So, so annoyed and anxious

So I clean my en suite bathroom with natural cleaners of course, that don’t produce harmful fumes. But today, our cleaner decided to use a CHLORINE BASED BLEACH to clean my bathroom. She did it with the door closed and the bathroom window open of course, but I could smell the fumes when I came into my room. I immediately moved my birds to their outdoor cage downstairs and have opened all of my windows, as well as put the air purifier on its highest setting to try to dissipate the fumes.

I am so freaking worried that my birds are going to die because of this. They are not showing any signs of being affected. They are chatty, active, preening, eating and playing. I’m just so, so anxious. I can’t believe this has happened. I’m spending the whole day watching them. I feel like such a terrible parront for letting this happen. [emoji20]

EDIT: I found this info online

“You will know if your bird has suffered from fumes or aerosol poisoning because it will have difficulty breathing, tremors and other neurological symptoms. In severe cases, there may be sudden death. Unfortunately, the time between the bird exhibiting symptoms and death, is usually short.”

Is this accurate? My birds haven’t displayed any of these symptoms and it’s been about an hour.

I'm not too sure on this myself, but have you seen any difficulty in breathing, panting, fast breathing etc? If not I'm sure they'll be fine.

If you can, notify your cleaner and tell them strictly not to use those products.

to be honest you probably would have noticed very quickly if they were affected, no harm in keeping an extra eye on them just to be safe. dependent on the weather if it's comfortable to keep the windows open for the day then sure, if not so much I would attempt to create an "air corridor" in the house pushing wind out of the bathroom window just to help speed along the process. But with the purifier and windows open it should dissipate pretty quick

ShatteredChaos said:

I'm not too sure on this myself, but have you seen any difficulty in breathing, panting, fast breathing etc? If not I'm sure they'll be fine.

If you can, notify your cleaner and tell them strictly not to use those products.

Click to expand...

No difficulty breathing, or anything like that. I’ve already told her to be careful in future... still with them now, Opal is talking to himself, Pearl is doing acrobatics hanging off of her toys and Berry is preening. I’m just so worried [emoji20]

LordTriggs said:

to be honest you probably would have noticed very quickly if they were affected, no harm in keeping an extra eye on them just to be safe. dependent on the weather if it's comfortable to keep the windows open for the day then sure, if not so much I would attempt to create an "air corridor" in the house pushing wind out of the bathroom window just to help speed along the process. But with the purifier and windows open it should dissipate pretty quick

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Yes I am hoping that is the case! It’s a windy day, but quite warm, so I’m going to keep as many windows open as possible.

I'm agreeing with the above... I think you'd have had the tragic results by now. I do believe you're safe.
Mannnnnnnnnnn, I would want to choke that person OUTTT! Is this cleaner hired by you? Or your building?
I would hope you can find a way to document/formalize your RESTRICTIONS on toxic stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GaleriaGila said:

I'm agreeing with the above... I think you'd have had the tragic results by now. I do believe you're safe.
Mannnnnnnnnnn, I would want to choke that person OUTTT! Is this cleaner hired by you? Or your building?
I would hope you can find a way to document/formalize your RESTRICTIONS on toxic stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

She is hired by us, but I think she just had a lapse in judgement today and accidentally used the wrong products, she’s usually super awesome with keeping toxic stuff away from the birds! Anyway, she’s very sweet and we talked about it and I don’t think it will happen again. Just so thankful this didn’t end tragically! I didn’t make her feel bad about it, I was just as kind as possible and explained it all!

I had to clean my bird room with bleach as I didn't have anything comparable on hand. Everything from about 5-6' high got soaked. (birds not in room during this)

Even after trying to air out the room, it was at least a couple of weeks before the smell finally dissipated. The birds did have to go back in before the smell was gone...


They are fine, but I wish to never have to do that again.

reeb said:

ShatteredChaos said:

I'm not too sure on this myself, but have you seen any difficulty in breathing, panting, fast breathing etc? If not I'm sure they'll be fine.

If you can, notify your cleaner and tell them strictly not to use those products.

Click to expand...

No difficulty breathing, or anything like that. I’ve already told her to be careful in future... still with them now, Opal is talking to himself, Pearl is doing acrobatics hanging off of her toys and Berry is preening. I’m just so worried [emoji20]

Click to expand...

yeah they sound fine to me, sounds like an amusing sight to be honest!

I agree with all the above. Residual ‘smells’ are not the same as ‘fumes’. What you read out there is to make you err on the side of caution.

I really shouldn’t say this, but over the decades my (and family members’) birds have “smelled” cleaning products, candles, and been exposed to “old” Teflon while cooking. None had any problems either long or short term, and one is still going strong 23 years. Don’t get me wrong anyone - of course I’m not saying to do that, but just saying the OP can stop worrying now ; If they were to be affected, as was said above, it would have been immediate reaction or closer to the time the exposure happened.

Room and bathroom are completely aired out now, the very windy day definitely helped! Just brought the three upstairs again and all is good! So thankful that everything worked out okay


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad to see your birds are okay. Make sure to remind your cleaner person to use the right stuff next time! lol

So happy this story has a happy if not stressful ending! I've found diluted vinegar to be a good cleaner in the area of birds. Safe, non-toxic odor, and does a great job!

Scott said:

So happy this story has a happy if not stressful ending! I've found diluted vinegar to be a good cleaner in the area of birds. Safe, non-toxic odor, and does a great job!

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Acetic Acid? Yikes!

CH3COOH The following measures are recommended if the airborne exposure concentration is 15 ppm or greater (depending on time exposed), if symptoms, e. g. eye irritation or pulmonary symptoms ...

we are all gonna die!

CO2 the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has varied between 180–210 ppm during ice ages, increasing to 280–300 ppm during warmer interglacials.

DiscoDuck said:

Scott said:

So happy this story has a happy if not stressful ending! I've found diluted vinegar to be a good cleaner in the area of birds. Safe, non-toxic odor, and does a great job!

Click to expand...

Acetic Acid? Yikes!

CH3COOH The following measures are recommended if the airborne exposure concentration is 15 ppm or greater (depending on time exposed), if symptoms, e. g. eye irritation or pulmonary symptoms ...

we are all gonna die!

CO2 the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has varied between 180—210 ppm during ice ages, increasing to 280—300 ppm during warmer interglacials.

Click to expand...

I use diluted vinegar in a well ventilated room, roughly 1 part per 20 of cold water. Anecdotally, hazards seem to exist when vinegar is heated to a high temperature.

Some discussions of vinegar use: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/29173-question-about-cleaning-vinegar.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/47995-heated-vinegar-around-companion-birds.html

gotcha.. vinegar brought to mind talk about bottled water vs river water..

DiscoDuck said:

gotcha.. vinegar brought to mind talk about bottled water vs river water..

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How true! I once asked my CAV about the merits of bottle/purified water vs tap. His response was something to the effect of how birds drink "s**t" water from the wild and seem to thrive.