How long/best method to remove tomato sauce from tail feathers

Yes, you read that right. Tomato sauce on the tail feathers (thought he'd just help himself to my husbands food on the table). He dipped the tips in it without noticing. I gave him a thorough bath this morning, but it didn't seem to wash off. Should I try something else or just leave it? It's going to make the end of his tail ratty, I'm sure (his leg feathers got ratty the time he climbed in a bowl of pasta).

At least hubby learned why I'm always SO strict about him staying on his perch at dinner. He's both a pest and he doesn't know better than to do stuff like this. He may be "adorable" for about 2 seconds down on the table, but he will be (thank god) staying on his perch at meal times from now on!

I'm trying not to laugh, April, I really, truly am. I have this wild visual of Kiwi's tail being all red and saucied up. :32:

What a little stinker, helping himself to a bowl full of pasta, smothered in red sauce. (Nope, I'm not grinning.....)

I'd just use regular water and nothing else, and I'm sure in time he'll look like new. Would it be too much to ask for a photo of Saucy-Boy? :54:

I agree with Wendy..I am trying not to laugh, truly I am but Kiwi is such a funny guy! I would also like a picture of his sauciness!

HAHA!! That happened to my lutino cockatiel Joey once… just misted him a bit and it eventually cleaned off… too funny

Kiwibird said:

At least hubby learned why I'm always SO strict about him staying on his perch at dinner. He's both a pest and he doesn't know better than to do stuff like this. He may be "adorable" for about 2 seconds down on the table, but he will be (thank god) staying on his perch at meal times from now on!

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I'm with you on that one... I don't allow animals at the table either. That's where I draw the line.

Mind you, they get some, and they get theirs first... primarily because then they are otherwise occupied, and we can eat in peace...

I've just soaked them. I don't know any other way... Plop him down in the sink, and turn on the water let him soak a minute.



With mine, you'd only be reinforcing, let's do something to get dirty, so I can go play in the sink some more... that would be opening up a can of worms!

Hm, if you've already given him a thorough bath and it is still staining, I don't know! :52: I'm thinking it might just have to wear off, and until he molts all of it out, you might have a 'rare color mutation' BFA

It just popped into my mind... but how bout baking soda or hydrogen peroxide? If it were me I would try it. Peroxide 'fizzes out' proteins (such as blood and organic substance), but might work on a stain. Baking soda might work too? I used peroxide to clean Griffin's feet up when he lost his toenail.

Well, the poor little creature got his due justice for being a rude dinner guest. Joe held him while I (gently) washed his tail with a small, clean scrub brush. Kiwi was not amused. He swore at us both lol. It's drying up and looks like just the very tips are ragged. At least the feathers aren't matted!

Well that surely taught Saucie-Boy to mind his manners .... until next time....

I'm glad you were able to get it all off him, April. Cracked up laughing once again when you said he was swearing at the both of you. LOL.

If it's any consolation I once had Alice, who's a poor flyer and not the most precise when it comes to landing, ambush me when I was eating lasagne and land straight in the middle of the plate. She would have happily stayed there and eaten her way out - I had other ideas and stuck her straight under the kitchen tap, much to her displeasure. Birds will do anything for junk food...

JerseyWendy said:

Well that surely taught Saucie-Boy to mind his manners .... until next time....

I'm glad you were able to get it all off him, April. Cracked up laughing once again when you said he was swearing at the both of you. LOL.

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Oh he came saying a certain 'swear word'. It has devolved into a more parrot noise, but you can still tell what he's saying:54: My mom almost died the first time she heard it while watching him. She had to call and ask me if he just said what she thought he did lol. I wish we had someone to get a video of him getting his tail washed! His feet were going crazy. I'm surprised he didn't get a chunk of flesh out of one of us! But I bet he'll be a lot happier without a ratty, matted tail for the summer though.

April, I must also apologize for laughing! Yep, I laughed about Kiwi swearing at you too.

When I first got Poppy, she was underweight, Harry was still a little underweight too. I made whole grain pasta and organic veggie red sauce for them and because I didn't know better at the time, I gave all the birdies a helping in their bowls. While my back was turned, Harry used her Italian cuisine to decorate her cage. She draped strands of spaghetti all over her perches. What monkey wouldn't want to climb that tree? Poppy loved what Harry did with her place, so she followed Harry's bad example and decorated herself and her cage. I tossed that recipe. I used diluted original Listerine and a new toothbrush to get the sauce off Poppy's white feathers. If they turn themselves strange colors now, I bathe them and let the rest wear off. Vegetable dye makes for pretty parrot colors.

"Let him soak a minute", that's funny, Mark!

Birdman666 said:

I'm with you on that one... I don't allow animals at the table either. That's where I draw the line.

Mind you, they get some, and they get theirs first... primarily because then they are otherwise occupied, and we can eat in peace...

I've just soaked them. I don't know any other way... Plop him down in the sink, and turn on the water let him soak a minute.



With mine, you'd only be reinforcing, let's do something to get dirty, so I can go play in the sink some more... that would be opening up a can of worms!

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He's allowed AT the table, but not on it. I set his perch on a chair and put food in the dish for him. He decided to get on the table a couple times, which hubby laughed historically at and let him eat:20: He will be backed off and/or returned to his perch from now on, where he KNOWS he should stay.

Kiwi is more of a shower and/or dish bath bird (often times both in the same day). He isn't fond of the sink though.