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What Causes Stress For Your Bird
Most bird owners soon
realize that stress can cause both physical and psychological damage
to birds. However, over the years we have learned that many
persons are not aware of what exactly causes stress in birds. It is
wise for pet owners to take stress seriously, educate themselves
concerning the causes, and apply that knowledge to their own
situation to prevent health problems. The following is a list of
stress causing factors in a birds life.
- Getting a new pet.
- A new family member (i.e. a baby, mom
comes to stay, new room mate, etc ).
- Getting a new cage.
- Rearranging the room,
furniture, or moving the cage to a new room.
- Renovation in the home involving
rearrangement, noise , power tools, strangers coming and
going.
- A new cage mate, or an incompatible cage
mate.
- Changes of color surroundings (i.e. new
paint wallpaper).
- Poor diet causing deficiencies, or
excesses, or any nutritional imbalance.
- Possible genetic factors ( nervousness can
be hereditary).
- Medication ( the administering of the
medicine or the taste of it).
- Infection (bacterial or fungal ) or
disease ( curable or terminal and not always apparent to an
untrained eye).
- Indigestion.
- Metabolic disorder (determinable by an
avian veterinarian).
- Nervous system disorder
(determinable by an avian veterinarian).
- Exposure to toxins (pesticides ,
herbicides , or other pollutants).
- Ingestion of a toxic
substance
- A food intolerance or allergy to a
specific ingredient (preservatives, sugar, salt, artificial
colors).
- Contaminated or stagnant water.
- Poor hygiene (dirty cage, dishes not
properly washed on daily basis infrequent bathing).
- Lack of physical exercise.
- Sorrow (loss of mate or owner).
- Social stress (insecurity caused by
inconsistent attention , or loneliness).
- An erratic hit and miss feeding schedule
(birds experience hunger as fear.
- Fear itself (exposure to hostility ,
witnessing a violent act, shouting).
- Weaning trauma (caused by too hurried
forced weaning to increase profits).
- Over stimulation (too much or too rough
play , too many new toys in cage at once).
- Improper or insufficient light.
- Breeding frustration (often resulting from
seasonal changes, or inappropriate egg or chick removal).
- Travel (does not apply to all birds, but
some birds do not travel well at all).
- Moving to a new home.
- Boredom.
- Disturbance by rodents
- A singular traumatic event even later on
in life can cause significant psychological damage (such as
improper wing clipping, being restricted too rough with a
towel).
- Inability to adjust to domestication
(applies mainly to wild caught birds and such birds are very
uncommon).
- Insufficient rest or sleep
deprivation (often leads to illness).
-
Improper wing clip (wing clipping is an
exact science and even a slight miscalculation can cause extreme
stress in birds, especially if the bird has never been
clipped).
- Misprescribed antibiotics or other
medicines
- Unsteady or improperly secured
perches
- Wrong shape of cage (such as
parrots and small hooked bills do not respond well in small round
cages)
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