Parakeet In Warm Oil

My budgie flew into warm oil while he was outside the cage, I washed her and dried her but I'm not sure if she will survive. Any help?

If you aren't sure she's gonna survive your first stop is the vet. What kind of oil was it and aprox how hot?

Get her to an avian vet asap. The sooner you get her there the more likely it is that she will survive.

Sorry for the harshness, but ‘duh’...

AppleAndSnow said:

My budgie flew into warm oil while he was outside the cage, I washed her and dried her but I'm not sure if she will survive. Any help?

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Sounds like you care and love your friend! He/she is hurt and needs you!

How warm? warm like ah, that feels nice or warm like not quite ready to put the french fries in yet? Birds have such thin skin and can burn easily. If she got any of the oil into her breathing passages, that could be very serious. With wild birds, the usual procedure is to wash them with Dawn dish soap, rinsing them very thoroughly because they will ingest any soap left on the feathers when preening, then dry them and keep them warm. If you google "hospital cage" you will find some good examples of supportive care.

This is all emergency first aid, which is just a substitute for when you can't get to a vet.But I'd really take my bird to an avian vet if this happened. They have a website, aav.org, where you can search for a certified avian vet near you. A CAV isn't any more expensive than a "regular" vet, but they have a lot of extra training and experience with birds.

There's also if it was scented oil, which shouldn't be used around birds to begin with but being right up in the fumes could be an additional problem.

Hoping everything is okay and your budgie is doing well!

Owlet said:

If you aren't sure she's gonna survive your first stop is the vet. What kind of oil was it and aprox how hot?

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It was not cold, but it wasn't burning hot either.

Kentuckienne said:

How warm? warm like ah, that feels nice or warm like not quite ready to put the french fries in yet? Birds have such thin skin and can burn easily. If she got any of the oil into her breathing passages, that could be very serious. With wild birds, the usual procedure is to wash them with Dawn dish soap, rinsing them very thoroughly because they will ingest any soap left on the feathers when preening, then dry them and keep them warm. If you google "hospital cage" you will find some good examples of supportive care.

This is all emergency first aid, which is just a substitute for when you can't get to a vet.But I'd really take my bird to an avian vet if this happened. They have a website, aav.org, where you can search for a certified avian vet near you. A CAV isn't any more expensive than a "regular" vet, but they have a lot of extra training and experience with birds.

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It was "ah, that feels nice" warm. How expensive is the vet?

That's something you'd have to ask your vet but to be blunt if you don't have emergency vet funds set aside for your pets it might not be the best idea to have the. This is for all animals not just birds but birds will almost always be on the pricier side because they're sensitive to medicines and are exotics

I once experienced a bird in oil and didn't know where or who the closest avian vet was... I lived in a tiny little town (less than 100 people, 1/4 of a mile long, 1 traffic light that blinked yellow...) with extremely limited resources. It was my first cockatiel. She not only flew into the pan of oil (wasn't hot by any means! just room temp) but also drank it as if it was water.

She was really sick for a couple of days after that and I had to bathe her multiple times to remove the oil. I kept a close watch on her and fed her anything she was willing to eat - which wasn't much.

I can say that she survived and made a full recovery. In fact, she'll be 17 this year! Learned a big lesson from that and it has never happened since. Although I didn't have a vet back then, I have one now!


Whether or not your budgie may survive could very well depend on you and your budgie. It usually costs $40-$80 to walk in and see a vet - more for medications and tests.



Hopefully your little one will be okay!