Cross contamination? (Bird sitting)

I’m helping a friend out by parrot sitting (the birds remain at their house) this week. To kick it off, I decided to deep clean the cages as they’d been sorely neglected and were extremely filthy. I’m not here to throw stones, the person in question has been dealing with a lot of life stuff and loves their birds but has clearly been overwhelmed.

I spent about two and a half hours scraping, soaking and cleaning. The birds appear healthy and they have had them for years but they haven’t been able to afford to take them in for a vet check. This worries me as I obviously have birds at home.

I used gloves for as much of it as possible and when I got home I immediately changed clothes, threw what I was wearing into the wash on hot and took a shower. I didn’t touch my birds or any of their things until I was fully showered and changed. Is that sufficient? I’m hoping I’m being paranoid over nothing because in spite of the nasty cages the birds were all alert and in good feather condition. I figure people who work in rescue deal with similar all the time and also have birds at home, and I followed the same protocol I used when I volunteered at the local animal shelter.

Good of you to clean them all--- it is definitely a risk, so it's best to make sure you do clean them thoroughly.

Heck, feather dusk can even spread asymptomatic things like PBFD...so you can never be too cautious in my opinion- it can easily be spread on clothing etc.

The fact that you showered and washed clothes was very smart. I think that is sufficient, but I think it was necessary. Good job!!! I don't think you need to worry if you keep that level of caution up.

Yes, that’s exactly the disease I’m most afraid of, haha. One of their birds came from the same breeder as ours but the other two did not. Should I do the same thing even if I’m just going over to check their food and water and change a cage liner? Their cages are impeccably clean now but I can’t say the same for the rest of the apartment, the vacuum cleaner there sucks, and not in the good way!

I was planning on dropping in very quickly this afternoon to do a food and liner change. I was hoping to squeeze it in while my oldest is at ballet practice nearby, but that means I’d either have to wear my “cleaning” clothes for a lot longer than a quick car trip.

Yes, when working with animals or in agriculture, it's important to change clothes leave shoes outside, and take a showe. Certainly what I would do.
Wonderful of you to do the deep cleaning. We all have times when some things are overwhelmed.

What you did was sufficient and necessary. Since you ditched your clothes, washed them immediately, and had thouragh shower, all before coming near your bird, they should be safe.

I do this all the time when I wash out the backyard bird bath and change the wild bird feeders; this work sees me wearing garden clothes and crocs, and it's only done right at the end of the gardening chores when I habitually hose off the crocs and go dump the soiled clothes in the washing machine.
I did the same thing last weekend when I stopped to help a lady rescue a native bird on the roadside with a broken wing. Had blood and dander all over my hands and clothes, so as soon as I walked in the front door I got my partner to distract Maui so I could strip, throw the clothes in the washer, scrub off my shoes, and run upstairs to shower. Even then I compulsively washed my hands several times (med style up to the elbow) in the kitchen sink before I allowed Maui to greet me. And he's fine a week later.

The key is to be sensible, careful, and cautious.

I actually ended up speaking to my vet and they agreed. This time I was a little smarter and brought a change of clothes since I had to go back to my kids ballet studio. I still took a shower and changed a third time when i got home, but at least I wasn’t wearing potentially contaminated clothes at the studio!

I left a bottle of hand sanitizer and gloves at the apartment for tomorrow and I also scrubbed up to the elbow there and again at the ballet studio. This is exhausting. I told them next time I can’t bird sit unless they see a vet.

As a bird breeder myself, quarantine is always a must
All birds have a habit of not exhibiting signs of illnesses, until they pass it onto your birds which makes them sick, not the originally infected one
It has a lot to do with different pathogens to each environment, for example I might buy some finches from a bloke who's birds are not as susceptible to Coccidiosis compared to my finches that have not come into contact with this disease before, without quarantining the finches are released into the same aviary with the blokes finches and your finches and that where they spread the disease onto my finches. (this is just an example)
A bird does not have to look or act sick to be sick
Quarantining allows you to perform preventative medication practices and allows the new bird time to exhibit any signs of illnesses that you can then act upon
5 - 6 weeks is a good time to medicate and see if that bird is sick
Thanks
Noah Till