homemade bird stand

[t.m.b.d.b61]

I would just like to know if kitty litter is dangerous to use on bottom of stand? where my parrot perches is 4 ft. to bottom of stand. she never gets down and when she flys she is no where near the bottom of stand. the litter is scented but I assumed it being 4 ft. away from where she is at on stand it would be ok. but i'm questioning myself and I just wanted to get input on this. the kitty litter works perfect for our stand. newspapers kept fruit flies around so that is why we r trying cat litter. thank u for your input.

 

[Flboy]

If scented, then no! I can’t even tolerate scented litter!

 

[Owlet]

I honestly wouldn't use it regardless. It has no benefits that simple newspaper wouldn't already cover.

 

[ChristaNL]

Kitty litter can be made form a number of different materials.
So it is hard to give a definitive answer.

One of the most common problems: the stuf is designed to "clump"... so if a parrot deciedes to ingest it (and many will eventually) it clumps up in their digestive tract and bricks it up completely.

Others are made from recycled newspaper etc. and will be less likely to cause damage, but still will kill the birds if ingested in large quantaties.

etc.etc.etc.


Scented litterboxfiller is insane!! dont even go there!


So err of the safe side and just dont use it (any of it).

 

[t.m.b.d.b61]

what is in the scented cat litter that freaks everyone out? also I said my bird is 4ft from where cat litter is and she is ALWAYS in the same room as us and I looked on the bag and the ingredients r natural clay with scents so maybe buy unscented.

 

[ChristaNL]

Because a birds respiratory sytem is a factor many more efficient than ours, that means that anything airborne hits their system ( and much, much smaller bodymass) so much harder.

So if humans find a smell noticable (or even annoying), birds are choking on it/drowning in it!
There is almost no way to reach the airsacks when they are inflamed as a result of irritation by airborn particles (yes, scentmolecules count as particles) so prevention (avoid overkill) is the way to go.
.

 

[bill_e]

I would think unscented natural clay would be safe but I am having a hard time understanding what the advantage is other than you can hide the droppings more...which in turn will allow more to accumulate and possibly pose a larger problem.

So I'm assuming you're talking about a stand where the pole is attached to a square box which is used to catch droppings. If so my recommendation would be to get some sheet plastic, maybe the thickness of a credit card and cut it in pieces to cover the bottom of the stand, having one piece left over. You can then easily pick up the piece that is soiled and immediately place the extra piece in that spot while you clean off the dirty one and make it ready for the next swap out.....you could even use cheapo vinyl flooring tiles.

 

[EllenD]

You're forgetting that in addition to the chemicals/compounds in the kitty-litter, there is also the worry of them eating it!!! Any type of bedding/wood chips/grit and gravel, etc. is horrible for parrots, as they don't have the ability to grind it like Doves, Pigeons, etc. do and they can easily become impacted with it. So I definitely would not use anything like kitty-litter, gravel, crushed walnut shells, corn-cob bedding, etc. It's just bad news and a risk you don't want to take.

 

[Anansi]

Despite you always being in the room with your parrot, the scented litter is definitely bad for your parrot. As Christa mentioned, ingestion is not the only danger, here. A bird's respiratory system is far more sensitive than ours. The effects are sometimes immediate, such as in the case of off-gassed teflon where a bird can potentially die in seconds. But the effects can also be more insidious and subtle, wherein they take a toll on the overall lifespan of the bird, compromising health more and more over extended periods.

For the bottom of my birds' tree stands, I switched to green recycled paper litter a few years back. (I switched from newspaper as a necessity once I got Jolly. His powerful takeoffs and landings used to send paper flying everywhere!) Going exclusively with litter that is completely green and recycled removes the danger of any respiratory issues so long as I change the stuff regularly.

 

[itzjbean]

I use scented kitty litter in the two litter boxes I have for my cats but its' in another part of the house. I would not recoomend using it for birds, it can get dusty and there is always the possibility that your bird could fly down to the bottom of the floor and start eating it. OR they may want to roll around in it and that's not really good either. Regular newspaper should work fine.