Are Plastic Cat Ball Toys Safe?

[BoomBoom]

Urgghh... Sorry for starting yet another thread. I get paranoid sometimes and need to hear from other experienced bird owners for guidance / assurance.

This weekend, I made hanging toys for my 6 month old conure, Boomer. The one he really liked is a string of 4 cheap plastic balls sold in the cat section of a popular petstore. It is similar to this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-8AGlZ7yL.jpg . The plastic material is soft and flexible, not the brittle kind. The bell is not metal but some kind of plastic.

He was obsessed with it and chewed through one ball in hours. I hung them outside the cage, and he doesn't appear to be eating it because I see broken bits on the floor. I am just worried he would ingest a tiny piece by accident and cause a blockage. He loves it so much I feel bad taking it away.

Is anyone here a long-time user of these plastic cat ball toys? If so, do I have anything to worry about? Parrots know when something is not edible right? I hope?

 

[MikeyTN]

I use those cat balls for my small birds and I buy the baby toys for the big birds. Yes they're safe for them, but once they start eating through them, I would replace them with new ones to keep it on the safe side.

 

[JonnyG]

I use cat balls all the time, they are cheap and easily available, wont cause any harm as they are non toxic and no more dangerous than the bits of wood they chew of thier perches...

 

[DebsFlock]

Scooter loves the ones with rattley jingle bells in them, but I now reserve them for use when supervised. Birds do seem to be quite good about not eating inedibles, BUT those can shatter into small pieces that might be overlooked. Plus the jingle bells inside can catch on toes or beaks. So I feel happier not leaving them in the cage.

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks for the responses! The ball is not brittle so it doesn't shatter into fine pieces but he bites chunks out of the soft plastic and would take that piece back to his perch and bite it to even smaller pieces. Kind of like what he does to his almonds. I'm worried that he'd swallow one by mistake.

There's probably no reason to worry because as JohnyG said, its no different from when parrots chew on their wood perches. I'm just being paranoid as usual. If Boomer keeps obsessinf over the plastic pieces, I may still take off the cat balls and replace them with rubber kong balls for my peace of my mind.

 

[greenbutterfly81]

I don't give my bird soft plastic anything. Too much risk.

Any balls I get for Kiyomi are wicker balls from the small animal section or the hard plastic ones they sell for rat toys. I got one big wicker ball from the cat section that she loves but I have to watch her with it because its as big as she is. Kiyomi's favorite toy is a bar/cylinder contraption with a bell in it made of hard plastic that I got from the rats section at Petco. She also loves the rat and rabbit chew toys, just watch what kind of wood they are made of.

The behavior you are describing makes me think that Boomer might think these soft plastic balls are a fancy kind of nut... and therefore is food. I would take the soft balls away from him and get him something breed appropriate.

 

[Kern2012]

Yes my conure plays with them all the time... As long as there is no catnip in them

 

[BoomBoom]

I don't give my bird soft plastic anything. Too much risk.

Any balls I get for Kiyomi are wicker balls from the small animal section or the hard plastic ones they sell for rat toys. I got one big wicker ball from the cat section that she loves but I have to watch her with it because its as big as she is. Kiyomi's favorite toy is a bar/cylinder contraption with a bell in it made of hard plastic that I got from the rats section at Petco. She also loves the rat and rabbit chew toys, just watch what kind of wood

I've wondered about those chew toys but I wasn't sure if the wood was safe for conures. I guess for my sanity I would have to remove those balls. But he loves them so!! Agghhhhh