Hi, everyone this is my first forum. I have a 7 year old quaker Rocky who is being hospitalized right now for metal poisioning. The cage we had him in he picked some of the paint off and became deathly ill. After almost $2000.00 to cure him we have been advised to purchase a stainless steel cage, unfortunately my husband and I are purchasing our first house and our financial resources have been strechted. The cheapest one I was able to find was about $800.00 and would take about 4 weeks to arrive! ANY help would be greatly appreciated. I do not want this to happen again.

Welcome to the forum!!!

I am very sorry that you QP was sick!!! I sure hope he is on the mend...metal poisoning can be very scary.

Now, did you have a powder coated cage before? I don't think I have heard of a bird getting metal poisoning from a powder coated cage. They are much less expensive then stainless steel. If you purchase a brand new, powder coated cage, there will be no paint for a bird to pick off.

I'll be waiting to hear other's thoughts on this one too.

Sending healing thoughts your QPs way.

I bought the cage from a friend who is also a bird lover about 4 years ago. It seems as if it is powder coated. I have asked my friend who I purchased the cage from and he cannot remember who he got it from, all he remembers is it is a off brand. I assumed a new powder coated cage would be alright, however the vet today since I get to bring Rocky home tomorrow says he cannot suggest another cage besides a stainless steel cage b/c he is afraid this may happen again. I do not have children and Rocky and my Golden Retriever are them for my hubby and I. This has just been awful. Thanks for your imput. Also my hubby is considering making a cage himself out of stainless steel. Yes, my hands are covering my eyes and ears!lol

There is one on ebay right now being bid on:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Large-Stainless-Steel-...1QQcmdZViewItem

They have others on there for around $600. Check Craigslist, hoobly.com, livedeal.com, and local places and put in wanted ads, someone may have a used one they are wanting to sell.

Is there a reason he recommends stainless steal?

I figured a lot of people would recommend ebay

I have a couple of them being watched right now on Ebay. The seller will not be in till July 2 so we have some time if we see others. Thanks for the advice.

The Vet suggested the stainless steel cage as the most effective way to prevent this from happening again. The stainless steel is non toxic and does not use any powder coating. I asked him if there is anything else he would recommend and he stated he could not recommend another cage b/c it would be possibly setting Rocky up for sickness and even death again.

Wow that cage on ebay looks good especially if you can get it at the price stated...Good Luck..

Yeah, that looks to be a good deal if you are close to that area! That's how I got my cage for Wasabi. I had to go to NC to pick it up but it was only $75 and I am so pleased with it! Good Luck!

i wish i had more info but the ones given above are great resorses. so all i can say is give the sick baby some kisses from me , and good luck withthe hunt

~nikki

Stainless steel are really only necessary for a bird that's a chewer (like this one, apparently) although for all birds they are nicer. They won't chip, flake or rust... though you have to be sure if you're going for it that you get the good SS, otherwise it might. But when you consider that your parrot will probably live 20 years and that powdercoated ones can become rusty/chipped or whatever in as little as 5... or if you have a 'too that's a real chewer that might live 80+ years... it's more of an up-front investment versus buying new cages every decade. I'm eying those ones that fold... *purr* Talk about expensive though!

I hope your bird is on the mend. If your bird is chewing on the cage and it was powder coated and an old cage eventually the coating will wear off. Stainless steel is the way to go if you want a product that will last but more often than not its pretty expensive. You could go to www.loveonawing.com and call them and ask them if they have any on clearance or at a discount. Sometimes you can negotiate prices with them. They were pretty cheap at a birdfair I was at.

In the meantime you could get another powder coated cage. The new powdercoating is alot stronger and you could actually use it awhile before your bird starts picking at it and perhaps by that time you will have enough cash saved up to get a really good stainless one.

Most of the cages I have are powder coated I do have a couple of stainless. I have a kings cage for my U2 that is powder coated and so far she hasnt been able to bite off any of the coating.

You should also check your toys and water dishes to make sure none of them are made of zinc. Even toys marketed for parrots are not always stainless steel. Sometimes when I buy toys and I see non stainless pieces on them I remove them and replace them with stainless. The main culprit are chains, bells, and fasteners. If you look at a bell if there is no imprint on it that says stainless chances are it isnt.

There are other ways zinc cant get into parrots. Having ones water supply tested is a good idea too especially if you have old plumbing with solder joints that can leech lead zinc etc...


good luck on your quest for a stainless cage.

any luck yet ..?? Hows your baby ..?? fully recovered I hope..

Rocky is doing great so far. I picked him up Wednesday evening and he is doing really well. I have bird booster, a infection medication and a metal toxicity medication as well. We finally got his blood work today and it is not lead posioning but the vet said that since he responded so well to the medication he is certain it is one of the metal toxins. My husband and I did not have a extra 300 to get the other metals tested. He has adjusted well to everything and is back to biting my husband, lol.

We are still on the search for a cage we did see the ones on ebay but they are still out of our price range, we sent a email to a company who the vet tech bought a stainless steel cage from in Dec for $100.00 this is what she said(I swear I am not lying. Regardless we are going to have to make a decision soon. I am not risking my QP's health again.

Thank you everyone for all of your help, I cannot express my gratitude.

oh and all toys that have any metal clips etc have been removed. I am not going through this again. Rockys check up is next Friday.

Thanks again.

Did you get xrays ? this should have shown some metal bits if he actually chewd flakes from the cage ..I went through this with my beloved JJ , an Australian King parrot but lost the battle after 3 months of fighting (the vet myself and JJ ) it left me an emotional wreck I still get meloncoly during theses 3 months another aniversary is of his passing is looming, I have written about it in Loving Memories ,
Here is a Great place for Stainless Steel toys I am awaiting a shipment at the moment if you buy something mention I(Marion from Australia) reccomended the site the owners name is Monica and the toys and items are TOP QUALITY...
http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/

Best of Luck..

I am so happy to hear Rocky is home and doing good. Good luck in your search for a cage, keep watching Craigslist for your area and watch you local newspapers and small shopper papers.

How about an acrylic cage? http://indianapolis.wthr.com/buyselltrade/...ts%20for%20sale
much more cost effective and no heavy metal worries

Your poor little dude! So glad he's doing better!

I found this site to have pretty reasonable cage prices relative to other places. How about this stainless one?--

Stainless quaker cage

There is another one that is a size smaller:

http://www.qualitydiscountcages.com/prodde...less&cat=21

Shipping is free on all cages. They are having an additional 75% off sale currently. Or you can use the promotional code "chat10" to get 10% off the price (whichever is better).

Good luck on your quest! Cages are pricey these days- we just bought one for our CAG coming home in a few weeks.