Can birds aspirate from bathing themselves?

Dinosrawr · Feb 6, 2015

I normally shower Shiko because I've found he tends to get too much water up his nostrils when he bathes. Just a couple of minutes ago, I decided to see if he would be okay taking a bath. All seemed dandy and fine, until he stopped moving, stepped out, and started wheezing and gurgling. I ran over to him and put my mouth over his beak and nostrils to blow short bursts of air into his lungs, and then tried to put him upside down with his tail in the air and his beak downwards. While I was trying to position him, he took off flying. He landed shortly after, made some chatter, made a few wheezes, and now after about 15 minutes he seems normal. I called the emergency avian vet, but they have to call me back about it (he's not high priority because he's still functioning normally).

I honestly can't find any information about what to do about a bird that is essentially drowning other than "to contact an emergency vet" (we can checkmark that)... which is rather frustrating as a pet owner. It actually kind of shocks me that he doesn't know how to bathe properly, as I thought it was quite instinctual. My poor boy is so intelligent in some ways, and yet so shockingly silly in others...

JerseyWendy · Feb 6, 2015

Holy smokes, what a scare!

I've never heard of a bird aspirating themselves while bathing. May I ask 'what' exactly he took a bath in, and how much water was in the 'tub'? Was there too much water in there perhaps?

So glad to hear that he seems fine now! Please keep us posted what the vet tells you when he calls back, ok?

Allee · Feb 6, 2015

Yikes Chantal, that must have been a scary experience for both of you. I've never seen a bird do that while bathing or being misted. Please let us know what the vet says.

Dinosrawr · Feb 6, 2015

Still waiting for the call... I'm kind of wondering if the secretary didn't actually pass my call over. But he bathes in a large dog food bowl, and he never has more than 1" of water in it. He couldn't fully submerge his body if he tried, and yet he manages this!

I know that birds can drown if they have too much water, so I've always been cautious about it. But for some reason Shiko had ALWAYS sucked at bathing... when we first got him, he did the same thing. I thought it was because he was perhaps too young and would learn, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've let him bathe out of fear of him doing this. This time was the most extreme it's been so no more bath time for him, unfortunately.

veimar · Feb 6, 2015

OMG, that's so scary! He might just have gotten over excited. Is he okay right now? Maybe you could use a shallower water dish? I use a large but very shallow water dish (it's a food storage container) so there is about an inch of water there. They love to bath there, and the splatter is all over the room, but I don't think even a budgie could drown in it.

Dinosrawr · Feb 6, 2015

The vet just called me back, and she told me that he likely only had upper respiratory noise, meaning that he had water in his oral cavity and upper respiratory tract with very little in his trachea (otherwise we likely would have passed within minutes due to his size).

As for the appropriate things to do, she said taking him with his beak downwards and his tail nearly upright was the right move to do so that gravity could do most of the work. The breathing I did on him likely wasn't necessary unless they go into cardiac arrest, but she said it could have also helped move some water out of his upper respiratory tract. So for now it's just monitoring him and making sure he's having no breathing difficulty and no discharge (in case of pneumonia).

And the vet and I agreed on the verdict of no bathing for the rest of his little feathered life - only showers and misting from here on out. It makes me sad because I know he loves them, but the last thing I want is for him to aspirate while having a bath, the goof!

Allee · Feb 7, 2015

I'm glad Shiko's aquatic adventure ended well. Poor guy, I'm sorry he lost his bathing privileges, but better safe than sorry.

Minimaker · Feb 7, 2015

Have you thought of running the kitchen sink tap on very low trickle and putting a low tray or platter underneath that would hold a low level of water? He couldn't dunk but he could wallow in it a little. I put Tazzy in the sink with a small dish underneath the tap on lukewarm and let him splash around. Sometimes he's nervous and I'll stick my hand under the water and let it splatter off me and onto him. He'll sort of stand there like he's in a trance with the splatter hitting him. His eyes will close as though it feels good and he's enjoying it. Then I wrap him in a towel and take him over in front of our electric fireplace blower to dry off because it's winter here and I don't want him getting too cold. He really likes that.

Kiwibird · Feb 7, 2015

O my goodness! Kiwi sometimes gets a little water in his nose and sneezes a couple times to get it out, but never anything like what Shiko did. I'm guessing misting baths for him from now on? Glad he's ok!

Dinosrawr · Feb 7, 2015

Shiko enjoys his showers as well, so I'm not too concerned about finding alternatives for his bathing woes. And unfortunately he's terrified of our sink because it's all black. He's under the impression it will eat him, haha. If I need to give him a quick bath I just hold him in the bathroom sink while water runs over him while protecting his nostrils, he makes the cutest noises when I do

And thanks everyone, I'm glad he's okay too. It's scary how easily things can go downhill! But thankfully he's his eccentric little blue self

Hawk · Feb 7, 2015

Dinosrawr said:
I normally shower Shiko because I've found he tends to get too much water up his nostrils when he bathes. Just a couple of minutes ago, I decided to see if he would be okay taking a bath. All seemed dandy and fine, until he stopped moving, stepped out, and started wheezing and gurgling. I ran over to him and put my mouth over his beak and nostrils to blow short bursts of air into his lungs, and then tried to put him upside down with his tail in the air and his beak downwards. While I was trying to position him, he took off flying. He landed shortly after, made some chatter, made a few wheezes, and now after about 15 minutes he seems normal. I called the emergency avian vet, but they have to call me back about it (he's not high priority because he's still functioning normally).

I honestly can't find any information about what to do about a bird that is essentially drowning other than "to contact an emergency vet" (we can checkmark that)... which is rather frustrating as a pet owner. It actually kind of shocks me that he doesn't know how to bathe properly, as I thought it was quite instinctual. My poor boy is so intelligent in some ways, and yet so shockingly silly in others...

Wow...never heard that one before, though I guess it's possible. My grey is never done bathing unless here's no more water....I take him in shower on the perch and run the shower on low mist spray from shower head. He's never done, he comes out and plays in water bowl, when that's gone he goes over to the other cages and uses and plays in their water...The guy is totally drenched. Sticks his whole head in at times, a bit scary, but he dose it. Poppie My Amazon is the same way. Vinny, the other Zon is happy to get wet and be done with it, same with my Senni.

I have a 3 tier water fall outside next to the Bird Gazebo, enclosed in the gazebo so wild birds don't go in it and the grey sits at the pool bottom and splashes around. Loves it. Like his natural habitat sorta thing.

Dinosrawr · Feb 7, 2015

I wish Shiko could bathe with such skill as your grey, haha! Unfortunately he can't... And I'm not sure why. Avery also completely submerges herself without problems and will be completely soaked.

chippy · Feb 21, 2015

How strange! Both my IRN submerge their heads entirely in their water dishes, and Pippin loves to be under the shower, head and all. (Tiki hates that!) Never seen anything other than a bit of sneezing from either of them.

Emilymaggie · Feb 21, 2015

I work with a hyena who doesn't know how to drink water! She opens her mouth and bites at the water, or she dips her feet in her water dish and licks it off. Some animals just didn't read the manual

Can birds aspirate from bathing themselves?

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