Household hazards are more prolific during the holidays. Many reasons account for these facts. Most of us are cooking, entertaining, decorating, cleaning, and enjoying the season. With the festivities come many hazards for our pet birds that we bring into our households. In this blog I am going to cover the most deadly that kill our pet birds every year. With a little planning and thinking you can have a safe holiday season.
With most holidays comes cooking and baking. Kitchens are death traps for birds. You can avoid many accidents by following a few rules. First and most important your birds should not be in the kitchen during cooking. Fumes from kitchen sprays are toxic. Teflon is a big bird killer. If your bird inhales teflon fumes, he will die. Teflon includes most nonstick surfaces that can be found on pots, pans, toasters, waffle irons, griddles, cookie sheets, or baking pans. I recommend that people with pet parrots replace their nonstick cooking utensils with stainless steel, iron, or copper. If you have a nonstick pan, at sometime it will release toxic fumes. If you are not sure what the surface of your cookery is, please bring it by the shop and we can help you identify what it is. Expense doesn’t make a bit of difference in the toxicity of nonstick surfaces.
Another big toxin that claims the lives of many birds every year is petroleum based home scents. I have not met a plug in device that isn’t toxic to birds. If you plug in scents around your home, they will not only be detrimental to your birds but can cause headaches in humans as well.
Please remove any of these kind of devices. Candles and inscence can, also, be toxic to birds. Most everyday candles use petroleum based scents, which are toxic to birds. You can find candles that use essential oils and they are a better choice if you must have a scent in your home. I have used these over the years and not had a problem with them. I burn one candle in a large well ventilated area. I do not burn it for more than an hour. I use lightly scented candles that have essential oil written on them. The absolute safest way to achieve holiday scents in your house is to slowly simmer a pot full of cinnamon sticks. For variation you can add pumpkin spice or try different spices. I have tried pine needles and used the savory as well as sweet spices. This works very well, but you do need to monitor the pot so that it doesn’t burn dry.
Decorations can pose a threat to birds if they ingest them. Tinsel does not travel through the digestive tract very well and can become wrapped around the intestines. Many ornaments have unsafe metal and paint. Poinsettias are a very poisonous plant. Basically keep your parrot away and off all holiday decorations. Not only will they destroy them, but they are potentially toxic to them.
Guests can pose a threat to your birds as well. Most people respect a parrot’s beak, but there is one in every crowd that believes he/she knows everything about birds and insist on handling yours. If you are have a large get together, you may think of boarding your bird to protect him from these unruly people. You can then burn as many candles, cook with teflon, and clean with strong disinfectants. We have many one and two day boarders at the holidays and it is safer for everyone.
I have listed just a few of the deadliest holiday hazards. Unfortunately I will hear of more this season. Accidents are one of the incidents that can cause death in pet birds. Being extra careful during the holidays can make them happier for everyone!