Kris Ahlgrim, DVM

21/01/2025

17/01/2025

Birds are particularly vulnerable to air pollution due to their sensitive respiratory systems—making the current wildfire conditions in California especially dangerous for our feathered friends.

The Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) has created a helpful handout, "Protecting Your Pet Bird from Environmental Air Pollution," to guide bird owners and veterinarians in keeping birds safe during poor air quality events.

This resource includes tips on:
✅ Minimizing your bird's exposure to smoke and pollutants
✅ Recognizing signs of respiratory distress
✅ Creating a safe indoor environment

👉 Download it here: www.aav.org/birdowners

Let’s work together to protect our birds during this challenging time.

15/01/2025

Keep your feathered friend safe!!

Keeping your birds safe in the household

Aviculturists know the ins and outs of how to “bird-proof” a home for our sensitive avian companions, but it’s also important to know what to look for in your birds should they come into contact with common toxins. It is no secret that parrots can be a bit mischievous, chewing and picking up things they shouldn’t to get our attention. Although this may come across as endearing at times, this behavior could quickly result in an emergency if they get ahold of the wrong thing. Veterinarians commonly see pet birds present with neurologic and gastrointestinal signs after ingesting lead from jewelry, blinds, furniture, toys, zippers, or other everyday items. This can cause your bird to experience diarrhea, regurgitation, lethargy, instability, weakness, or even seizures as the bird’s gastrointestinal tract digests the metal and releases it into their bloodstream. Zinc, another metal, can be found on galvanized items such as toys, keys, wires, and pennies that when ingested can result in similar clinical signs.

What if your bird has some of these neurologic and gastrointestinal signs, but the onset was slow over time rather than an immediate change? Maybe the metal has been sitting in their ventriculus all this time releasing toxic compounds, or they consumed a less common toxic substance, like lead paint! In older homes, lead paint remnants are a serious, albeit sometimes forgotten, danger to our avian roommates. This can be tricky to diagnose without obvious metallic objects on a radiograph, but worth mentioning!

With the growth of social media and online communities, aviculturists have become a source of information for people seeking to acquire their first bird. In conjunction with avian veterinarians, together we can ensure all bird owners are educated on household toxins to establish safe environments for our birds!

https://www.aav.org/blogpost/1787676/506833/Keeping-your-birds-safe-in-the-household

16/07/2024

This sounds like getting a head start on marinating the chicken! 🐔

16/05/2024

Did you know????

09/04/2024

During positive reinforcement training, a clicker can be used to indicate that your bird performed the appropriate behavior, and a reward is coming. The clicker is often referred to as a “bridge,” because it connects the desired behavior with the reward. You can use a commercial clicker, the click of a ballpoint pen, or a verbal click noise for this purpose.

03/04/2024

My reinforcer is cheese! What is yours????

During training, make sure the reinforcer (eg: the reward) is valued highly by your bird. Food rewards are often great motivators for birds. For parrots, a small piece of fresh or dried fruit, single seed, almond sliver, or other small piece of nut often works well. For chickens, try offering a dried mealworm, piece of strawberry, or sunflower seed.

26/03/2024

You can never be too careful!!!!

Not every commercial or homemade enrichment item is 100% safe. Always supervise how your bird interacts with each toy or enrichment item.

01/03/2024

Does your little leprechaun 🦜need a new toy??? Look no further!!

Get Creative2 provides fun and educational avian workshops, focusing on enrichment, nutrition, health and wellness as well as offering a unique line of parrot toys, perches, swings and much more.

23/02/2024

What phobias do YOU have???

20/02/2024

Nothing can beat a nice bath!!!!!

06/02/2024

Just like children, Parrots need someone to teach them how to play the game!

Some birds need to be trained on how to interact and play with a toy. This can be accomplished through positive reinforcement training such as clicker training or target training to get the bird to touch or manipulate the toy. For other birds, like Yuzu the parrotlet, training IS a form of play.

02/02/2024

Pygostyle.......who came up with that word?!

At the end of the avian vertebral column, we find the pygostyle. This is a fusion of the last 4 to 10 (depending on species) coccygeal vertebrae. The tail muscles and tail feathers are supported by the pygostyle.

Photo by Peter Pryharski on Unsplash

05/01/2024

Useful information that may be opposite of what you initially thought!!!!

Potty Training Pet Birds

Birds defecate often. For this reason, some owners will try to potty train their bird.

When a bird receives a reward for defecating on command or at the right spot, they might start pushing more or harder just to get a reward. In extreme cases this could even lead to cloacal prolapse. Another issue could occur when the owner is away and someone else takes care of the bird. The bird might not understand when and where it is allowed to defecate.

Photo by Manfred Goetz on Unsplash

26/12/2023

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!