Hi Cathryn
We spend so much time talking about how to care for our birds, the right bird food, proper size bird cage the right bird cage accessories and bird toys. But we never talk about the other side. The sadly ironic side of having a pet bird.
We've seen a picture of a bird with his head in a glass twice in the last week on Facebook. Lot's of "oh how cute" comments. We hate raining on parades BUT the single biggest reason our birds & parrots die is - we kill them.
Rather than expanding on each and every hazard, I'm going to list all the we came up with. Let us know about your experiences so we can help other pet bird owners.
Lands on edge of drinking glass, reaches down for liquid and falls head first & drowns
Flies or falls into a mop bucket
Flies or falls into a toilet
Flies into a mirror
Water bottle malfunctions while you're out-of-town for 3 days - bird suffers dehydration
Electrocution by chewing through electrical wire
Flies into open oven
Flies into boiling water pot
Fumes emitted from Teflon cookware heated over 535 degrees (Birds are 90% lungs - people)
Using Teflon coated heat lamps to keep babies warm has killed chicks even at zoos
Bird gets stuck on single toy hung in middle of cage - gets tired and can't reach cage walls to leave toy - falls off toy from exhaustion
Toe caught in knot of chain - flaps uncontrollably until injury or death
Flies into old fashion glue fly paper - flaps uncontrollably until injury or death
Mouse trap under couch
Impaled on knife or sharp object on kitchen counter
Bird gets laid on because someone thought it was cute to sleep with their bird
Flying out the door
Ingestion of home cleaning product
Sucked into a vacuum
Stepped on
Squeezed too hard by a young child
Bird bites finger, clamps on - person shakes hand to get bird to release - bird hits floor or wall and dies
Run-ins with ceiling fans (Vets call them shredded tweet!)
Second hand smoke
Crushed in a sliding glass door
Other house pet kills bird
Other birds - Lovebirds will bite other birds toes - toe loss can cause a bird to bleed to death
Wrong human food - avocado, chocolate, caffeine etc.
Place bird in outdoor cage in the morning, bird bakes in afternoon sun
Introduce sick bird into home without quarantine
Have we made our point? Join the conversation on Facebook
Mitch Rezman
Vice President
Windy City Parrot, Inc
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