A-B-Cs of Non-Food Items That Birds Love

[habs71]

Excerpts from an article entitled " The A-B-Cs of Non-Food Items That Birds Love". Link to complete article at end of post.

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It's hard to say when the notion that parrots could eat and chew whatever they wanted took hold. Yes, they have an innate need to chew. This certainly arises from the need to keep their muscles and beak strong and in good repair. But when did it become normal for them to chew and eat plastics, finished wood, decorative items or bedspreads? What about vinyl flooring, automobile interiors or shake roofs? Parrots differ enormously by species when it comes to specific behaviors. But several species stand apart in their drive to chew, destroy and often consume their non-food items. Couple this with their manipulative skills and indulgent owners and we suddenly have a new syndrome!

B
Baby toys. Perhaps it is their intelligence or their willingness to bond with us so intensely or their ability to talk that blinds many of us to the fact that these great creatures are birds-not babies. Just as we shower our children and our friends' children with toys that delight and stimulate, we provide our companion birds with colorful fun baby toys. But differences between the chewing abilities of kids and birds make toy selection very important. Soft plastic and vinyl toys can be quickly destroyed and eaten by parrots. Cute? Yes! But these toys can end up in a bird's stomach and either release noxious chemicals as they degrade, or resist degradation for long periods of time and act as irritants or obstructive foreign bodies. Parrot owners are often surprised that their bird actually ingested a portion of the item it destroyed. A careful exam of a birds dropping will often yield evidence of recent nonfood ingestion.

H
Hair products. Hair products like gel, mousse and spray tend to contain relatively benign chemicals since they are designed to be used daily. Yet they can pose a problem when applied in the presence of a companion bird. Many of our birds are especially sensitive to irritants in the air. When aerosolized, these products can irritate airways and lungs. Many birds will enjoy preening their owner's hair. It's anyone's guess how much gel or mousse is ingested by a preening bird. Scanning the list of ingredients from several hair products reveals many unpronounceable words and questionable ingredients like alcohol, fragrances and color additives.

K
Kleenex (tissue & boxes). In all fairness to Kimberly Clark the problem is not specific to Kleenex. The ingestion of paper products seems to be risky. Birds that commonly play with paper may or may not eat it. There also seems to be a great deal of variability in what problems develop and over what period of time. We have recently seen three cases where there was serious GI tract problems, including proventricular dilation, in newspaper eating birds. In all three cases newspaper was flushed out of their proventriculus and ventriculus (stomach). It seemed to have both an obstructive and an irritative effect. In all three cases the birds were feather picking. All signs abated after flushing and removing all paper. An amazon parrot with a long history of eating newspaper from the cage floor had severe inflammatory changes (seen on endoscopy and in biopsies) in her GI tract that have resolved slowly over time after the paper was removed. Many different clinical signs, including loose droppings, increased water output, weight loss and feather picking have resolved by simply stopping paper ingestion. It is likely that in the last 5 years the composition of paper has changed dramatically with the addition of recycled components. It is possible that something in these components contributes to the problem.

L
Lotion. Certainly most people would not intentionally feed skin lotion to their companion parrot. But the inadvertent exposure may be common. Pet parrots are often frequently handled. Often we note that the feathers on the back and the head can become discolored. If handled often by owners that use hand or body lotion, it is likely that the oils inadvertently applied to the bird's feather can cause the discoloration. Once on the feathers, we can assume some ingestion while the bird preens. This can cause significant problems if skin medications are added to the lotion. We have seen problems that we thought were caused by contact and possible ingestion of retinA, topical cortisone, and heavy makeup. We know that contact with "second hand smoke" tars and oils can cause problems. Any easy way to avoid this problem is to wash hands before handling the bird. Cornstarch can also be used to absorb any oily residues off the hand.

Q
Quit. Quit feeding nonfood items. If fun food is what you are after try pomegranates or beets or bok choy. Use the whole food and hang it as a toy using coarse hemp or a stainless steel skewer. For entertainment try offering clean, never sprayed natural branches from citrus, bay, eucalyptus or oak trees. Offer home grown garden flowers from some of your large producers like squash. Try using untreated fir or pine 2X4s as perches, the ultimate perch and chew toy. Cut blocks of untreated fir or pine for chewing and hang with stainless steel.

U
Ulcers. Ulcers of the stomach do occur in birds. The glandular stomach or proventriculus is relatively thin-walled. This area and the transition area between the proventiculus and the ventriculus are subject to ulceration. Ulcers are areas where the lining is eroded away and perforation can result. The thick-walled stomach or venticulus has a tough lining called a coilin. Ulceration can occur here but the thick tough lining offers better protection. Ulcers can occur due to systemic disease or infection, but are most likely to occur because of continued contact with an irritant substance. Pieces of nonfood items, particularly plastics containing metal, have caused this kind of ulceration. The anatomy of the bird's GI tract predisposes it to these problems because the outlet to the intestines from the stomach is very tiny. Typically this ensures that particles that leave the stomach are ready for the small intestine. It also means that pieces resistant to digestion will stay in the ventriculus for a long time. This contact over time can result in irritation and ulcers even when there is no absorption of toxins.


W
Washers and weights. Washers and other hardware are typically galvanized. That means that they are coated with zinc. Nuts, bolts, c-clamps, and much other hardware in a bird's cage can be galvanized. The zinc coating becomes a problem when a parrot frequently mouths or chews it. When this behavior continues over time the zinc can build to toxic levels. Toxic levels of zinc can cause feather picking, GI problems and kidney damage. Choosing to use only stainless steel hardware will prevent this problem. Weights can be a huge problem because they are often made of lead. Lead can be found in curtain weights, fishing sinkers, leaded glass, stained glass, decorative foil and in older paint. Lead is toxic in very small amounts. Lead will typically cause ataxia, weakness and stumbling and in some birds hematuria or bloody urine. Lead intoxication is a true medical emergency.


Y
Yummy and cute. Just because it is perceived as yummy by your bird, think it through. Would you want a belly full of that? Consider the amount that they are willing to consume and their body size. Consider the typical 500gram bird. Say that bird ate two baby toys. Call the average human 75 kilograms (75,000grams). How would the human feel with the weight equivalent of 150 baby toys in his belly? For fun, do the math for peanuts. Say the 500-gram bird ate five peanuts. Your equivalent serving would be five peanuts times 150 or 750 peanuts. YUCK!!!!

Z
Zinc. Zinc may be the eye-opener nonfood item that started it all. Certainly the realization that many accepted practices were not in the best interest of birds may have gained some ground there. Our companion birds are tough. Just because they seem upright and feathered, that doesn't mean they are in the best of health. Many parrots are surviving not thriving. A significant number are not even surviving. Re-kindling our common sense and educating ourselves about their innate needs and behaviors is essential to their survival.


http://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/ABCnonfood.htm

[CrazyforCockatiels]

Thank you for this very informative post.

[Chicklet]

Great Information, thanks.

[Heather_Bird]

Excellent article! Thanks so much for sharing.

All the best,

Heather

[EKenny]

Thanks very much for posting that article, I particularly liked the way it compared our birds habbits, and how we would feel if we did things on the same scale. ie, five peanuts for a bird does not sound like much, but when we compare that to us eating the same ratio of peanuts, it makes you realize just how much five lousy little peanuts are to a bird! I also was not aware about the dangers of newspaper eating! Luckily i have grates on the bottom of all my bird cages, so the paper and all thier droppings ect.. are out of reach when they are playing on the floor of thier cages.