Just had a breakdown

[McCaleb]

Was looking through the toxic list for my bird when i saw corn cob bedding. I almost broke into tears thinking i poisoned my bird. When i was a petsmart asking around about litter they told me to get tiny corncob litter. I looked on the back and it said for birds, KAYTEE Avian Association sticker on the bottom. Thought nothing of it. I saw the list and i broke into tears. I spent 2 hours pulling all the litter out of the cage (5ft high x 4ft long x 2ft width). i have replaced it all with news papper and thoth isn't very happy about it.

Also now i have another fear, my wife owns cats and refuses to part with them. I saw they are highly toxic as well... what am i to do now...

trying to stay positive, im almost 95% sure he didnt eat any of the bedding since he had food with him all the time that he enjoyed eating.

 

[McCaleb]

Well my best friend who is the local avian vet got a surprise. I sent him a picture via txt message of my birds fecal. He called me and we talked about the situation. He asked me what it had been eating, i told him pellets and he said it looked healthy. so here to hope that nothings wrong.

 

[JawzX]

where did you see this issue with cats? As far as I'm aware cats can be DANGEROUS to birds, and cat saliva may contain germs that could make a parrrot sick (if bitten or licked), but I have never heard anything about them being "toxic" unless somone is saying that litter fumes could be bad for them?? (well, lets be honest, the cat box can be a pretty nasty thing! ) In any case, there are plenty of people -and members here- who have cats and parrots living together with no problems.

 

[Dj tweet]

I agree you need not panic about the cats etc
your wise to remove the bering but don't stress to much about him having eaten a little if it's been approved by the avian society it should be ok but as i said your wise to have removed it
cats are not toxic so to speak
yes their saliva is toxic to birds but so is ours and that don't stop us owning them and often sharing our food with them ( even letting the bird inside your mouth )
it's just a matter of being careful
but as jawx said many members have birds and cats myself included and so long as they are supervised you should have no problems
i just lock my cat outside when I go out

Appologise if anything I said came across nasty etc you will learn ad time goes on there are many things we can panic ourselves with
we have to pick and choose our battles
cats are not one

Good on you for being so vidulant and caring so much about your bird

 

[Spiritbird]

I do not know of any bedding material other than paper products that are safe for birds. Pet stores us bedding simply for the aesthetic value. Some fungus may be in the bedding.

As far as cats and birds goes it works out for me because I have a very laid back Maine coon . When my bird is out of the cage I am always there to supervise. Even though she is not interested in my bird I never take natural instincts of an animal for granted. If a bird gets bitten by a cat yes it is bad. Just like it would be for a human because the inside of a a cats mouth carries lots and lots of bacteria. So does a human mouth we just do not bite anyone.

 

[bogo1]

Agree ...have two cats and three birds. Cats are often near birds. Cats not toxic unless biting or scratching bird ...and then you have much bigger problem.