Lost birds are often found near homes as they are scared and confused by their unfamiliar surroundings, and over and above the fear of not knowing how to return home, they are hungry and thirsty. One can almost always lure a pet bird into your home or near enough to place a towel over them for capture with food, water, calling and a lot of patience. Once captured, it is essential to remember the basic needs of a bird and to reduce stress as it can be fatal. Trying to touch the bird or befriend it can cause an aggressive reaction, which is due to the stress of a new environment and fear.

It is suggested that a lost bird be placed in a small bathroom or unused room, without a lot of noise and disturbance, where it is able to relax and feel safe. Any room should be made bird friendly, by removing any toxic bottles, closing all toilets and taking away any item that could be damaged by the bird through chewing on it. Birds are also more comfortable if they are perched and with food and water be placed near to where they perched. A backed chair can be useful in this regard. Getting down to a pet shop to get a packet of seeds is recommended, but if that is not an option, fruits, unsalted nuts, vegetables and cooked pasta (without sauce or seasoning) can also be offered. Foods to stay away from, which can cause serious harm to a bird, include onions, alcohol, avocado and chocolate. If a bird is not perching itself or it is suspected that the bird might be injured, the assistance of a veterinarian is strongly advised. The reunion between a grateful owner and lost pet is always worth the effort.

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The most distinguishing feature of the Eclectus parrot is the fact that they are dimorphic. Dimorphic means that one can distinguish between the males and females just by looking at them. In the case of the Eclectus, it is the vastly different coloring that makes it easy. The male Eclectuses are covered in green plumage with variations of orange, blue and red under their wings. Their beaks are also unusually orange in color. The females are just as attractive as the males, but have bright red plumage covering their heads and neck, with their backs and chest being purple in color and their wings displaying variations of purple and blue underneath. The females have smooth black beaks. Another unique feature is the fact that the Eclectus parrot has hair-like feathers on their heads, back and chest, opposed to the smooth, locked and contoured feathers on their wings and tails.

As pets, owners will find their Eclectus parrot to be extremely gentle and fond of interaction, even though they will never demand it. They are able to integrate into the daily routines of their owners quite easily and will sit quietly while daily duties are being performed. Through enough love and care, Eclectus parrots will be able to learn a large vocabulary and their inquisitiveness makes them quick learners. They are highly intelligent birds and will quickly notice small changes in their environment. The Eclectus species is generally a healthy bird with a life span of approximately fifty years. They have simple dietary needs of fruit and seeds and enjoy changes made in their food, such as grapes one day and maybe apples the next. Owners will not regret adding an Eclectus parrot to their family, as their gentle and friendly natures make them a pet family and friends can enjoy.

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Most new bird owners probably would not even imagine their feathered friends getting bird cancer. It seems like a somewhat outlandish concept. Yet, if you’ve been involved with these beautiful creatures for long enough, you’ll know that the incidence of cancer in birds is quite a bit more common than most people would like to acknowledge.

When you look at the stats, bird cancer is definitely not a rare occurrence in the bird world. Fortunately it does seem to respond well to treatment, so bird owners need not despair if their pet is diagnosed with a tumor. Unfortunately one cannot identify a specific group of birds as being more prone to this disturbing disease than others. There are also many different types of cancer in birds, so the prognosis can be very different from one bird to the next. It seems that squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common bird cancers and it can present in different ways in different birds.

Cockatiels who are getting on in years might develop tumors in their preening glands or on their skin. This is why it is important to keep an eye on your cockatiel from 20 years of age onwards. Budgies, on the other hand, seem to develop tumors in their kidneys, testicles and pituitary glands when they are young – usually under five years of age. This is a sharp contrast from other birds where the cancers are usually found in much older specimens of the species. However, it is suspected that there is a virus which causes these problems in the budgies.

It would appear that size does have an impact on where the cancer might present in the bird. Larger birds and cockatiels seem to be more susceptible to liver cancer, kidney cancer and ovarian cancer. Smaller birds, such as budgies and finches, tend to be more prone to skin tumors and bone cancers. Birds can even develop a melanoma on their beaks! Often the birds are brought in to the vet because they are displaying lameness on one side of their bodies. On examination it is found that the lameness is not physical but rather is caused by a tumor that is pushing on the nerves from the organs.

So what options do you have if your bird is found to have cancer? Treatment options vary and will depend on the type of cancer and where it has presented itself. Bird cancer treatment options range from chemotherapy to amputation. In some instances the tumor can be frozen or treated with radiation therapy. The sexual organs can be removed if the bird is big enough and the cancer as presented itself in these. Or a tumor might be injected. Ultimately the vet will be in the best position to advise the pet owner as to the best course of treatment.

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Depending on how it’s done, sharing your meals with your pet bird can be a great way to bond. More than that, however, it can be the best reason you’ve ever come across to start eating more healthy meals and perhaps even lose weight too.

When it comes to meal sharing with your favorite feathered friend, there are a few things you definitely shouldn’t do. The first thing is that you don’t want your pet bird eating out of your mouth. Why? Because the food that you touch with your saliva on your plate (whether with a fork or directly with your teeth) carries a lot of bacteria which is foreign to birds and will usually make them sick. Even if they have done this for some time, it is virtually inevitable that they will get a bad infection sooner or later. So whether you prefer to keep your bird in its cage or to give it its own seat at the table during meals, make sure it has its own plate and will not be nibbling from your food at any time during the meal.

Ok, so now what do we feed the bird? Do we need to hire a special birdie caterer to take care of the job? Not at all. According to veterinarian Julie Burge, you can make your bird a plate with “two or three bird-sized bites of each of the foods on the menu”. As long as you’re eating healthy food, your bird can almost always have a little of what you’re having. For example, you can give your bird a spoonful of corn, a little bit of the vegetables you use in your salad, a portion torn off from your roll, and maybe even a bit of apple pie. As long as you stay away from the fast foods and comfort foods that most humans sometimes feel drawn to, your bird will be more than able to share a meal with you in this way – with no extra expense to you. However it is helpful to remember this while preparing the food as any extras such as salt, fats, seasonings or salad dressings will not be good for the bird. If you plan to feed your pet bird a little meat, you can cook the meat without seasoning, take a portion of it for your bird and then add the seasoning for your family. Any cooked food must be cooled down to just on room temperature before it is served to the bird to avoid it getting a burnt tongue and certain foods should obviously be avoided – such as sushi, guacamole or chocolate chip cookies. If these items form a part of your menu, you can try to find a like-looking alternative that is healthy for your bird.

Many people find that they enjoy sharing their meals with their birds in the morning and evening. However it should not be done during the day as the bird’s pellets should form the base of its diet. With that in mind, you will be feeding the bird far too much if it stops eating its pellets. The idea is to simply provide some nutritious and tasty, and often raw, alternatives which can be added to its diet, not to replace its diet altogether. If you feed your bird too much, it will lose its appetite for its pellets and may end up suffering from nutritional deficiencies. Another thing to keep in mind is that any fresh food place in the bird’s cage or made available to the bird should be removed and discarded after an hour as this is when bacteria settles in to start breaking down the food. Sharing your meals with your birds is a great way to get yourself planning and eating more healthy meals with the result that both you and your birds will start to benefit from your mealtimes.

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3. Target Training Your Bird

You might think its cool when your friend calls his bird over and it lands on his arm – but how do you get yours to follow suit? Your bird has been sitting in his cage so long that you’re not even sure he knows how to fly. Target training birds is not very difficult, but it helps to understand how to go about it in a way that benefits the bird and never causes it to become tired or uncomfortable.

To start with you will need to understand that flight requires energy, muscle and strength. If your bird has spent most of his life sitting around in a cage, he’s not going to have what it takes to fly straight off the bat. Just as it takes effort to get off the couch that has been your constant companion for months, it is going to take effort for your bird to get off his perch. You will need to condition him slowly and progressively so that he can successfully enjoy the sensation of flight. With that in mind you will need to think in terms of encouraging short flights and more activity initially than long flights and specific flight behavior.

To start with, you might want to make sure that your family has not set up any hidden cameras as you will need to start encouraging flapping behavior my imitating this activity yourself. Your goal is to persuade the bird that it wants to fly, and this means never pushing it past a level that is comfortable for the bird. If you hurt the bird in any way, it will become discouraged and your work up to that point could well be lost. Once his wings are a little more exercised, its time to get him moving. Choose a perch that is familiar to the bird and start encouraging it to move to the perch via a series of short hops. This can be done once or twice a day, and it usually helps to choose a time of day when the bird really wants to get back to that particular perch. Doing it just before feeding time is usually best. Your ultimate goal is a short flight to the perch, but for some birds it may take a long time to reach that goal. So be persistent and move slowly and when the time is right, your feathered friend will eventually get the idea. Once your bird is better at making little hops or short flights towards his perch, its time to increase the distance. If the bird looks uncomfortable at any time, you are pushing it too far. Take your time and help your bird build his confidence as he develops his athletic ability. If your bird is clinging to your arm and is reluctant to hop, you are probably pushing him too fast and should go back a step by shortening your distance, ensuring that he is motivated and helping him to continue to strengthen his muscles by making use of flapping exercises.

The turn-around point comes when your bird initiates the hops of his own choice. This is when you know he is getting comfortable with flying and you can start to cue the behavior and so reinforce it. Once he gets to his perch, praise him and give him a treat. Before long he’ll figure out that he gets rewarded for his efforts and that’s when you’ll have him eating out the palm of your hand. Once he has fully grasped the concept, you can start to point to the perch and ask him to fly to it, rewarding him once he reacts accordingly. Once you’ve got this right, all you need to do is continue to build on it slowly and you’ll soon have your bird flying exactly where you want, all the while getting healthy exercise and enjoying a change of environment.

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Understanding the principles of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), and being able to put these effectively into practice, could result in saving a life. CPR is used extensively for humans, and has a good success rate on domestic animals such as cats and dogs, but few bird owners are aware that CPR can be performed on their pet birds with very positive results.

Under the correct circumstances, such as when a bird has suffered acute trauma, CPR can save a bird’s life. A bird that has deteriorated due to a long illnessis not likely to benefit from CPR. Whether dealing with a human, dog, cat or bird, the basic principles and techniques of CPR are the same and require quick evaluation of breathing, airway and pulse before CPR can commence.

To determine whether an unconscious bird is breathing, check whether its breast and abdomen is rising and falling. Check the oral cavity to establish that it is clear, and if not, clear the cavity with a finger or a cotton-tipped bud. Check for a heartbeat by listening on either side of the keel bone – a stethoscope will make this task easier.

If the bird has stopped breathing, but you can still hear its heartbeat, begin rescue breathing. Supporting the bird’s head in your one hand, and its body in the other, tilt it slightly away from you. Begin respirations by sealing your lips around the beak and nares (nostrils) for smaller birds. Rescue breathing on larger birds may require that you block the nares with your finger while sealing your lips around the beak. After taking a breath, blow five breaths in quick succession into the bird’s beak. The strength of each puff of breath will be determined by the size of the bird. With each breath, check whether the area where the sternum meets the abdomen rises. If it does not, then you are not getting enough air into the bird’s respiratory tract. Before blowing again, recheck the airway for obstructions. If the bird’s breast rises with each puff, pause for a while to see if it will breathe on its own. If not, repeat the rescue breathing, while at the same time checking whether the bird’s heart is still beating.

If the bird’s heart stops beating while you are performing the rescue breathing, you’ll need to begin CPR. While continuing with the rescue breathing, start adding gentle chest compressions. To meet the needs of the bird’s naturally rapid heart rate, provide between forty and sixty compressions per minute, depending on the size of the bird. Again depending on the size of the bird, place between one and three fingers on the keel bone and apply finger pressure. Depressing the keel or sternum, compresses the heart, which in turn circulates the blood. While being careful not to apply too much pressure, the pressure must be sufficient to visibly see the sternum depress downward, which is best observed where the keel and abdomen meet.

Proceed by giving five puffs of breath, followed by ten compressions, and then check the bird for breathing and heartbeat. If necessary, continue with two breaths, followed by ten compressions, and again two breaths followed by ten compressions. After one minute, reevaluate the bird, and continue at your discretion until you are able to get the bird to an avian veterinarian. If the bird starts breathing, place it in a warm, quiet place until you get it to the vet.

If you feel that you are up to the task of performing CPR on your pet bird, you should check with your avian veterinarian with regard to learning these potentially life-saving techniques. This is just a guide and a veterinarian should always be consulted in matters of your bird’s health.

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