charmedbyekkie
New member
Not sure to put under âEclectusâ or under âDietâ, but here it is.
As most of you know, we recently had an issue with Cairo being excessively aggressive - dive bombing, biting and latching onto faces, etc. Due to our last minute trip overseas to visit family, I changed his diet from chop only to include dry food, such as TOPs pellets. It worked out that when Cairo wasnât eating his chop meals during our initial days away, he would still nibble at the TOPs pellets while at his staycation and managed to put on some weight. When we got back, I left him on TOPs because his weight has always been a concern for me (our vet says heâs just on the skinny side of healthy, our breeder friend who knows Cairoâs breeder says itâs genetics).
As we were coming to our witâs end and my partner started seriously bringing up the C-word (clipping), I was desperately trying anything (even bought dried organic chamomile). I reached out to our breeder friend again, and I reached out to the owner of Cairoâs siblings. They had us go through through every single aspect of Cairoâs life - photos of his cage, time schedules of his day, activities that he does, toys that he has, ingredients that he eats, etc. Based on those discussions, my partner fingered the pellets as the turning point.
So I just cold turkey-ed him. TOPs was gone the moment my partner mentioned it. I threw caution in the wind, was willing to let Cairo drop a few grams just to keep his ability to fly.
And within 24 hours we saw such a turnaround.
He went back to being our sweetheart.
I canât express the change. From angry bird who constantly attacked without holding back to our sweetheart who will just stare disapprovingly when you slowly move to poke his belly, the gentle soul who gingerly pushes your fingers away when you offer him your hand, the clever boy who plays games of being naughty and running off laughing, the pilot who squeaks happily as he zooms through the air dodging imaginary foes and play attacking his toys, the eager learner who is always dancing to learn new tricks.
Nearly cried, I tell you. I still nearly cry just thinking about it.
Our breeder friend told us that spirulina, being so nutrient-dense, is often the cause of overexcitement in ekkies. And itâs commonplace in most pellets, often listed as seaweed, kelp, or spirulina. Looking it up, apparently itâs be somewhat documented (as much as a non-scholarly article online is considered): spirulina
I feel so terrible. Even before we adopted Cairo, I used to read that website to plan chop, but that article never stuck in my head. I had always heard such positives about TOPs - organic, no additives, no extra nutrients/minerals, âthe only pellets for ekkiesâ, etc. - so I trusted it.
I fed him something that caused him so much trouble (no creature wants to be constantly agitated and angry to the point of driving away flockmates). I started considering doing one of the worst things that could happen to a free-flyer. All because of one silly ingredient.
So if anyone with an ekkie finds an aggression problem arise, double check your diet for spirulina. We were doing everything else ârightâ in terms of sunlight, sleep time, environment, etc. Just this one small ingredient.
It's been 10+ days now. And I am so grateful.
As most of you know, we recently had an issue with Cairo being excessively aggressive - dive bombing, biting and latching onto faces, etc. Due to our last minute trip overseas to visit family, I changed his diet from chop only to include dry food, such as TOPs pellets. It worked out that when Cairo wasnât eating his chop meals during our initial days away, he would still nibble at the TOPs pellets while at his staycation and managed to put on some weight. When we got back, I left him on TOPs because his weight has always been a concern for me (our vet says heâs just on the skinny side of healthy, our breeder friend who knows Cairoâs breeder says itâs genetics).
As we were coming to our witâs end and my partner started seriously bringing up the C-word (clipping), I was desperately trying anything (even bought dried organic chamomile). I reached out to our breeder friend again, and I reached out to the owner of Cairoâs siblings. They had us go through through every single aspect of Cairoâs life - photos of his cage, time schedules of his day, activities that he does, toys that he has, ingredients that he eats, etc. Based on those discussions, my partner fingered the pellets as the turning point.
So I just cold turkey-ed him. TOPs was gone the moment my partner mentioned it. I threw caution in the wind, was willing to let Cairo drop a few grams just to keep his ability to fly.
And within 24 hours we saw such a turnaround.
He went back to being our sweetheart.
I canât express the change. From angry bird who constantly attacked without holding back to our sweetheart who will just stare disapprovingly when you slowly move to poke his belly, the gentle soul who gingerly pushes your fingers away when you offer him your hand, the clever boy who plays games of being naughty and running off laughing, the pilot who squeaks happily as he zooms through the air dodging imaginary foes and play attacking his toys, the eager learner who is always dancing to learn new tricks.
Nearly cried, I tell you. I still nearly cry just thinking about it.
Our breeder friend told us that spirulina, being so nutrient-dense, is often the cause of overexcitement in ekkies. And itâs commonplace in most pellets, often listed as seaweed, kelp, or spirulina. Looking it up, apparently itâs be somewhat documented (as much as a non-scholarly article online is considered): spirulina
There have also been many reports that spirulina has caused screaming and aggression in Eclectus Parrots.
I feel so terrible. Even before we adopted Cairo, I used to read that website to plan chop, but that article never stuck in my head. I had always heard such positives about TOPs - organic, no additives, no extra nutrients/minerals, âthe only pellets for ekkiesâ, etc. - so I trusted it.
I fed him something that caused him so much trouble (no creature wants to be constantly agitated and angry to the point of driving away flockmates). I started considering doing one of the worst things that could happen to a free-flyer. All because of one silly ingredient.
So if anyone with an ekkie finds an aggression problem arise, double check your diet for spirulina. We were doing everything else ârightâ in terms of sunlight, sleep time, environment, etc. Just this one small ingredient.
It's been 10+ days now. And I am so grateful.