MEET CHITO A.K.A MR. CLEAN
We received a frantic call a few months ago, from a mother whose two year old had doused their cockatiel, Chito, with a cleaning product. She tried to wash it off, but that seemed to make it worse. His breathing was labored and he was not in good condition by the time she called us. While she wanted to get help for her bird, she couldn’t afford to take him to the vet and was ready and willing to relinquish him to TGF.
We arranged for Chito to be taken immediately to Dr. Kris Ahlgrim. The first few hours were rough - it wasn’t looking good for Chito. He was in an incubator and very weak. But Chito wasn’t going to give up without a fight. He slowly started to regain strength and it looked like he was going to have a fighting chance. What’s a little bleach to a big, strong cockatiel anyway!
Chito, who has been affectionately nicknamed Mr. Clean by TGF staff, has finished quarantine at our Acoma Street location and is doing great! He has become quite chummy with Syan, another tiel who is in our Long Term Foster program, and he will make a great pet for someone who knows the importance of cleaning green for parrot’s sake.
This story has a happy ending, but we often hear stories that don’t. Parrots have very different lung structures to humans and other animals. Many everyday products can be very dangerous to your bird. Please read this article on Green Cleaning to begin to educate yourself. The Gabriel Foundation offers many resources to help you to raise a healthy, happy bird.
TGF DOES NOT BREED BIRDS, regardless of the species (nor will we place adoptive birds in breeding situations). We make every effort to provide a living environment that does not encourage breeding behaviors. Should eggs be laid, every effort is made to alter the environment and remove the egg(s) as soon as possible but discourage repeated laying. Eggs are never allowed to mature to hatch. Very few birds are housed male with female and careful attention is paid to these birds. Should breeding behaviors be observed, careful assessment of the situation is undertaken and every action is implemented to change this behavior.
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