Paranoid parront here wondering...

[CrazyBirdChick]

Ok, here's the situation. I am a dog walker. Today I got a call from a good friend of mine who needed my help with services, on an emergency basis, for a friend of his who is in the hospital right now.

I have to walk a couple of dogs for an 87 year old lady for a few days till the man recovers from his hospital procedure.

The problem is...I went to her house today to meet her and her dogs and to pick up a key and all that.

When I stepped into her house I heard a parrot talking in the distance. I asked if that was infact a parrot that I heard and she said, yes, she has two and told me to come see them.

She has an Amazon and a B&G in the kitchen. The Amazon was all worked up to meet me. Talking a ton and flaring her tail and being cheeky. The B & G was shy and quiet and plucked all over.

Now, I think she's a decent owner because I saw she had cooked them a pretty impressive chop but...she is 87 and hwr house smelled like pee with chachkys piled up almost to the ceiling. (Almost classified as a hoarder)

The birds had good food but...the kitchen is dark and the Amazon's cage was a bit small. I said that even though the macaw is naked,it's still incredibly beautiful and that's when she claimed the only reason it plucks is because it wants a mate and is sexually frustrated.


Now that could very well be true but...I'm still weary of not only the macaw but also the Amazon. I don't know if they have been disease tested and even if they have, if the testing was accurate

So...my worry is that I don't want to carry any illness back home with me to Blu this week. I did not touch the birds but I was in her house so I will disinfect myself like a mad woman before I interact with Blu tonight.

What l need to know is.. for the remainder of the time I need to walk her dogs, if I were to tell her to hand the dogs over to me on the back porch and not come in at all, can any illness from a parrot be lingering on her dogs' fur?

I know I'm probably taking my over protective nature to the extreme but I'm kind of paraniod about this whole thing. I can disinfect myself every single night but I would hope I don't have to take it to that extreme?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[rocky'smom]

do you have F-10? if so carry some with you and spray anything your hands or body touches that belongs to the house or the dogs

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

That's a great idea, Laurie. I will bring my f10. Thank you!

I just think the dogs will be all over me (they are super snuggly and affectionate) and I don't know if spraying my hands will be enough if it's possible that the dogs have potential to carry anything on their fur. I have a feeling I'm going to have to treat this like a hazmat situation because I'm really worried.

She talked about possibly hiring me forever but I will tell her I can't. I will only do this for a week or two at most.

 

[JLcribber]

Dogs are not going to catch any "avian" disease and personally I don't think those birds have any serious "infectious" disease because they are pretty isolated and have been their whole life. They would need pretty good immune systems to live in those conditions (just a guess). As long as you change and cleanup when getting home and you're walking those dogs outside in the fresh air it wouldn't bother "me" in the slightest.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

Dogs are not going to catch any "avian" disease and personally I don't think those birds have any serious "infectious" disease because they are pretty isolated and have been their whole life. They would need pretty good immune systems to live in those conditions (just a guess). As long as you change and cleanup when getting home and you're walking those dogs outside in the fresh air it wouldn't bother "me" in the slightest.

Ok, that makes me feel a little better. Thank you! She got the Amazon from someone else a few years ago so I don't know where the birds have been but I do feel better about the whole thing now so thank you very much, John!