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Urgent Toxic fumes

Greencheek Lee

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My guys bath in the sink, if that's where Basil bathed is it possible there was still cleaning residue in the sink that could still be on the feathers? I'm just worried for you and trying to think of anything.
 

soleaux

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She moved up onto a perch and is eating!!!! I diced up and heated some apple (thank you @Mockinbirdiva !) and mixed it with peeled soft corn and ground up pellet dust. She is still a bit off kilter and very tired but was even able to stand on her perch steadily on one foot and hold the corn. Now I’m listening to a bunch of little munchy crunchy sounds from her cage, music to my ears :marlenesmile:

My guys bath in the sink, if that's where Basil bathed is it possible there was still cleaning residue in the sink that could still be on the feathers? I'm just worried for you and trying to think of anything.
Thank you so much. I have an outdoor bird bath in my bathroom that my guys bathe in. I always rinse it well before they bathe, but I’m thinking that some cleaning spray might have gotten on it and I didn’t rinse it well enough? In combination with the fumes. She’s been sneezing quite a bit since coming home so it is definitely still pretty irritated.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much because anything can happen still (all my fingers and toes crossed) but at least she has some food in her and regained a little balance.
 
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Mockinbirdiva

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Good to hear! It's hard for a conure to pass up on apple and if she isn't drinking any fluids at least she'll get some from the apple. My conures love the small mixed colored sweet peppers I buy at Walmart. The bag has yellow, orange and red small peppers. Oddly, they don't like slices of the larger red bell peppers we buy for cooking with. Caution on too much corn but at this point you just want her to eat, gain weight and feel better. Next time the cleaning lady comes take the bird bath out of the bathroom if you can. Hoping for a full recovery!
 

MommyBird

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I've been thinking of you since I read it this morning and I'm so glad there is a good update.
Still sending healing thoughts.:hug8:
 

hrafn

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I'm so, so glad she's starting to feel better! :loveshower:
 

soleaux

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Good to hear! It's hard for a conure to pass up on apple and if she isn't drinking any fluids at least she'll get some from the apple. My conures love the small mixed colored sweet peppers I buy at Walmart. The bag has yellow, orange and red small peppers. Oddly, they don't like slices of the larger red bell peppers we buy for cooking with. Caution on too much corn but at this point you just want her to eat, gain weight and feel better. Next time the cleaning lady comes take the bird bath out of the bathroom if you can. Hoping for a full recovery!
Haha! I get those mini pepper bags too, and Basil goes crazy for them but also won’t eat red peppers. :p There must be something funky about the taste to them, maybe a bit more bitter than the others..

I always try to limit apple so I totally forgot about it this time in my worry, I’m so happy you found this thread and posted about it. You are definitely right, she doesn’t usually have much corn in her diet but I give her 1-2 kernels a day as a treat and know she loves them.

I definitely feel like I’ll be throwing out that bird bath... too many horrible emotions associated with it at this point :(
 

finchly

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Oh! Thank goodness. I hope your baby continues to improve.

Honestly at the beginning of your story I thought you were overreacting.... I can’t believe cleaners that were an hour old did this. So scary.

I am so mad and angry and upset at myself, I am always SO careful. In all my years of bird keeping I have never made a mistake as stupid as this. If i lose her I will never forgive myself
Hey be nice to yourself! You have been so careful - you’re a great bird parent!
 

soleaux

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Oh! Thank goodness. I hope your baby continues to improve.

Honestly at the beginning of your story I thought you were overreacting.... I can’t believe cleaners that were an hour old did this. So scary.


Hey be nice to yourself! You have been so careful - you’re a great bird parent!
Honestly, the ER vet told me it was strange that her reaction was so severe for just 5 min of indirect exposure. And I think so too. But I can’t think of anything else that may have caused this... I was interacting with her just minutes before the bath, and she was her usual self. I know she didn’t have any contact with weird substances before that day either, because I had JUST taken her out. I know I had scrubbed my hands before handling her as always too..

Either she has a very delicate respiratory system or something else is going on, but I can’t figure out what..
 

Peachfaced

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Maybe it was a bad mix of chemicals? Bleach + vinegar create chlorine gas, which is nasty, and it doesn't take much to hurt humans... let alone a small bird.
 

Mockinbirdiva

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You might ask the lady that cleaned the bathroom if she scrubbed the bird bath too. Some chemicals are just so concentrated they can leave heavy residue. You could take the bath outside and hose it, rinse it, hose it, rinse it ..several times and let it sit in the sun to dry and it should be ok.
 

Love My Zons

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I am very happy to read that she is doing better! What a relief for you and her.:highfive: Now for the cleaning Lady, no more chemicals! None, very little bleach if you clean toilets as I do here with a bleach spray but run the exhaust fans and close the bathroom doors. I use vinegar and water to damp mop my tile and wood floors. There are many green products to clean with ask to see that she gets these.

I am happy that your baby is going to be okay! :hug8:
 

iamwhoiam

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Good that she is starting to feel better.
 

WendyN

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Hoping she continues to improve.
Does she go to her regular vet tomorrow?
 

soleaux

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Hoping she continues to improve.
Does she go to her regular vet tomorrow?
Yes, she’s going in the morning tomorrow. It’ll be another sleepless night. Last night was one of the longest of my life, waiting in the dark by my phone, terrified that the ER would call me to tell me she died.

Hoping she does okay for the night. Thank you everyone for all your support and your kind words, I wouldnt be this coherent if not for you all.
 

SandraK

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Honestly, the ER vet told me it was strange that her reaction was so severe for just 5 min of indirect exposure. And I think so too. But I can’t think of anything else that may have caused this... I was interacting with her just minutes before the bath, and she was her usual self. I know she didn’t have any contact with weird substances before that day either, because I had JUST taken her out. I know I had scrubbed my hands before handling her as always too..

Either she has a very delicate respiratory system or something else is going on, but I can’t figure out what..
Was anybody in your neighbourhood burning anything outside when you had your windows open? I know one of our former members lost 2 budgies/parakeets when her neighbours burned some stuff in their yard and the smoke drifted towards their house. It was summer and the member's family had recently moved to the area. All the house windows were open and as soon as the AA member realized the smoke was entering their house she close all the windows but apparently it was too late for the budgies.
 

camelotshadow

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Find out what products she used & next time only supply your own products. What did she use????
Even simple green is not that bad but might not be great but should not do what ever she used did.

I won;t recommend SG as it has some bad things in it but really dilute it should dissipate.

I've seen the bird store lady use it all over the floors & nothing ever happened but she let her cat run free & it never harmed a bird that I know of.

Ban the lady from bringing in the bad stuff & supply some safe product.

I'm glad things are looking better & hopefully not long term damage.

I have to be careful too. The bathroom is far from the birds & I air it out but I have a Mr clean which I think has frebreeze in it.

Just takes one error in judgement to bring on such devistation.

:sadhug2:
 

MommyBird

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Many folks here use F10, a veterinary disinfectant, to clean bird areas. It doesn't require rinsing so must be safe, and no one has reported any problems. I have never had problems with it any I never detect it has a odor either. I seem to remember some have even used it in nebulizers.
I wanted to suggest F10 could also be used in place of bleach to disinfect the bathroom and be safer.
 

soleaux

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Was anybody in your neighbourhood burning anything outside when you had your windows open? I know one of our former members lost 2 budgies/parakeets when her neighbours burned some stuff in their yard and the smoke drifted towards their house. It was summer and the member's family had recently moved to the area. All the house windows were open and as soon as the AA member realized the smoke was entering their house she close all the windows but apparently it was too late for the budgies.
That is so horrible, I am so sorry for their loss. It is so devastating to think that no matter how careful you are, things like this can happen at any time :sad11:

The windows usually aren’t open over here, and the bathroom she was in where it all happened is fairly small (it also doesn’t have windows or the best ventilation. Windows are only open now in my room after her ER trip.) So i think outside chemicals can be ruled out.

Find out what products she used & next time only supply your own products. What did she use????
Even simple green is not that bad but might not be great but should not do what ever she used did.

I won;t recommend SG as it has some bad things in it but really dilute it should dissipate.

I've seen the bird store lady use it all over the floors & nothing ever happened but she let her cat run free & it never harmed a bird that I know of.

Ban the lady from bringing in the bad stuff & supply some safe product.

I'm glad things are looking better & hopefully not long term damage.

I have to be careful too. The bathroom is far from the birds & I air it out but I have a Mr clean which I think has frebreeze in it.

Just takes one error in judgement to bring on such devistation.

:sadhug2:
I plan on calling and asking what was used. I have a feeling it was a mix of things, and also I’m gonna be cleaning the bathroom the birds come in contact with myself. (I always use Oxyfresh gele to clean everything bird related.) Not taking any more chances.

I always thought I’d never make this mistake, it’s been drilled into my brain for so many years, but it really does take just ONE moment to slip up. We are human after all. In the future I won’t take any chances whatsoever with cleaners, cutting out the origin will be the best type of prevention..

Many folks here use F10, a veterinary disinfectant, to clean bird areas. It doesn't require rinsing so must be safe, and no one has reported any problems. I have never had problems with it any I never detect it has a odor either. I seem to remember some have even used it in nebulizers.
I wanted to suggest F10 could also be used in place of bleach to disinfect the bathroom and be safer.
I use Oxyfresh gele to disinfect all my bird stuff/occasional household items and F10 on new toys/perches/etc but never thought to use F10 as an actual household cleaner. That is a good idea, I plan on cleaning the bathroom myself and will probably use a combination of the two.

Also quick 3AM update. Her cage is in my room and I have it set up where I can peek between the blankets/towels without disturbing her so I’m checking in every hour. She’s eaten a little bit of her powdered pellet/apple mix between sleep, and I managed to get her to take 6-8 sunflower seeds after cracking/unshelling them. I have a desk lamp turned on and half covered with a blanket so there’s very low light (enough for her to see a bit but still dark enough in her blanket fort to sleep). Lots of beak grinding, which is SO relaxing to hear right now... my frayed nerves :faint:

You can do it baby girl, please keep doing what you’re doing!!!
 
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