Over the past four months my grey pet cockatiel was having breathing problems after visiting my mom's house.
We had been going there for about seven years now.
I could not figure out what the problem could have been, because my little bird never had trouble breathing before.
The first time my grey cockatiel could not breath very well was three days after we had visited mom.
When my birds were startled by a blue jay that flew by the living room window, this caused them to frantically fly in circles.
I went to catch my birds, and my grey friend collapsed into my hands.
My poor bird was panting very hard.
I was terribly concerned about my little friend.
He had never been like this before.
He could barely stand up and was panting at the same time.
I was not sure if my grey cockatiel was over heated, so I brought him and my other little bird into the bathroom to give them a spray mist bath.
The mist bath stopped the panting of my precious friend.
I was relieved, but he was still very weak while standing.
I brought him and my other bird into the bedroom and put my grey bird into his cage and my pied cockatiel into his own cage.
I shut the cage doors so my other bird would not try to play with him.
I wanted my little friend to rest and recuperate.
I let my grey bird sleep by himself the rest of the day and night.
The next morning he was much better.
He was stronger and ate more food.
I thought I would wait a week, before I brought my birds back over to see my mom again.
Things were different the past few months at my elderly mom's house, because she needed a live-in nurse to help take care of her.
A few months before, she had fell and broken her left arm in three places and fractured her left hip.
She was placed in a nursing home and was finally released to come home, because she did not eat there.
Luckily, she had the funds to hire a live-in nurse.
After a couple of weeks went by, I took my birds over to see mom again.
But my poor little grey cockatiel had the same breathing attack after flying in my apartment living room.
And this happened three days after going over to mom's house.
I purchased some bird biotic and new bird vitamins to see if they would help him.
The bird biotics and supplements seemed to perk up my friend allot.
He was better after 10 days, but I was still worried.
I did not want to bring my birds anywhere for awhile.
I decided it was necessary to bring my grey friend to the avian specialist.
I made an appointment and took him there Saturday morning.
My birds just hate going to the avian veterinarian.
First of all, I needed to separate them.
They started calling back and forth very loudly.
My grey bird screamed in the car all the way to the avian veterinarian hospital.
I do not want to take both birds with me, because one bird might attack the avian vet, while the other bird is feeling distressed from being examined.
The avian veterinarian does not hurt the birds, but they do not like being handled by a stranger or me if they are not in the mood..
The veterinarian trimmed my grey cockatiel's toenails.
To get a blood sample, the avian vet needed to trim one toenail a little bit shorter than the rest.
This is much safer than taking blood from the juggler vein, because there is a possibility of the bird bleeding to death.
The avian vet needed to get a blood sample to see if my bird had any underlying bacteria that could possibly be affecting his breathing.
He also told me that the bird biotics from the pet supply stores do not work.
My grey cockatiel and I were very glad to be home after the avian veterinarian examination.
But I knew it was highly important to get my grey bird checked out by an expert.
He is eleven years old, and I want him to live out his full life of 28 - 30 years in age.
I just simply adore him and my other cockatiel.
I called for the test results on Wednesday, and they came back normal.
I was so happy! But this meant there was something at my mom's house that was not good for my birds.
Since my mom had the live-in nurse, I noticed the nurse was cleaning more often with bleach and bacterial killing sprays.
Before that, my sister and I did not clean hardly at all with strong household cleaners.
I am very sensitive to strong cleaners, because they are toxic.
Bleach and air spray fresheners with bacterial killers even make it hard for me to breath, so I do not keep any in my home.
If these household products make it hard for me to breath, then they would surely make it hard for my birds to breath and possibly cause death, because the cleaners are very poisonous..
I took in a canary about five years ago, because a lady I worked for did not know how to take care of the bird.
He was underfed and sickly.
I did the best I could to take care of him, but canaries lungs are even more sensitive than other birds lungs.
I used a carpet deodorizer once in the same room my birds were in.
The deodorizer killed the canary the next day.
Luckily it did not affect my other birds from what I could see, but it sure was not good for them.
The best thing to do is to use EcoSense products "only" in your home.
But I still need to be careful around my birds.
I would not spray anything close to them except for a spray mist bath made with clean warm water.