DANGER! ORGANIC BEDDING
Christine A. Cannon,DVM
The Northwest Bird Club
Aviculturists have a new headache to watch out for, Organic bedding. We've been seeing birds die of grit impactions for years now, as we slowly (but hopefully) get the information out to the bird-owning public. Now, we have new killers.

I had a breeder find her male Severe Macaw dead one morning. She had had the bird for about a year. He had sired 12 fertile eggs during that year and had been observed feeding his mate the evening before his death. Fortunately for us, the breeder is one of those who is willing to have necropsies done on her birds, so if there is anything to learn from a bird's death, we will. When we opened the bird's body we discovered that there were signs of bleeding into the bowel. The gizzard and proventriculus were both distended with bloody food and small corn cob bedding. There was so much cob in there that there was very little room for food. Like grit, the corn cob bedding was inert and stayed in the gizzard. Unlike grit, the stuff swelled. This bird had not had access to corn cob bedding for over a year.

Another notable necropsy was an Amazon that died suddenly. His proventriculus was thickened and his bowel, just past the gizzard, showed gross evidence of bleeding. His gizzard was FULL of walnut shell bedding. He had access to the bedding for a few hours, a month before death.

A survivor that had also only had two hours of access to walnut shell bedding was seen at the clinic for off and on eating and off and on depression for five days. Fecal content of the droppings was decreased and black in color. His urates (the whites) and urine (the clear liquid) were normal. The bird had been observed to be choking or trying to regurgitate and then vomit the evening before presentation.

Blood work indicated that the bird was fighting off an infection or inflammation. The history and physical indicated that he probably had a bowel obstruction. The owner declined X-rays and barium series and would not have opted for surgery if the problem was a tumor, so we attempted medical therapy. With laxatives and antibiotics, the bird started passing more volume feces in his droppings. It took more than 48 hours to get rid of bowel bleeding.

An 8 week old Senegal baby started to regurgitate and have variable crop emptying time. The next day, the baby passed bloody droppings. We started antibiotics and he improved for 24 hours. Then he started to pass walnut shell bedding in his droppings -- 3 to 6 pieces per dropping. He had been parent-raised for his first sixteen days.

His parents were in a cage over a tray of walnut shell bedding that was thought to be out of reach, due to a cage bottom grill. That is as close as the young one got to the bedding. After three days of treatment, he had a dropping containing about fifteen pieces of the bedding... and DIED.

So please, don't risk your bird's life. Not just babies eat cage bottom materials. Adults can, and do, as well. And birds of all ages can die from that behavior. So, NO WALNUT SHELL BEDDING, NO CORN COB BEDDING and NO KITTY LITTER. Plain old newspaper, paper towels, brown paper bags, etc., work just fine. You can see and evaluate daily droppings, catching any changes before the problem is overwhelming. Color, size, consistency and number of droppings are all VERY important. Sure, it's easier to keep clean if you only change bedding once a week or so, but who knows what's going on with the droppings if they can't see them?

That is great info! Thanks Majj! "Natural" is not always "good".

WOW! Thanks for the info! I just recently decided to take the COB litter out of the cage, now this is more the reason too!

Thanks again!

OH MY GOSH!! I am using corn cob bedding--I SO MUCH APPRECIATE YOU GUYS--I am dumping that crap right this minute--I have used it since I brought Boomer home --fro about 3 months--I hope I have not hurt him!!!-I thought I was doing the best cleanest thing
gotta go dumpt it NOWWWW

Thanks Majj ... That was really interesting ..

Thanks for posting that Majj! I am sure there are a ton of people on this site that don't know about the danagers of bedding in cages......

No more corn cob bedding for Paulie. I have trouble with her eating off the bottom of her cage.


Myste

We use a cob type litter for our birds. This stuff is actually chicken feed in cob form. We only use it under the bird trees, not in cages. They only have access to it when they take a leap and wind up on the floor, and we're usually there right away when this happens. I was told its food grade and shouldn't pose a health problem. Is this the same stuff as in the article?
It's just soooo much easier to keep clean using this stuff. BUt of course health comes first. Thoughts?

Oh dear. For the last few days, Pepper has been eating out of my bowl of Wheatabix which is an organic cereal. I like it because it gets all mushey. Do you think that is dangerous for him?

The cerial its self won't hurt as long as it isn't high sugar...but the milk is not good for fids they can not digest it...I would try to give it dry..

Well one more thing to worry about. The **** pet store said to use corncob in the bottom of the cage. I never saw my quaker eat any of it. There is at least an inch or more space between the bottom of the tray and the grid on top. Actually I didn't use it long, I had swtiched to paper on the bottom and then switched to paper on the grid after someone said the birds don't bother tearing it up. It works perfectly. I change it at least twice a day. Thank you Majj for this IMPORTANT info. Really appreciate it.

I never use the stuff. And I am glad I did not. Just plan newspaper for my boys.

Cool Whip is non dairy. Pepper loves it. What do you think about that?

Still have sugar...so be careful

never used anything but paper on the bottom of the cage before, but yesterday I bought Wood Pellets, all purpose 100% nautral, made by Kaytee.

Any thoughts on this product???

I would be afraid of anything like this, unless there is no chance of contact at all with it. If he ingests it, it can still be hazardous, even if it's 100% natural.

Newspaper is still the safest, and least expensive. It's quick and easy to change daily, so no bacteria has a chance to grow, and the ink is known to retard the growth of bacteria, too.

When you purchase this type of product, you are often tempted to not clean it daily, allowing bacteria and mold to grow.

Just my opinion. I like using free papers, best.

What about peanut shells?

I threw out the wood pellets. Not worth the chance. Thanks for the advise.

I use wood stove pellets for litter boxes it is the best litter I have ever used...one bag last me a month with 7 cats and after you remove all the poop and the pellets brake down to saw dust I put it in the gardens... but not a good idea for birds...JMO

Bumping for newbys..

I use newspaper that's recycled and then shredded, I think it's called Kritter Litter, or something close. If it's not full sheets, is it dangerous? Should I start using sheets of newspaper instead of the recycled and processed newspaper?


Lyndsey

I would use full sheets...JMO

Thanks for the info Majj! I have newspaper in the bottom of Babys cage, but corncob in the tray under his gym. Going to definately get rid of it!

Soy milk is ok in small quantities. The cereal shoudn't be harmful.

I like using full sheets easy to keep an eye on any change in poops and easy to roll up a sheet at a time when messy (I lay lots of layers down a whole newspaper at a time )..
My boys share my porridge every morning I am sure your cereal is fine ...

this is one thing i am really not liking about zupreem.
he literally craps a rainbow depending on what pellets he happens to grab the most of. orange red and green. he doesnt like the bananas. but im kinda having a hard time judging his poop and watching his consistency.
he was eating roudy with the breeder, and for the past week its been only zupreem plus some cracker. he hasnt taken to fruit yet.
the important part is basically a solid center and urine outer right?
what about frequency?

also sometimes between what i would expect is his normal poop, he drops what looks like mostly water, smaller amount than a regular drop. but he has started dipping the zupreem pellets in water apparently to make them softer. so i was assuming that was the extra water he's pooping

maybe i should make this a new thread..

The colored pellets are actually designed so that you can tell they're eating them when they poop. However, artificial colors are not good for people and they are not good for birds. Our bodies do not know how to break them down. A bird's poop will vary greatly depending on how much water they consume, including high water foods like fruit and veggies. it is normal for their poop to be more runny after they eat these things.

Bumping again this is important info for new fid owners....IMO

Bumping up again for new members...

Bump..

Bumping again important information for new members,

What a horrible story! I think it should be posted in all pet stores so no one will buy that stuff anymore. Besides, newspaper is so cheap, easy to change, and helps slow the growth of microorganisms. Can't get much better than that!

What the heck is bumping?

Thanks for the info on cage lining. We thought we were just being cheap - using news paper. Echo sends his regards to all the Quakers! Especially Twizzlebeak!

Bumping is when a good informational post gets a long way down (over the page ) and I want to bring it back to the top so new members can read up on helpful info..so here we go again BUMP..lol

Thanks for the info--I had heard this before and do not use litter. Only b&w newspaper. But lately I have stopped lining the bottom with newspaper and just leave the tray. When I change(d) the paper (every morning and usually again at night) I also ended up washing the tray because there was poop on the sides. So now I just wash the tray. Any thoughts on this? Should I go back to lining with newspaper?

"after you remove all the poop and the pellets brake down to saw dust I put it in the gardens"

I'd be very careful about the sawdust as it has had contact with feline fecal matter and can contaminate your food. Feline feces carry quite a few illnesses which are transferable to humans.

yea but thats for cats...birds like to at the very least chew on these things...

i use news paper and will never use anything else... i mean common a sunday paper cost 1.75 and that lasts more then a week so in my opinion its cheaper...

Bumping for new fid owners to read..

that's why I stick with newspapers! Cheap (we don't even buy them, the neighbors are thrilled I take what I need and recycle the rest for them).
As far as peanut shells, isn't there some fungus that can be on them?

I use shavings in my cages, is that bad?

I bought a bag of the walnut shell bedding for use in the play gyms...Especially my one that is a pain the butt to clean. Like everyone else..I thought it was safe. (I scoop it daily change weekly).

Guess I should go throw it out in my garden.

Wow very good information, thanks.

Bumping this for new fid owners its a very important topic...

Thanks for bumping this Majj. I was actually considering using some sort of litter for my guys, at least in Jojo's sleep cage. The stinker shreds the paper on the bottom every night...makes a mess of biblical porportions in their sleep room. Between his feather dust and the itty bitty shreds he makes... I've taken to removing the paper and just using the tray. I take it out and wipe it down every morning. Still has a lot of dust, but no shredded paper all over the room.

Thank you!!! I've had Lucky about a month. When I realized I was his new mom, I ran to the pet store and spent a fortune. So far, I've had to replace or toss the vitamins, the CAGE!, the food, and now the bedding (which I use in the tray under the grid.) They gave me so much BAD advice... The irony is, I thought the bedding was working great, so I not only bought two more bags, I ordered and just received a huge bag (25 lbs, I think!) so I wouldn't have to keep buying the bags.... The pet store is the only resource for so many people. It makes me very upset they are either uneducated or unethical when they offer guidance!!! Thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the information. I use would shavings, and pack them down so that they can't be reached. Is this something I should get rid of?

I guess if they are below the grate and can`t be reached they would be o.k ...maybe someone else has a comment ...
I still think Newspaper is the best option I roll put a lot down and just roll a sheet up each morning , you can also SEE the poop and sometimes this is the first sign of something wrong with the bird....

Thanks Majj!
On a related note (and the reason I no longer trust pet stores) - when I was growing up I had hamsters, and always kept them on wood shavings. Then as an adult, I got another hamster. She died, choking, in my hand. After she'd passed, I pried her little mouth open and pulled what looked like a wad of shavings out of her mouth. It was only a piece or two, but it's not like hamsters are large. So, I got another hamster. This little guy, too, died of the SAME thing. So I got another hamster AND called a small animal vet (took several vets to find one that knew jack about hamsters). Here's a synopsis of what he said:

1) He told me how to administer a hamster heimlich.
2) He said that while choking on shavings isn't a frequent thing, it happened "more often than you would think".
3) He advised AGAINST putting hamsters on wood shavings and recommended the recycled paper pulp (it's gray looking - about the color of a plain jane drink carrier from a fast food place)
4) Confused, I said "But the pet stores have them on shavings!" His reply? It's because the shavings companies GIVE them FREE shavings as a way to promote their product.

Sooo... I'd stay away from wood shavings.

Thanks again, Majj! Great article!

Bumping to front for new members...

yikes!
I use paper too but...

Skeeter loves corn. I have given him pieces of corn on the cob before - is that safe to do?

How about this one??.........
I took a cob - dried it - cut it into 1/2 in pieces and threaded those thru a home made wood ring for him to chew on - safe???