Having a parrot rescue has prompted me to write about issues with Parrots. One of the most important issues that I can't stress enough is to research before and after getting your pet. Having rescued over 400 parrots and placed many into new homes has opened my eyes to how sometimes simple things can have major, dabilitating effects on the lives of our pets.

Today's discussion is on Metal Poisoning in parrots. Zinc is poisonous to birds so all birds toys or toy parts, cages, food bowls etc should be made from metals that are Zinc free. The best metal to use for bird toys is stainless steel as it is Zinc free. However Stainless Steel is almost double the price of other metals.

We expect that toys that we purchase would be made parrot safe but given the current events coming out of China with toys for our own children being recalled, we have to investigate the toys ourselves as there are those individuals that like to cut corners or don't do their own research before designing toys for our pets. Toys made in the US and Canada and sold on Ebay have also been found to contain Zinc.

One parrot we have at the rescue was given a toy with a bell attached to it. It was purchased in a pet store specifically designed for birds. The owner assumed since it was purchased in a pet store that it would be safe for his bird. However the bird got progressively sicker and sicker until it was determined that he had contracted metal poisoning.

Upon investigation to determine the cause they found that the bell on the toy was not made of stainless steel at all! It has made of some other metal. The toy creator had cut corners to save on the cost of an actual Stainless steel bell.

Well $10,000 in treatments later and the bird has finally gotten a clean bill of health. However we have to be very careful not to introduce any metals to the bird at all. He still has feather loss but other than that he is doing much better. It was a very expensive lesson to learn!

We have another bird that came to the rescue who has had no use of her legs for the past 15 years due to the owner giving her the wrapper off a champagne bottle as a toy! It is simple little things like this that cause the majority of injuries such as metal poisoning.

Another bird who contracted metal poisoning was transported in a metal dog crate to various events. This bird used to rub his beak (a normal practise by most birds) on the bars of the cage. As the story goes he also contracted metal poisoning by introducing small shards of metal into his system.

We have a responsibility to our pets to research for ourselves and determine if the products we buy are infact safe for our parrots. We need to contact manufacturers and ask them what materials the birds toys are made of and then check for ourselves. One way to test for zinc is to use a magnet. If the magnet sticks then there is definitely zinc in it. We should also research other safe metals that are zinc free. We can't take it for granted that what we buy even from some of the best pet stores is safe for our pets. We need to check and double check for ourselves to ensure the safety of our parrots.