How To Clean A Cockatoo

#35075 - 04/21/02 04:50 PM Clean cage with what?
Member Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 29 washington state	Hi all, I was wondering what you clean your bird cage with? Thanks

#35078 - 04/24/02 04:04 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 29 kari Member
Member Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 29 washington state	Thanks Sara I found in bird talk not to use bleach> I have always used dish soap and hot water. I am going to try the lemon thing to see if it works. Thanks

#35081 - 04/24/02 08:52 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
**DONOTDELETE** Unregistered
Anonymous Unregistered	I use lysol...it's toxic, but I don't use it while my parrot is IN the cage, lol-If you don't expose your parrot to the cleaner and rinse THOUROUGHLY I don't see how bleach could be a problem, unless you have a cheaply painted cage where the bleach could compromise the paint.

#35083 - 04/24/02 09:47 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 doodlebird New Member
New Member Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 St. Louis	Lysol, bleach, pinesol, most any household disinfectant is highly toxic to birds. Even if you move them out of the room to clean. If you can smell it, it's NOT safe. Dr. Ritchie discussed this topic also at the seminar in St. Louis Disinfecting is not necessary on a regular basis unless you have a known disease carrying organism in your aviary. Regular cleaning with a good safe detergent is all that is needed in most cases. Cathy Doodle

#35084 - 04/24/02 09:51 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
**DONOTDELETE** Unregistered
Anonymous Unregistered	I have the luxury of cleaning cages outside year round, so fumes are not a problem for me. And I rinse with a high pressure garden hose thingy, so my cage is free from everything except water. Which I dry off with paper towel.

#35085 - 04/24/02 10:03 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 2,404 Mona Lives Here
Lives Here Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 2,404	I think we will just have to agree to disagree on this subject doodlebird :-) I clean with my bleach and water mix, OUTSIDE, I might add..as Ivan says she does, I never clean the cages in the house where the birds are. Then I rinse and rinse and rinse some more, until there is NO bleach smell or residue left. I don't think I will worry, since I have been doing this for more years than I even care to think about..LOL...(over 20 lets just say!) and my birds are fine, and I feel better knowning that I have disinfected their living areas..and I agree, it doesnt have to be done every time you clean..but I do think it should be done on a regular schedule, even the smallest food particle or feces can cause bacteria to grow quite quickly, especially in the south usa where I live with a high humidity rate in the summer months, and I just feel better disinfecting at least once a month. P.S. I also notice that you sell a product for cleaning...which is great..but I am also very leary of someones opinion that wants to tell us NOT to use anything else, when they sell a product. It tends to make them a bit biased I would think? Just my opinion.

#35086 - 04/24/02 10:15 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
**DONOTDELETE** Unregistered
Anonymous Unregistered	This is why I always ask for household remedies, I am not in a position to buy stuff off the net, since many companies do not ship to canada, plus even though I would love to , I just don't have extra money to toss around trying out new stuff at the moment. When you think about it, what cleaner is safe, really? Just because a cleaner is listed as non toxic, doesn't mean you are going to clean your cage around your bird...If I move to a place that prevents me from cleaning outside I will clean in the garage and rinse in the tub.

#35087 - 04/24/02 11:15 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 doodlebird New Member
New Member Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 St. Louis	Bleach. I'm just going to pass on what I have read while pouring over AAV journals researching something totally unrelated. Bleach can cause respiratory irritation/imflamation in birds that may not be evident for many years. It can be fatal. Also when bleach is mixed with urine it can give off a toxic chlorine gas similar to mixing bleach with amonia. It's not as big a deal when in contact with bird urine, but can be if mixed with mammal, like a dog. A good powerwasher washing, like Ivan(?) uses, and air dry in the sun is probably the best way to clean and disinfect a cage. Unfortunetly it's not practicle for most months out of the year for most of us. Hope this clears up rather than add to the bleach questions. Cathy, ....who still can't figure out how to do the smiley faces <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="redface.gif" /> (

#35088 - 04/24/02 11:28 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 2,404 Mona Lives Here
Lives Here Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 2,404	Cathy, I appreciate the information, that was not the problem, misunderstanding about cleaning products, but as I said several times..I RINSE until there is nothing left. I could see the danger if someone uses bleach undiluted and doesnt rinse it off. But if used properly, diluted bleach is safe for birds cages in my opinion. If not, I would have had a lot of dead birds in the last 3 decades, because thats what I have been using. I see nothing wrong with using a product such as yours, its a great idea..but I have 7 birds and some have more than that..and it can get very expensive. If I thought that what I was using was dangerous, money would not be an object, but since its not, I prefer to use an inexpensive product that I know is going to kill the germs and not my birds. Im not saying DONT use anything else, Im just saying that using bleach and water properly is an alternative to expensive cleaners. I hope that clears up what I am trying to say too

#35089 - 04/25/02 12:17 AM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 doodlebird New Member
New Member Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 St. Louis	Hi Mona. You're right. Bleach is an inexpensive product. But it's not a "cleaner", it's a disinfectant. That's where I'm trying to separate the two. Heck, you can use a bucket of hot soapy(like Dawn dish detergent) water and accomplish alot of cleaning with that. It's the fumes of bleach that are toxic. Rinsing will indeed get it off the cage. But what lingers in the air is the concern. My product was developed as an alternative to Poop-Off. I have 8 large cages to clean and simply could not justify $40 a gallon for the stuff. Besides, the smell gagged me. I'm not trying to push it at all here. Just trying to help you all understand the importance of how toxic some cleaners &/or disinfectants fumes can be. Cathy

#35092 - 04/25/02 01:50 AM Re: Clean cage with what?
**DONOTDELETE** Unregistered
Anonymous Unregistered	Urine contains Ammonia, which is actually what makes it smell uriny(urine fresh..mmmmm). Ammonia and bleach mixed CAN create chlorine gas, which is extremely fatal for humans and just about anything else that has lungs/breathes air. However, Mona's methods would prevent the two from coming into contact. I use lysol, which is a disenfecting cleaner-And I am sure what Mona is talking about is that the bleach is used to "CLEAN" the cage, therefore removing all bacteria. That is what cleaning is, after all-removing dirt, both visible and microscopic.

#35093 - 04/25/02 03:07 AM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 doodlebird New Member
New Member Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 12 St. Louis	mea culpa I guess I missed the "outside" part of Mona's reply..... Had a 3+ pound bird on my shoulder trying to share his dinner with me at the time <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="redface.gif" /> ) However, if nothing else, I can only hope others that may have read this thread will have picked up on the importance of possible toxic fumes that they may be exposing their birds to.

#35094 - 04/25/02 04:57 PM Re: Clean cage with what?
Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 29 kari Member
Member Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 29 washington state	Thanks everyone. You are all great and have alot of info. You were right on the bleach with the fumes. I did use the lemon and it does work... Thanks Kari

How To Clean A Cockatoo

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