Your Parrot Cage Newsletter November

YOUR INFORMATION SOURCE FOR A SAFE, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WELL BEHAVED BIRD November 2007 EDITION #16
GROOMING, CAGE MAINTENANCE, TOYS, ETC.
Grooming – Keep a watchful eye for overgrown toenails and beaks. If you have no prior experience in this sort of grooming, either contact me or take the bird to your avian vet for grooming. Use of hard mineral blocks help to keep beaks groomed and a small cement perch helps keep the toe nails groomed. For your bird’s comfort, use wooden perches that are contoured and the appropriate diameter for perching. If the diameter of the perch is too great, the bird will be forced to stand flat footed which is abnormal posture and can cause arthritis and other maladies later in life.

Cage Maintenance: Replace newspaper (do not use shiny ad type paper) every other day. All-Over cleaning should happen once per week depending on bird size and the amount of ambient, dust, cooking residuals, etc. that can build-up on cage bars to make your bird sick. Put all food and water vessels, perches, swings and toys in the top rack of the dishwasher with brown apple cider vinegar (ACV) in the soap cup. DO NOT ALLOW THE MACHINE TO HEAT DRY THE ITEMS. Use a mixture of 50-50 ACV to clean cage bars and bottoms. Rinse with clear water. (I remove the birds to a travel cage and use a “Steam Mouse” steam cleaner and cloth, which sterilizes the cage without use of any introduced cleaner.

Toys and Toy Safety: Insure that all colored toys are dyed with Natural Vegetable Dyes or they may be toxic. Use only naturally tanned leather not chemically tanned leather, like leather shoe strings, etc. If you must use “Boing” type perches, made of braided threads, check them daily to insure there is no pulling or fraying of the threads. Many birds have died from getting a toenail caught in these things and in trying to free themselves, either bled to death (takes about 3 minutes) or have died of fright (heart attack). BELLS: Bells are the most popular bird toy on the market and birds love them – BUT – NEVER use the round slotted ones, as beaks and toes can get caught and cause injury or death. If you like the toy but; it has one of these bells attached, simply remove it and discard it. Bells with Clappers: Always inspect the clapper size before purchasing. If the clapper is small enough to fit into your bird’s mouth, then the bird can twist and remove it, and it is a choking hazard.

Metal Hazards: Insure that all toys, toy hangers, door clips, etc. are made from stainless or iron and not heavy metals as listed in the Toxic Materials web site referenced here.

MAJOR CAUSES OF PET BIRD DEATHS: TEFLON COATINGS-Cookware, Self Cleaning Ovens, and others listed on the “Silent Killer” Web Site. GRIT – As explained in this document. HEAVY METAL- Heavy metals such as lead are as dangerous to birds as they are for people only, death comes more swiftly because of size, metabolism, etc. UNSAFE TOYS: Boing Perches, long string or long strands of leather that a bird can become entangled in, and Unsafe Bells.

AVIAN VET’S BIRDIE BREAD RECIPE Pre-Heat oven to 350 1 Small box of Corn Muffin Mix (Jiffy mix, etc) 2 Eggs ¼ Cup of Milk ¼ Cup of grated raw, PEELED, sweet potato or butternut squash 8 Regular Strength Tums-Fruit Flavored – Crushed to a fine powder. (I use my coffee grinder or a rolling pin or a can of canned food to crush) Add Tums to milk and allow to dissolve, stirring with a fork. Beat in Eggs. Add grated sweet potato/squash. Stir with fork. Add to muffin mix and stir with fork until all is moist and blended. Pour into UNGREASED 8 x 11 inch GLASS or METAL (NO NON-STICK PANS) baking dish and bake for 20 min. or until knife comes out clean. Remove from oven, let set for 5 min. or so, then cut into squares. Let cool thoroughly on a cooling rack. Package each square in a zip seal snack bag and freeze all but; the bag you plan to use for feeding. Crumble a small amount over food every morning when you feed your bird. When one bag gets low, don’t forget to take another out of the freezer. This will last one large or several small birds about 1 month and keeps fresh in the freezer for that amount of time. Total cost – approximately $3.00 – Total Time – approx. 1 hour including preparation, baking and packaging.

AVIAN VET RESOURCES: Always Keep a list of Certified Avian Vets handy in case of emergency. Never expect a “general practitioner” vet to know a great deal about avian health. Establish your bird with a good, board certified, avian vet, and keep back up emergency numbers for holidays and night hours, just in case there is an accident or onset of sudden illness.

BIRDS HIDE ILLNESSES: Birds hide illness more than any other animal on the planet. Sudden onset of odd or lethargic behavior does not mean that the bird is “beginning” to get ill. Your bird may already be in critical and emergent need of vet care. DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL YOUR AVIAN VET. THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR PHONE CALLS.