also have a call into my Avain Vet's office and I'm waiting to see what he has to say about it.

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:26 pm

I do pretty much the same as Hilary. I don't want to give liquid kelp too often because i don't want the other non-australian birds to get too much iodine.

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:53 pm

Got a reply from Zupreem inregards to pellet feeding and Iodine supplementation. They wrote back saying...

"All of our diets are 100% complete and balanced nutrition, based off of AZA's dietary recommendations for psittacines and passerines. As we base all of our diets off these dietary requirements, I am not aware of Gouldians requiring a higher Iodine requirement. If you could let me know where this has been shown, I can do some more research for you. As all of our diets are 100% complete and balanced, I would not recommend adding any additional Iodine as all the minerals and vitamins are added at specific amounts to ensure that all the interactions of these nutrients provides the proper nutrition. Plus, I would be concerned on knowing the correct amount of Iodine to add to our formula without discussing this with a veterinarian and nutritionist. You would really need to know if you finches are Iodine deficient and then by how much, before knowing how much to add back in. I would definitely not add any additional Iodine, unless you have confirmed that your finches are Iodine deficient, and you have worked with a vet on how to combat that."

So the next question I have is where is all this about goulds needing a higher Iodine content in their diet or is this just something that is passed on from one person to the next?

Chris

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:17 pm

Chris,

I got the EXACT same email, verbatum.

I emailed her back with links to 4 websites all saying that Gouldian's need more iodine and got another form letter back.

I'm calling my Avain Vet's office tomorrow.

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:20 pm

But here is the thing Rottielover?

Do your websites contain scientific literature to support your claim or is it just a posting from someone's avian's site?

Chris

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:35 pm

#1 - It's not *my* claim

#2 - No, I have not been able to find any scientific data regarding this issue.

#3 - I'm still going to ask my Avain Vet and see what they have to say.

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:49 pm

Thanks for clarifying but I hope I didn't make you feel awkward. Just wanted to get to the truth as to the iodine issue that is so talked about with gouldian finches.

Lets hope your vet will be able to shed some light on this issue.

Thanks for looking into it.

Chris

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:27 pm

I just got a call back from my Avain Vet.

His stance is that the pellet diet provides everything they need (including the Gouldians) and that additional supplementation is not needed. Supplements are only needed with seed diets.

I've been advised to remove all suplements (like oystershell, eggshell) after I get them converted over to the pelleted diet.

Further, Zupreem has a "breeding" pellet diet that contains higher levels of calcium and other nutrients. So before breeding season start feeding them the breeding pellets, and keep them on the pellets for the young (which they will feed to the babies).

This is great news too me, as I won't have to worry about specific dosages of this or that supplement (ie. Am I giving my birds too much iodine?)...

IMHO I think the pellet diet debate boils down to trust... Do we trust that the manufacter is putting the nutrients they they list on the bag into the diet. Knowing a bit about the pet food industry, I know that they could get into some big trouble if the label ON the bag doesn't match what's IN the bag.

So as for myself, I'm going to go with my vet's recomendation (if the bird is eating seeds, keep them on the seed diet for 1 month and then start the change over to pellets).

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:37 pm

Thanks rottielover for the response. It does make a lot of sense and does make feeding the goulds a lot easier too. Guess I should probably not worry about the egg food that I give them also and I do believe that the pellets are fully nutritionally sound.

As for the Iodine thing I'll leave it alone for now.

Again thanks..
Chris

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:40 pm

Sadly I've just learned that the breeder diets are only avalible in the larger Cockatiel sized pellets and not in the finch size.

I've emailed Zupreem to ask if they plan on releasing the breeder diet in the finch size.

If not, I think I'll buy the Cockatiel size and use a coffee grinder or similar to "chop" them into the finch size

That is of course if the Vet approves first !