African Gray in Cat Litter Box

[sarahsnana]

Hello. I'm Sarahsnana, owner of 15 y.o. African Gray named Winnie.
We have a dog, cat, parrot, and Dwarf African Frog.

For 2 days now, I've found Winnie sitting in the cat litter box. Is this dangerous to her? How can I keep her out of the litter box, short of caging her 24/7. Winnie is used to having the run of the house in daytime (my bad), and the cat has been a member of the family for 7 months.

I'm very concerned that this is bad for my parrot's health, in addition to the yuk factor. Do I need to take her to the (expensive) avian vet?

Thanks.

 

[MonicaMc]

It is bad for her health. The dust from the clumping cat litter could potentially get inside her and clump up... making it difficult to breath.


Please, either move the cat box or invest in one that hopefully only the cat can get into!

 

[Julianna]

Has she eaten any of the litter? If she has I would take her to the vet. If she hasn't and seems ok, then you probably don't have to worry about it, but it's definitely not healthy! Sitting in poo usually isn't. So long as she seems to be acting normally then I wouldn't worry, just make sure you keep her out in the future. What type of litter box do you have? You could try one of the ones that has a hood on top so that it would be harder for Winnie to get in. Good luck!

 

[MikeyTN]

I would move the litter box to a different room that your bird is not allowed to go into!

 

[sarahsnana]

Thanks for the help. The litter box is currently inside a closet in the laundry room, and she has to go to a fair amount of trouble to get to it.

I think perhaps the litter box needs to be relocated to the basement.

It occurred to me that it's been a couple of months since her last hormone shot. I've noticed her trying to seduce the dog, so it's possible that she's acting out and needs her shot. I'll let y'all know how this turns out.

 

[antoinette]

Thanks for the help. The litter box is currently inside a closet in the laundry room, and she has to go to a fair amount of trouble to get to it.

I think perhaps the litter box needs to be relocated to the basement.

It occurred to me that it's been a couple of months since her last hormone shot. I've noticed her trying to seduce the dog, so it's possible that she's acting out and needs her shot. I'll let y'all know how this turns out.

Glad you moved the litter box to another room
Keep an eye on your bird though, they are clever and she might find it

 

[Luke252]

Thanks for the help. The litter box is currently inside a closet in the laundry room, and she has to go to a fair amount of trouble to get to it.

I think perhaps the litter box needs to be relocated to the basement.

It occurred to me that it's been a couple of months since her last hormone shot. I've noticed her trying to seduce the dog, so it's possible that she's acting out and needs her shot. I'll let y'all know how this turns out.

Glad you moved the litter box to another room
Keep an eye on your bird though, they are clever and she might find it

Haha, you can say that again. As long as its in a place that the bird can't access it should be fine. And trust me, just moving the item isn't unfortunately good enough. Larry my SC2 is a big fan of throwing pegs from the washing basket everywhere. So I moved the basket into a completely new room. Next day, he was back on it throwing them everywhere. Moral of the story, always keep an eye on your birds, moving object to an area out of reach is the only thing that works. Of course keep in mind your cat needs to access the litter box.