Uncle
06-20-2008, 07:01 AM
A lady named Amanda Simpson emailed the administrator of HB (that's me) this message. She is not a registered member so there is no way for me to email her back. I am hoping she will read this post, and the information I share here might help her and others.
Here is her email...
I just lost a baby cockatiel that I have hand fed for the last 49 days. She got a new cage today and I put her in it and 12 hours later she is gone and I am heart broken. This cage was purchased from Birdcages.com with YML Group. What are my options other than simply returning the cage. Nothing will bring my Josie back and I am crushed but they can't keep selling cages that kill.
Thanks,
Amanda
Amanda - I am so sorry for your loss of Josie.
By going with what you said in your email and me not having any further information - I will do my best to shed some light on toxins in cage paint and their effects on companion birds. It is true that most discount cages are made in China and they have tested dangerously high in both lead and zinc in the paint. These are heavy metal toxins and can kill birds.
My guess is you found HappyBirdy by doing a Google for toxins in bird cage paint and you read my article addressing that issue.
Without you having a necropsy done or without physical evidence of death such as blunt trauma - you cannot be certain as to the cause. For any metal toxins in the paint to have killed your cockatiel, it would have had to ingest an amount of the paint. If this occurred then he would have started showing signs of heavy metal toxins. Usually these signs are evident over a few days and progressively get worse until the bird is medically treated and the outcome is either the bird gets better or it dies. Heavy metal poisoning deaths "usually" do not occur within 12 hours of putting a bird in a new cage. The bird would have had to chew on the bars and ingest some of the paint. It is unlikely that a baby cockatiel would be an aggressive bar chewer.
I am not ruling out heavy metal poisoning from the cage paint as the cause of death - but it seems unlikely. Other causes could be he was born with a life threatening condition. He could have contacted a disease either from the breeder's birds or other birds in your household. He could have had a night-fright that caused him to thrash about in his new cage and he mortally injured himself. There could be many causes but without a proper necropsy done - it is really impossible to tell the cause of death.
If you have other birds or you plan on getting other birds - it would be prudent of you to determine the "exact" cause of death so you can then know what preventative measures to take to protect the health and wellbeing of those birds in your care.
Please let us know any further details... because you might help other bird owners and their birds with the information you share with us.
Larry
Here is her email...
I just lost a baby cockatiel that I have hand fed for the last 49 days. She got a new cage today and I put her in it and 12 hours later she is gone and I am heart broken. This cage was purchased from Birdcages.com with YML Group. What are my options other than simply returning the cage. Nothing will bring my Josie back and I am crushed but they can't keep selling cages that kill.
Thanks,
Amanda
Amanda - I am so sorry for your loss of Josie.
By going with what you said in your email and me not having any further information - I will do my best to shed some light on toxins in cage paint and their effects on companion birds. It is true that most discount cages are made in China and they have tested dangerously high in both lead and zinc in the paint. These are heavy metal toxins and can kill birds.
My guess is you found HappyBirdy by doing a Google for toxins in bird cage paint and you read my article addressing that issue.
Without you having a necropsy done or without physical evidence of death such as blunt trauma - you cannot be certain as to the cause. For any metal toxins in the paint to have killed your cockatiel, it would have had to ingest an amount of the paint. If this occurred then he would have started showing signs of heavy metal toxins. Usually these signs are evident over a few days and progressively get worse until the bird is medically treated and the outcome is either the bird gets better or it dies. Heavy metal poisoning deaths "usually" do not occur within 12 hours of putting a bird in a new cage. The bird would have had to chew on the bars and ingest some of the paint. It is unlikely that a baby cockatiel would be an aggressive bar chewer.
I am not ruling out heavy metal poisoning from the cage paint as the cause of death - but it seems unlikely. Other causes could be he was born with a life threatening condition. He could have contacted a disease either from the breeder's birds or other birds in your household. He could have had a night-fright that caused him to thrash about in his new cage and he mortally injured himself. There could be many causes but without a proper necropsy done - it is really impossible to tell the cause of death.
If you have other birds or you plan on getting other birds - it would be prudent of you to determine the "exact" cause of death so you can then know what preventative measures to take to protect the health and wellbeing of those birds in your care.
Please let us know any further details... because you might help other bird owners and their birds with the information you share with us.
Larry