Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 7/29/2007

Question
I knew my parakeet was sick as all he wanted to do was sleep.  I took him to to an Avian vet who advised that it was too late and advised any medication/treatment probably would not help.  The bird only weighed 16 grams. The bird was about 5 months old, and I only had him for 14 weeks. He recommended that I put the bird to sleep, which is what I did.  Can you please tell me how I should disinfect the cage.  Also, how do I disinfect the wooden perches, wooden toys, plastic toys, feeding bowls.   The cage that I have is a nice size, but it has a grate that is not removable. When I had the bird, I would try to scrape off any droppings off the grate, but there were probably some that remained. Do you think this contributed to his demise?   In order to clean the grate thoroughly, I would have to bring the whole cage into the bathtub.    Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi, Karen.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.  Birds hide symptoms of illness until they can't hide their symptoms any longer.  By the time we notice, a bird is usually too ill to be helped.  This is why we have to learn our bird's behaviors and at the first sign of something amiss, seek avian vet assistance ASAP.  We have to know what to look for, too.

You'll need to take the cage outside or put it in your bathrub and wash it down thoroughly with hot soap and water and then soak it in bleach for 30 minutes.  Allow it to dry outside in the sunlight (sunlight is the best disinfectant in our world).  Wooden perches, toys, etc., can all be disinfected the same way.  

Birds don't normally get sick from their own droppings, but from the droppings of other sick birds.  Your bird could have become ill from being in an unclean cage, i.e., perhaps it's own droppings were OK but a buildup can result in bacteria, etc., growing which resulted in your bird getting ill.  Your bird could have also become ill from undisinfected dishes, toys, drinking unclean water, etc., etc.  The list is endless.  Your bird may not have been on a healthy diet.  Your bird may have suffered from something genetic or had some type of developmental problems.  There's many, many reasons a bird can become ill.  I would have thought your vet could have given you a clue, i.e., did your bird have a bacterial infection or just what caused its death?  16 grams at 5 months old tells me this bird wasn't nourished very well or wasn't able to metabolize nourishment as a result of something going wrong inside.

Chrys