How Can Personal Lubricant Save Your Bird’s Feathers?

Last Updated on June 17, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

So you have a bird in your home. What could possibly go wrong?

A bird whose feathers have been stuck to an adhesive surface is a panicked and stressed bird.

It’s important that a caregiver to a pet bird be ready for such situations.

How could my bird possibly get stuck onto an adhesive surface in my home? We’ve come up with a number of scenarios that can put your bird at risk.

forgotten mouse traps
fly strips
loose roll of scotch tape
self-adhesive envelopes
adhesive art frame hangers
hillwilliam repairs with duct tape
post-it notes
hillwilliam electrical repairs with electrical tape
masking tape while packing
masking tape for art projects
scrapbooking tape
adhesive tape (while attending to human first-aid)
band-aid that fell off a child
used decal sheet
scotch tape while gift wrapping
open retail packaging with adhesive closure
moth traps

Capiche? Making the assumption that a relationship with your bird will last decades, the possibility they may get entangled into some sort of this adhesive device is quite plausible. We can’t predict the outcome of every situation but we can provide a solution should your birds feathers be stuck to – anything.

Caveat: if you want to see a much larger list of how we kill and injure our own birds read this

In order for your bird’s feathers to be released from an adhesive surface, your choices are limited.

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We recommended household cooking oil which is on everyone’s kitchens shelf somewhere – or we have discovered, personal lubricant.

What we did was grab a couple of feathers from our molting budgies (do they ever stop molting, lord?) and placed them on the sticky surface of a moth trap.

A Better Bird Ep 5 Why Personal Lubricant
Should Be In Your Avian First Aid Kit – video

Cooking oil will certainly help release your bird’s feathers from an adhesive surface.

The obvious downside to cooking oil is that once the feathers get released from the adhesive you end up with an oil-soaked bird.

That means you have a secondary cleanup to do on the bird using Dawn (the recommended detergent for ocean oil spill bird rescuers) further stressing out the animal.

The benefit of using a personal lubricant to separate a bird’s feathers from an adhesive surface is that personal lubricants are water-soluble.

Thus easing the problem of a “secondary heavy clean up”.

A brief rinse under lukewarm water, your bird will be back to normal and ready to make you crazy as always.

Is personal lubricant safe for birds?

We did some fact-checking on the ingredients: Glycerin, Water (Aqua), Carboxymethyl cellulose, Pentylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate.

Carboxymethyl cellulose is basically a thickener much like adding cornstarch to the gravy. It’s used in everything from ice cream to toothpaste as well as personal lubricants.

Pentylene Glycol is used as a preservative in cosmetics. Interestingly it’s both water and oil-soluble and can have moisture-binding and antimicrobial properties.

Potassium Sorbate is found in products that are stored and eaten at room temperature.

It actually kills particles like mold or fungus that can cause foods to spoil and make people sick.

Winemakers use it so the wine can develop without yeast that would alter the flavor by eating the sugar content of the berries

You should know by now that we are also pretty thorough with checking the efficacy of a product either done by our research team (me) or with another pet bird keeper(s) before we offered it to you.

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We will tell you upfront, it’s not a slamdunk like Brazilian waxing.

You’ll want to let the lubricant soak into the feathers and the glue for a minute or two just to allow whatever chemical reactions happening, to happen before the separation of the bird from the substrate can begin.

Then we slowly peeled the feather away from the glue with a gooey finger separating the feather millimeter by millimeter sliding it (my finger) between the feather and adhesive surface.

Understand upfront that once you’ve discovered your bird has something foreign stuck to it the problem is multidimensional.

Firstly you want to stabilize the bird and calm it down. Talk to your bird when you know you’re there for him or her and that everything is going to be all right.

It would certainly be best when working with a live animal to have two people work as a team One to hold the toweled bird and the other one to pull the affected area out of the towel and begin the lubricant application.

Realize that the feathers can get yanked out when the glue is removed, so try to hold the feather between the body and the glue and pull it off the glue, not the other way around.

The problem with emergencies is just that. They’re emergencies.

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It’s critical to have the presence of mind to have the tools necessary to make an emergency go away.

To help you wrap your head around this we want you to keep this personal lubricant somewhere close where you’ll always know where it will be.

Should you decide to use this product as was intended, our suggestion is to keep it on the nightstand next to your bed so you’ll always know where it is.

This way it will also be conveniently available should you need a personal lubricant for an “alternative use”.

The number one selling water-based gel formula. Wet Original Gel Lubricant Is An Approved Medical Device and it’s Condom Compatible.

For twenty years, Wet’s top-selling classic formula has been developed and tested to the highest quality industry standards.

WET Original contains soothing Vitamin E and Aloe Vera. It is water-based, gentle, odorless, colorless, greaseless, and non-staining.

This formula is a favorite for those who prefer a more viscous, gel-like lubricant.

Doctors recommend Wet Original as condom compatible and is approved as a medical device product. It stays wet longer to provide long-lasting, silky lubrication.

Water-Based
Gel Lubricant
Hypoallergenic
Clean & Non-Staining
FDA Registered Medical Device
Latex condom and glove Safe

Note Nonavian directions: Use WET® ORIGINAL® as needed to supplement your natural moisture, enhance intimacy, lubricate latex condoms, and facilitate easy insertion of medical devices.

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To relieve personal dryness, apply a small amount of WET® ORIGINAL® to the area of the body you wish to lubricate. Reapply as desired. Harmless if ingested. Easily washes away with warm water.

Ingredients: Glycerin, Water (Aqua), Carboxymethylcellulose, Pentylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate

Written by Mitch Rezman
Approved by Catherine Tobsing