Friday, November 27, 2009

Tips on Keeping our Feathered Friends Safe During the Holidays

The holidays are joyous and active times for people and their pets. Our feathered friends partake in many of the seasonal festivities with us which makes the holidays that much more special. However, many of the decorations and objects we have around the household during the holidays may be dangerous to our birds. By taking a few precautions, we can make this wonderful time of year a safe one for our pets.

Toxic Foods- Avocado Caffeine Chocolate
Dairy (in excessive amounts) Mushrooms (potentially toxic) Onions (in excessive amounts)
Rhubarb Salt (in excessive amounts) Sugar (in excessive amounts)

Food Preparation -. Birds have a very effective respiratory tract and coupled with their relatively small size are susceptible to toxic elements in the air. During cooking if food burns or smoke is produced, any birds nearby the kitchen could be at risk of fatal smoke inhalation, remove bird from area, offering fresh air. A vet visit may be in order.
Keep your bird out of the kitchen when oven and stove are on. The potential of the bird being burned, stepped on or spilled on are high risks.

Christmas Tree - Keep birds away from lights, electrical cords, ornaments and tensel.
The trunk of a live tree is often coated with chemicals, such as fertilizer or insecticide. When the tree is placed in the stand and watered, the chemicals from the trunk contaminate the water. If your bird drinks it, they may become sick.

Poisonous Plants
Many homes are decorated each year during the holiday season with poinsettias and mistletoe. These plants do represent the season; unfortunately they are toxic for our feathered friends.

Holiday Decorations/Packages
Many people place decorations throughout the house including lights, evergreen branches, holiday knickknacks and other assorted objects to provide a festive environment. Lit candles can burn a curious pet or could be knocked over and start a fire. Icicles and tinsel draped on a mantle are as dangerous as tinsel on a tree. Monitor your pets and watch out for any evidence of chewing on these objects.

Have a wonderful Holiday season with your feathered friends, I know we will with our African grey," Rosie Red Bottom."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Cupboard Grey One

Rosie's cage is always open, making her roaming the house easy. If Rosie is issuing an undesirable behavior her cage is used as a timeout, with the door shut.
When we are in the kitchen cooking, hot stove, hot oven or hot food, it is not the place for Rosie and her roaming. Because the closed cage is used as a time out we really do not want to put the grey one in there for roaming.

Instead, Rosie has her own cupboard in the kitchen. We emptied out the cupboard only putting in canned goods that she cannot harm or hurt her.

The only bad thing for us is, she rips off the labels having so much fun. We are sure to write the name of the ingredients on the top of the can.
Rosie seems very pleased in her cupboard that is in the middle of all the kitchen action and out of harms way.

One time, I forgot she was in the cupboard and shut the door. Soon I could hear a mysterious knocking coming from the kitchen. It was Rosie, knocking with her beak from the inside of the cupboard ( in parrot Morse code I am sure) saying "get me out of here."
If you are interested in Rosie's book, please click on the link below