Last Updated on February 8, 2025 by Catherine Tobsing

Dawn C. writes,

Hi. I really love your macaw post.

I’m sure you are aware of this but it’s a topic of which I was unaware when I brought a macaw home.

After several years through thick and thin including a homeless time I began having severe bouts of pneumonia four times a year.

It eventually became clear to my daughter from intense internet research that I had something resembling “bird fancier’s lung.”

(the macaw post)

Can you speak to that or possible allergic reactions?
Thanks, Dawn C.

Hi Dawn

The problem with “intense internet searches” is:

The difference between correlation and causation

Two or more variables are considered to be related, in a statistical context, if their values change so that as the value of one variable increases or decreases so does the value of the other variable (although it may be in the opposite direction).

For example, for the two variables, “hours worked” and “income earned” there is a relationship between the two if the increase in hours worked is associated with an increase in income earned.

If we consider the two variables “price” and “purchasing power”, as the price of goods increases a person’s ability to buy these goods decreases (assuming a constant income).

In other words, you can rationalize anything, especially using Google search.

Your daughter came to that conclusion because she wanted to come to that conclusion

It can take many years of exposure to cause BFL, with an average of 1.6 years to cause acute disease, and 16 years to cause chronic disease.

The data I don’t see is how often do you bathe the bird?

How often did you clean the cage?

Are any air filtration systems in place?

Are you rural or metropolitan?

You mention a time you were homeless.

I don’t know the circumstances but I do know living in groups, crowding, environmental stresses, and poor nutrition may predispose homeless people to infections of the upper respiratory tract and lungs. 

I would not blame the bird but I would install this $40 air filtration system which will remove all doubt.

Best

MitchR

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Mitch Rezman

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