A Serious Question

[buurd]

I have to preface this as a serious question. It's something that came up organically, and it can only be asked of this kind of pet. So here goes:

What happens if a bird poops in your ear?

Has this happened to anyone? What is the first aid protocol? Do you need to go to ER? Can they pass an infection or parasite onto you?

Not just your ear, too. What happens if it lands on your eye or mouth?

 

[Laurasea]

Ewww.... Most of the time you will be fine. For ear you can use rubbing alcohol, or saline. For eyes saline eye rinse.

 

[Kiwibird]

Lol. I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing WITH you. We have all ended up with bird poop somewhere we'd rather not have it at some point. Unless you have a sick bird, there is no need to fear bird poop. Simply flush or rise the affected area with a saline solution or water. Any healthy bird has a virtually 0 chance of passing along anything that could make you sick, even if you come in closer than you ever wanted to contact with their poop. Remember, their entire digestive tract is fundamentally different than that of a mammal and their 'poop' also contains urine and uric acid which both kill a lot of fecal bacteria. They are also not meat eaters (or at least, probably shouldn't eat very much of it), eliminating another large source of dangerous bacteria in the poop.

 

[GaleriaGila]

In my decades with the Rb... BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

In our decades together, I have often been napping on the bed in "his" room while he rummaged around on my body and in my hair. Twice, he managed to drop his boon in my ear. I "EEEEEKED" and recovered, and lived to tell.

Oh, the joys of parronthood!

 

[noodles123]

LOL-The mouth is going to be the most risky of these choices (followed closely by the nose). You want to be very careful when handling bird poop/cleaning cages etc. You can get quite sick, even if you and your bird are healthy. I am not saying you will , but you can. If a healthy bird pooped into the mouth of a healthy person (directly, as in 100% poo into wide-open mouth-lol/ew) that would be a fairly high-risk situation. I might call the doctor and I would monitor symptoms closely. I would even consider running a gram-stain or testing on my bird's poop (just in case I eventually contracted something and needed to know what it was)...The risks would increase if the person or the bird were sick.

E coli, for instance is a common oral-fecal risk (among myriad others). Eyes and nose could also be pretty bad in theory, as inhaling poop particles can lead to fungal infections of the lungs (among other things)...you could get pink-eye (conjunctivitis) from poop in the eye etc....If your bird has any transmittable illness (psittacosis etc) you can get those by ingesting poop particles.

Fecal matter of any sort is full of "crap" (tee hee hee) that you do not want to enter your body. Some of the things in bird poop that don't hurt them much can be harmful to us. That having been said, they can also get sick from eating their own poop!

IN TERMS OF THE EAR LOL---It is a good question!
Aside from something minor like an ear-ache, I don't think you would get very sick from it (if at all) unless you had a SERIOUSLY low immune system (Assuming your bird isn't carrying parrot fever or bird-flu lol) and assuming your ears are intact structurally (no punctured ear-drums etc).

It is a valid question though because the alternate route of entry(ear) could pose unique bacterial/fungal hazards in relation to the sinuses/brain etc....but for the most part, only if the structure of the inner/middle ear was damaged in some way.

Honestly, if you have ever swam in lakes or ponds, I imagine you have had various forms of diluted fecal matter in your ears already lol. In my non-professional estimate, the biggest concern following a poop to the ear would be a blockage/secondary-infection from the introduction of foreign matter+bacteria (depending on how far back in your ear canal the poop was able to travel lol). Maybe an ear-infection or fungal issues (especially if the blockage wasn't cleared).

I would probably flush out (+drain and dry) my ears ----I would flush with a diluted peroxide mixture (after very thoroughly wiping off any external debris). I wouldn't stick any q-tips in either...
I don't imagine a possible position in which you would ever get a direct poop bullet to the ear lol...in any given scenario, most of it would external.

However, from a purely analytical ( slightly off-topic) perspective, there are instances in which the MODE of introduction (of pathogens) significantly impacts the overall systemic consequences of the pathogen on the person (as demonstrated by Naegleria fowleria, a brain-eating amoeba that has been found in bodies of water in the USA, as well as properly processed/municipal DRINKING-water). Now, I mention this, not because you could ever contract "Naegleria fowleri from your bird's poop, but because it has to enter a Peron's body in a very specific way in order to do harm. When ingested, it has no ill-effect; it only poses a hazard when introduced into the sinuses through the nose! SIDE NOTE: That is why Neti-pots (sp?) should always be used with distilled water. https://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba#1

I wonder if there are any amoebas/bacteria/viruses etc (non-bird related or bird-related----just in general) that have to enter through the ear....
Again, I am 99.999999% positive that you will not find any of these things in your bird's poop. I have officially veered off topic.

 

[Taw5106]

Sorry I’m laughing but I had a similar event. I’m glad to know I am not alone. My situation was my Ekkie Venus was on my shoulder and suddenly my ear was wet. She regurgitated in my ear and it wasn’t pretty but she was very proud of herself, opened her beak as I turned to her so I could return the favor. No return. She went back to her cage and I went to the shower.

I think as others said you are good but it’s still a very EEWW moment lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChristaNL]

The barbarian from Europe chiming in again
Just rinse with water.... lots and lots of it, use soap if you feel you need something extra

Really- we are handling our birds a lot, so there is probably nothing in/around your bird you have not encountered before...
(sorry to bring that up - but we are close and personall with a different species, so we mingle our bacteria and germs anyway)

Every given day I will have poop on my hands (from the cage while cleaning, or because there was something sticking to the feet) and my fingers get stuck in the macawbeak a lot (she picks them up wans wants to preen/ play/ feed/?? them), Japie wil rub his head on me, so even liquid from his eyes wil be a regular, the greys wil use their beak while climbing om me. There will be regurging going on etc.etc.

Yup....it's a messy situation.

So yea I have had poop directly and indirectly on almost every part of my body not couvered with clothes (and got crapped all over my backside once in the shower- thank you dears!).
Poop in ear is really not very comfortable (yup, it was a wake up call - literally and yes, most of it ended up on the outher part, not the earcanal) and rinsing was no fun (I do not enjoy water in my ear, but did enjoy the idea of excrement in the external ear canal even less! ) but that is why we have showers: to clean ourselves!
.

 

[buurd]

Thanks for the replies everyone

The question came about because I was lying on my bed while the birds flew overhead.

Im guessing it's the same answer, if they poop in my dog's ear?

Hope that never happens, because Im pretty sure the looks she's been giving me already mean, "No birbs in house, mamma '