Last week, Mel wrote a great post which clearly pointed out the dangers of commercial air fresheners and chemicals in a birds environment. A cockatiel belonging to a nursing home resident struggled to breathe while being subjected to the fumes from a plug in air freshener and Mel had to come to the rescue.
The warnings about air fresheners have been circulating for some time and as usual, some people take them seriously and others do not. We know good air quality for your parrot needs to be high on your priority list, so lets start at the beginning
If your house smells, clean it.
You should never smell your birds in your home, unless you have a lot of them in one room, or if you haven’t changed the substrate or taken out any food fragments from the cage bottom in a while. Never acknowledge smells as a requirement of owning a bird; dust, sure, but odors, no
The following are the best ways to prevent an odd odor in your home:
- Vacuum frequently, move the cages and clean underneath them often.
- Keep the trash emptied.
- Clean pet areas like litter boxes and dog beds frequently.
- Steam clean carpeting and upholstery as necessary. Steam has been shown to clean just as well and much more safely than chemicals.
- To get rid of smells throughout the house, use the exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom and get a high-quality HEPA filter.
- When the weather permits, throw open the windows and let the fresh air do some of the cleaning.
Why do air fresheners cause harm to a bird, but not a human?
The respiratory systems of birds are far more dynamic and effective at moving oxygen than those of humans or other mammals.
The best illustration of this may come from the early days of coal mining, when miners would suspect that a mine shaft contained deadly gases, so they would place a cage of canaries there. They would re-enter the mine after a while and evaluate the canaries’ health to determine whether the area was safe for people.
Because a bird will process and die from toxic air more quickly than a mammal of similar size, birds were used in this test to make a quick decision. A mouse, say, would take twice as long to die.
In the human world, birds are vulnerable due to their breathing apparatus, which provides them with significant advantages in the wild.
Air fresheners pose two dangers
1) A lot are released into the atmosphere as sprays or aerosols. This is a problem for birds. Particles that linger in the air and force a bird to breathe them in make up sprays. Because of the high pressure inside the can and the force with which the spray emerges in smaller particles that float longer and travel farther, aerosols are especially dangerous. For example, when shaken out, powdered rug deodorizers will also contaminate the air as the light powder is carried away by the regular air currents in the home. Plug-in air fresheners and scented candles release their fragrance into the atmosphere through the use of heat and currents.
2) These products contain toxic substances. If you think that your bird’s breathing in all those particles isn’t bad enough, imagine how much worse it would be if you added poison to it. Seriously. You do not realize that there is a flowering meadow inside the can of “spring breeze” scented air freshener? Those odors are created in a laboratory with chemicals.
Additionally, these products are bad for you, your family, and any other pets you may have in your home. The fact that something doesn’t kill us does not imply that it is safe.
Over the years, I’ve discovered that some people become irritated with me because I keep asking them to modify their behavior and give up particular goods. Nonetheless, since birds are not like people, cats, or dogs, we do need to modify our routines when keeping them at home. While it may be annoying at first, new things eventually become the norm. The only incentive you should need to alter your behavior is to ensure the survival and well-being of your bird.
Alternatively, you could combine all the ingredients into a recycled container or a tightly sealed Mason jar. Or try a clove-studded orange.
The most robust ingredients, such as the twiggy herbs sage and rosemary, are the most resilient for prolonged simmering.
You can use an endless variety of fruits, extracts, spices, and herbs to create a heaven-like scent throughout your home without harming your bird’s respiratory system.
Scoop up a handful of fresh pine needles from the floor behind you and toss them into the pot. Next, add a lemon slice.
Try this to get everyone in the mood if you’re serving Italian food for the holidays.
FAQ
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