What not to eat?

[sowilu]

My cockatiel Max likes to get on the pots and pans when my mother is cooking and I know this is dangerous . How can I stop her from doing this? She also likes to eat off of peoples plate when visitors come to eat . I don't like this because this people don't like animals and I don't want them to be mad at me or my parents or think that we are not clean people. It doesn't bother me to feed her of my plate but I know what is good for her and what is bad for her. The other question is, is it ok if she eats meat? She likes to eat it raw or cooked and I can not stop her. The only way I can stop her is by putting her back in her cage and not let her out until we have finish eating. She also likes to eat chicke stew and beef stew and she walks all over the tortillas . How can I stop her from doing this things?

[Lori L]

There are lots of things the birds should not eat, some are toxic and can kill them. Avocados, chocolate are forbidden. Also make sure that the pots an pans that you use are not Teflon or PTFE as the fumes that this type of material gives off are also toxic to birds. Candles, scented lightbulb rings, scented oil pots etc can also kill them, their lungs are sensitive fumes from these items while we might not think they are very strong to a birds sensitive respitory system. As far as eating off people's plates and walking on the cooking pots I think this is pretty inappropriate. Would you let your dog or cat sit on the table while eating and eat off other people's plates? Probably not so why are you letting the bird. If the only way to keep her off is to put her in her cage, then while you are eating, put her in the cage. Simple as that

[Alika]

what not to eat:

avocado
chocolate
rhubarb
onion
alcohol
mushrooms
milk

Hmm, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but I'll bet others will interject.

[Monica]

She shouldn't be allowed to eat raw meat. Small amounts of thoroughly cooked meat is fine. Try to be sure that she doesn't have excess to foods that are high in fats, sugars, salts, or oils. Small amounts in moderation may be fine. If need be, fix up a plate for her and put it in her cage and put her inside.

[FeatherLover]

Originally Posted by Alika

Hmm, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but I'll bet others will interject.

caffiene
apple seeds

I'd also agree that she needs to go in her cage during meal times and preparation. Not only is it bad birdie manners, she could get hurt in the kitchen.

On another note, it's great that Max is eating such a variety of food.

Good luck.

[Alika]

Caffeine and apple seeds... see, I knew I was forgetting some :)

Also the pits in pitted fruits are also supposed to be avoided, as many are toxic.

Originally Posted by Monica

She shouldn't be allowed to eat raw meat.

Oh my goodness! I had the worst dream the other night that I fed raw beef heart to all of my parrots and Beeper got really sick and I couldn't get a hold of my vet...

Not to go off on a tangent or anything...

[kathleen]

Originally Posted by Alika

Oh my goodness! I had the worst dream the other night that I fed raw beef heart to all of my parrots and Beeper got really sick and I couldn't get a hold of my vet...
Not to go off on a tangent or anything...

Since you went off topic anyway...do you normally have raw beef heart in your house? And, if so, why? eeeiiiwww

[Alika]

Originally Posted by kathleen

Since you went off topic anyway...do you normally have raw beef heart in your house? And, if so, why? eeeiiiwww

LOL, no! Actually, I had spent the better part of my day at work preparing beef heart diets. Friday is beef heart day, and all the raptors get it. We had a lot of volunteers that day and there was a lot going on and I was distracted the whole time I was cutting it. Because of this, it took a lot longer than usual and ended up being a bit of a nightmare... I'm really not too surprised it translated into my dreams.

I got a nasty blister from it, though. We use scissors to cut up the beef heart, and the scissors I was using were dull.

Sorry! I didn't mean to go off topic. It's just that Monica's comment reminded me of that dream. It really was a horrible dream. I was tossing and turning all night.

[Vankarhi]

When cooking you should keep your bird in its cage for its own safety. I think there is a thread here somewhere on a bird who was badly burned by flying into a pot of boiling water

Is is possible for you to just put some of the same food you eat into a separate container either on the table with you or in its cage? I know a cockatiel is not very big and so not as annoying as a maybe a bigger bird at the dinner table, but if it was to walk over your dinner or the guests dinner and poo in it that would not be very nice

I do allow my birds to eat with us sometimes but I put Skyes dinner in a different plate to mine and she just sits on my hand while it is resting on the table and eats from her bowl. when she starts to wander about and checking out the other plates then I put her in her cage with her dinner as she is a big bird and we do not want her walking over our food and going to the toilet in it. But mostly when we eat at dinner time she knows she gets her bowl of our dinner in her cage too and she lets me know if I forget her.

It is not cruel to do these things because it is for the safety of our birds as well as our own personal health and well being also sometimes our dinner can be hot on our plates too and if the bird walks through it they could burn their little feet.

My birds do eat a bit of cooked meat like chicken and beef or even a cooked sausage, but never raw, it needs to be very well cooked.

Oh I do keep heart, tripe, liver etc in the fridge from time to time. The heart and tripe are for the dogs they love it as a training treat and we eat the liver cooked with fried eggs and toast (yuuuummy).

[Alika]

Cami likes to fly to our plates to share dinner, too. We think it's cute, but when there are guests she gets locked up. We have tried giving her her own plate, but that just won't do... she has to have what is on OUR plates.

I agree with everything Tracey said... the only kind of cooking I'll do with birds on the loose is cooking that doesn't involve heat or boiling water (which really isn't cooking, is it?)

Another thing to take into consideration is that there are bacteria in our saliva that are deadly to birds. Whenever sharing food with your birds, make sure that you didn't take a bite, first, or that you're not sharing off the same fork/spoon.