What do YOU want??

Subject: What do YOU want?? Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:10 pm

Recent discussions and chats have got me to wondering:
What do YOU expect from the diet you are feeding? As far as its development, what matters to you?
Do you want it to be tested? If so, how and for how long?
Do you want a nutritional analysis posted?
Do you want a laboratory study done on it?
Do you want a balanced Ca:P ratio?
Do you want specific meal plans or freedom for variety?
Do you want the names of every person involved in the process of producing the diet? Why or why not?
Does it matter to you if someone profits off the diet you are feeding? Why or why not?
Do you want to know everything that is in the diet?
Does it matter to you who is promoting the diet?
Do you want testimonials from people feeding the diet plan?

What is it that matters to you and drives your diet plan choice?

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:28 pm

Something_To_Believe_In wrote:: Recent discussions and chats have got me to wondering:
What do YOU expect from the diet you are feeding? As far as its development, what matters to you?
Do you want it to be tested? If so, how and for how long?
Do you want a nutritional analysis posted?
Do you want a laboratory study done on it?

If a diet that's being fed shows to be consistently causing issues or illnesses in gliders, then yes. If my gliders are healthy, happy and thriving, then to be very honest, I don't care one way or the other.

Do you want a balanced Ca:P ratio?

I haven't looked at ratios since I started feeding my first glider. What I feed is healthy - that's what matters.

Do you want specific meal plans or freedom for variety?

I think variety is key for our little ones. This is one of the reasons why I never fed the BML diet. No bash on BML, I just simply never wanted to feed it because it didn't allow for variety. I LOVE shopping for the monkeys, I love cutting up their food and I LOVE feeding them.

Do you want the names of every person involved in the process of producing the diet? Why or why not?

I don't need everyone's names. That said, I want the names of those that will give me open and honest disclosure of the diet if I ask. I think if there are questions to be answered and again, going back to a diet that is consistently causing issues, then yes, it may very well be important to talk with more than one person (if applicable).

Does it matter to you if someone profits off the diet you are feeding? Why or why not?

This depends. Is it a legitimate diet? And if so, is it healthy? If so, I'm all for someone getting a profit.

Do you want to know everything that is in the diet?

Yes.

Does it matter to you who is promoting the diet?

Yes and no. Is the person(s) that's promoting the diet on the up and up? Are they legit? Do they have an ulterior motive for promoting it? These are things I would want to know before making a determination as to whether or not it matters to me.

Do you want testimonials from people feeding the diet plan?

Yes, I think it can do a lot of good.

What is it that matters to you and drives your diet plan choice?

The health and happiness of my gliders matters to me and whether or not they are getting enjoyment out of their meals. I want them to have choices. I want them to try new things. I just want them to enjoy life :)

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:30 am

Something_To_Believe_In wrote:: Recent discussions and chats have got me to wondering:
What do YOU expect from the diet you are feeding? As far as its development, what matters to you? I expect it to assist in allowing my gliders to live the healthiest life possible. It matters to me that it's accessible in the U.S., that glider knowledgeable vets/nutritionists have done proper research to develop it and most importantly, that my gliders will eat it.

Do you want it to be tested? If so, how and for how long? Of course, that would be ideal, but I can honestly say I'm not aware of what adequate or inadequate testing would involve exactly. I don't even know how human food is tested. Most pet owners put their trust in a product based in reputation more than testing, it seems. That goes for any pet in my opinion.

Do you want a nutritional analysis posted? Absolutely. It's still my responsibility to know what I'm feeding.

Do you want a laboratory study done on it? I have to refer to my previous answer. I do think it would be beneficial to know exactly what effects it has on their bodies but I'm not one that would know which lab studies would be most beneficial.

Do you want a balanced Ca:P ratio? I don't necessarily want perfectly balanced ratios, but I've always tried to come close. I am one that takes ratios into consideration when feeding. Is it completely necessary? I can't say for sure. It's just my preference. I tend to go with things that make sense to me. So much information is confusing. I've made feeding decisions based on information that is available from sources I feel I can trust. That's why it's also important for others to also do "fact finding" that they can understand in order to make the most educated decisions that work for them.

Do you want specific meal plans or freedom for variety? I enjoy giving them variety. I have no idea if they care. I guess I've been fortunate to never have picky gliders. They just like to eat.

Do you want the names of every person involved in the process of producing the diet? Why or why not? I don't care about names as much as research and results.

Does it matter to you if someone profits off the diet you are feeding? Why or why not? No. People profit off what I eat, what my other pets eat and other products. If someone put in the time and has the product, people always have the choice whether or not to pay for it.

Do you want to know everything that is in the diet? Personally, yes. I like to have knowledge of what I'm feeding.

Does it matter to you who is promoting the diet? Not really.

Do you want testimonials from people feeding the diet plan? Yes. I am very much one that likes to research people's experiences with products whether it's food, a website, a product, etc... I find value in the input of "everyday" people and their personal experiences.

What is it that matters to you and drives your diet plan choice? Same answer applies for me as the first question. I need to be able to access it, trust that it's healthy (based on information available) and know my gliders will eat it.

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:33 am

It seems like there are an awful lot of complaints and negative comments to come up about pretty much any diet when a problem arises for there to only be a few people with opinions on this subject. What do YOU want?? 652520

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:01 am

Plus, I think we're two that don't even complain about them! I know more people must have input here! You will NOT get bashed here. It's not tolerated. Please, share you're feedback!

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:59 am

Somehow I missed this topic when it was originally posted.

What do YOU expect from the diet you are feeding? As far as its development, what matters to you?
I want a diet that contains ingredients that have proven safe for gliders over time. I want know the reasons ingredients were chosen to be a part of the recipe. I want to know how the diet compares to other widely used diets - what are the similarities and what are the differences in the nutritional content.

Do you want it to be tested? If so, how and for how long?
Ideally, testing and the results of that testing would be good to have. The testing process would however require years of study on many gliders to be valid. Those that are asking for testing have not defined a valid testing protocol to be followed. None of the current glider diets have truly been 'tested' and had the RESULTS of that testing analyzed and made public.

Do you want a nutritional analysis posted?
Yes, I would like to know the amounts of the nutritional components found in the amount served to gliders. I would love to see a "nutritional label" attached to all glider staples similar to the nutrition labels found on all packaged foods found in grocery stores that give AMOUNTS of nutrients per serving. This information would make comparison of different staples possible.

Do you want a laboratory study done on it?
If a specific laboratory study were defined to measure the quality of glider diets, then yes I would like to see all diets subjected to such testing. Laboratory study of random gliders with no control subjects, consideration of variables or comparison to gliders fed other diets would not give data that is suitable for scientific evaluation and analysis.

Do you want a balanced Ca:P ratio?
Ratios are a very misunderstood concept. Ratios are a COMPARISON of two values. A diet with 100 mg calcium and 50 mg phosphorus in a 1 TBS serving has a 2:1 ratio - and might provide excessive calcium for gliders. Another diet with 10 mg calcium and 5 mg phosphorus in a 1 TBS portion also has a 2:1 ratio also has a 2:1 ratio - but might not provide ENOUGH calcium for gliders. I would like to have a definition of the AMOUNT of calcium gliders need per day.

Do you want specific meal plans or freedom for variety?
I prefer to have a staple that I feels meets the gliders need for most vitamins and calcium so that the fruits and vegetables fed with it can be chosen freely. Trying to choose high calcium fruits and vegetables to bump up the amount of calcium in the staple is very difficult for many owners. Having to avoid feeding any high calcium fruits or vegetables because the staple contains an amount of calcium that could become a health issue with any additional calcium fed with it is also difficult for folks that want to offer their gliders variety.

Do you want the names of every person involved in the process of producing the diet? Why or why not?
No. I do not ask for the NAMES of every person that was involved in creating other RECIPIES I use for myself or my family either.

Does it matter to you if someone profits off the diet you are feeding? Why or why not?
Profit does not matter to me. Misleading claims to promote sales do bother me. Incomplete information about a product, and the nutritional content after preparation as directed bothers me.

Do you want to know everything that is in the diet?
I want to know the overall nutritional content of a diet. I want to know what additives are present in a product, that are not found in the natural form of the food that is used in a recipe,

Does it matter to you who is promoting the diet? No

Do you want testimonials from people feeding the diet plan?
Unsolicited comments are valuable. Testimonials that have been solicited as a chance to win a prize have little meaning for me.

What is it that matters to you and drives your diet plan choice?
I want to be able to prepare my gliders' staple easily from widely available ingredients. I want a staple that provided the necessary protein, calcium & vitamins in appropriate amounts to meet my gliders nutritional needs. I want the freedom to use any fruits and vegetables with out concern about matching them to the staple to provide a "perfect" ratio.

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:37 am

I had actually wanted to ask part of these questions on Glider Central

"If glider staples had standard labels for a 'per glider serving' what nutritional elements of each diet would you like to have identified? (protein, carbohydrates, fats, calcium ... etc)"

but I never posted because I am sure it would have been labeled some sort of bashing.

I wish the focus would move away from 'ratios' to the amounts of various nutrients each staple contains per serving. Without any standard guidelines, it would be helpful to be able to compare observations and relate them to specific parts of various diets. For example, observations of 'cracked fur' might be related to diets with higher or lower protein, or more or less sugar/carbohydrate amounts. If the amounts were known for all diets it would be easier to spot common factors across the various diets folks are using at the time of their observations.

This information would help identify the nutrients gliders may need more or less of.

Diets cannot be compared by popularity, name of the recipe's author, or name recognition.

I have worked very hard to identify the amounts of several nutrients in various glider staple recipes for my own education and have been severely criticized for making comparisons and sharing the information. It makes me wonder why there is a push to keep such information hidden from others.

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:07 pm

I don't think there is any such push to keep the information hidden. I just think that it doesn't really matter to very many people. Not many have responded to this thread, but it was discussed at the RRRoundup briefly and in those responses and in the ones here, the only person who seems to be interested in such information has been you.

This type of information is not all that important to ME in making a diet choice either. I'm not so much a label reader and I don't compare labels. The things that matter to me for my glider diet don't include a comparison to other diets or a value in terms of nutrients.

For ME, I want to see that my diet helps very sick gliders become well, I want to see necropsies from gliders that have been fed the diet for more than 2 years (and I want to see good livers, kidneys & lungs and an absence of excessive fat on those necropsies) and I want to see great energy levels. Aside from that, I want to feed a diet that, as much as I can, does not include preservatives or artificial ingredients.

It is safe to say that I care more about functional results than about numbers or values. In fact, each time that diet discussions become about calculations or numbers, I get irritated. I'll admit it.

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:11 am

Something_To_Believe_In wrote:: It is safe to say that I care more about functional results than about numbers or values. In fact, each time that diet discussions become about calculations or numbers, I get irritated. I'll admit it.

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:16 pm

DCMuffin wrote:

Something_To_Believe_In wrote:: It is safe to say that I care more about functional results than about numbers or values. In fact, each time that diet discussions become about calculations or numbers, I get irritated. I'll admit it.

Agreed

Subject: Re: What do YOU want?? Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:14 am

What do YOU expect from the diet you are feeding? As far as its development, what matters to you? I want to see that a diet helps prompt healthy gliders.

Do you want it to be tested? If so, how and for how long?Yes it should be tested and the test results should be made public. It not just be tested on your gliders or your friends gliders but on many peoples gliders witht he results being publicly made available. I think a wide of variety of different backgrounds should test the diet.

Do you want a nutritional analysis posted? It would be nice to know what if any nutritional value the ingredients has in it.

Do you want a laboratory study done on it? It's not necessary but for the factory/prepackaged diet I would like to see some kind of lab results for it posted or put on the boxes.

Do you want a balanced Ca:P ratio?I'm not into the Ca:P ratio so it doesn't matter to me.

Do you want specific meal plans or freedom for variety? I want variety. I don't need someone telling me i can only feed certain foods

Do you want the names of every person involved in the process of producing the diet? Why or why not? I would like to know the people feeding the diet and for how long. That way I can know if they are breeders how the diet has effected the nursing mothers and joey birthrates. If they are a person that takes in rescues how it has effected the gliders coming in.

Does it matter to you if someone profits off the diet you are feeding? Why or why not? Yes it does. because if they are profiting that means that they truly do not have the good of the gliders in mind when creating the diet.

Do you want to know everything that is in the diet? Again if it is a factory prepackaged diet I do want to see a list of ingredients.

Does it matter to you who is promoting the diet? Yes because some people are out for the profit and not the good of the glider.

Do you want testimonials from people feeding the diet plan? yes.

What is it that matters to you and drives your diet plan choice? how long it's been around. if it has been tested on a variety of peoples glides. the variety of fruit and veggies i can feed. I don't need a simple quick diet. If I did I would have bought a hamster and been able to buy their boxed food at a pet shop. I want something that is going to help keep my gliders healthy for the long run.