How We Kill And Injure Our Pet Birds

Last Updated on October 3, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

For the many of you who don’t know, Catherine (my wife & partner) and I, spend almost 24/7 together. We always have something to say to one another, We talk about business a lot.

We brainstorm, plan, solve problems – you get it.

I’m not sure how this conversation got started, I remember we were in the car and I’m pretty sure Catherine said something like, “We spend so much time talking about how to care for our birds, the right bird food, proper size bird cage the right bird cage accessories and bird toys.

But we never talk about the other side.

The sadly ironic side of having a pet bird.

The single biggest reason our birds die is – we kill them.

Rather than expanding on each and every hazard, I’m going to list all that we came up with.

Let us know about your experiences so we can help other pet bird owners avoid potential catastrophes.

Lands on edge of a drinking glass, reaches down for liquid and falls in head first & drowns
Flies or falls into a mop bucket
Flies or falls into a toilet
Flies into a mirror or window
Water bottle malfunctions while you’re out-of-town for 3 days – bird suffers dehydration
Electrocution by chewing through electrical wire
Flies into the open oven
Flies into the boiling water pot
Fumes emitted from Teflon cookware heated over 535 degrees (Birds are 90% lungs – people)
Using Teflon coated heat lamps to keep babies warm has killed chicks even at zoos
Bird gets stuck on a single toy hung in the middle of the cage – gets tired and can’t reach cage walls to leave toy – falls off toy from exhaustion
Toe caught in a knot of chain – flaps uncontrollably until injury or death
Flies into old fashion glue flypaper – flaps uncontrollably until injury or death
Mousetrap under the couch
Impaled on a knife or sharp object on the kitchen counter
Bird gets laid on because someone thought it was cute to sleep with their bird
Flying out the door
Ingestion of a home cleaning product
Sucked into a vacuum
Stepped on
Squeezed too hard by a young child
Bird bites finger, clamps on – person shakes hand to get the bird to release – bird hits floor or wall and dies
Run-ins with ceiling fans (Vets call them shredded tweet!)
New carpeting outgasses and should not be installed with a bird in the home
Second-hand smoke
Crushed in a sliding glass or any door for that matter
Other house pets kill the bird
Other birds – Lovebirds will bite other birds toes – toe loss can cause a bird to bleed to death rapidly
Wrong human food – avocado, chocolate, caffeine
Place bird in an outdoor cage in the morning, bird bakes in the afternoon sun
Introduce sick birds into the home without quarantine
Swallows remote control battery
Poisoned or electrocuted by chewing on cell phone
Leg band gets caught on toy part
Wet seed and some wood debris can create Aspergillus fungus
Oven liners
Loose & threads on bird bedding
Scented candles and room fresheners
Heavy metal poisoning from an antique brass birdcage
Ingesting medication that was dropped on the floor
Bird of prey attack while parrot is unattended out of doors
Tainted well water
vinegar + baking soda produces co2