# Cleaning and disinfecting after an illness



## lbeckman (Jun 26, 2016)

Hi. :wave1: Haven't been on here for eons! (See below for a personal note.)

I have a budgie, Calvin, who has had a recurring illness. His tail starts bobbing (it doesn't bob at all normally), I take him in to see avian vet; he gets a series of shots; it stops; it starts again in 4-6 weeks. We have tried a series of two shots and a series of six shots. We tried also treating all of my other birds (3 cockatiels and 2 foster budgies) with antibiotics in their water. Now, because the 3 cockatiels were due for wellness exams anyway, we're giving a series of two shots to all of the birds. hmy: The thought is one of the other birds might be a carrier of something. None of the other birds have shown any symptoms throughout this. Also, Calvin was tested for a bacterial infection at one point; test came back positive; treated; test came back negative. Whole story repeated anyway.

Note: when the vets office is open tomorrow, I'll get the name of the antibiotic that he has been being given and what he was tested for.

Because I foster, there have been a lot of birds in and out of my house. All are disease tested and quarantined, but it's easy for a bird to be a carrier of a variety of diseases and not test positive. Calvin has never gotten very sick. Sometimes his breathing has been visibly labored, but it always corrects as soon as he gets a shot.

This was all for background! Along with all of the birds getting shots, I need to dismantle the cages, disinfect them, toss some of the supplies, and clean and disinfect the rest. It doesn't help that it's the middle of the winter here! Nor that I have a double fight cage. And wooden floors. And my birds really like the extra cages that are set up: they use them like vacation homes!! I know I'm not going to be able to do a perfect job, but I want to do what I plausibly can.

First question: I'm having some trouble getting the F10 here in the US (delays in shipping and/or outrageous price). How about https://www.naturechest.com/petfocus.html? Or anything else? I can resort to bleach if necessary, but would rather not.

Obviously, all of the shredders are getting tossed, along with the calcium perches, edible perches, etc.

I assume that I can disinfect anything that is plastic or metal. What about wooden perches?? I have a lot of grapevine, cholla, etc. that I would like to save if possible.

What about house plants? I have a lot of (bird safe) plants in the room and they like them.

Sisal and rope bungees and perches? (Note: none of my current birds chew on the few rope perches I have, but I do monitor it).

Wooden floors with a water based polyurethane coating?

Latex painted walls??? (What can I say? Bird poop does sometimes end up on the walls!)

[For those who remember me, I have had some health issues. Finally got a diagnoses and treatment, and things are looking up. :thumbup: The budgies I had while on here, Coconut and Kip, are no longer with us. Calvin was Kip's buddy after Calvin died. Calvin decided to make friends with the cockatiels, so he's the only budgie I have at the moment. As you can imagine for the story above, no birds are coming in or out of my house at the moment, so the two foster girls are sort of kind of mine, at least for the moment. ]


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## Blingy (Feb 26, 2018)

Hello, I remember you. It's good to see you back, but I'm sorry you're having problems. I can't answer all of your questions, but this is the disinfectant I use and I love it. I get the concentrate (as shown), and make it up in a spray bottle. It comes in all different sizes too. I'm in Australia, so you'd need to see if it's available where you are. Another option for cleaning is white vinegar.

https://www.petshopdirect.com.au/shop/item/vetafarm-avicare-disinfectant-concentrate-500ml

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Hi Leah, welcome back. I use something called Pet Focus, take a look at this link and you can see all the nasty things that it is effective against. https://ladygouldian.com/Pet-Focus-Avian-Disinfectant. I have never seen this in a store, there are several sites online that sell it including the manufacturer https://www.mangopet.com/category_s/23.htm. I disinfect my wood perches, I routinely use the Pet Focus on them, you could also put them in the oven at a low temp after cleaning them.


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hi Leah, it's great to see you around here again :hug: 

You've been given great advice above; you're doing a very thorough job making sure everything is as clean as possible!!! :thumbsup: 

I'm glad things are looking up for you personally and I hope your little flock does well, too. 

Keep us posted! :fingerx:


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Leah,

It's wonderful to see you back on the forum.
You have been given excellent advice.

You should be able to clean your bird safe house plants by spraying them with water with a drop of Dawn Liquid in it. I use that on plants to kill avids and using it on your houseplants should take care of most any bacteria that might be lingering on the plant.

I'm not sure what to tell you about the sisal and rope bungees. I'd try wiping them with white vinegar and then put them in the oven on a low temperature for an hour.

Wooden floors with water based polyurethane coating -- what do you normally use to clean them? I'm sure any bird-safe cleaner you normally use for your floors and walls would take care of any bacteria.*


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## lbeckman (Jun 26, 2016)

Thank you for all of the advice! I ended up ordering both Pet Focus and F10; the Pet Focus arrived first, so that's what I'm using at the moment. I had noticed the Vetafarm Avicare, but it is not available here. 

I spoke with somebody at the company that makes Pet Focus and he suggested throwing out the rope perches and "boings", so I have. He said it's safe for my floor and walls and to let him know how it goes if I use it on the plants.  He also told me something interesting. I asked it I could dunk my gazillion metal and plastic things in a container rather than wipe them all off individually and he said yes. It turns out that the dunking method doesn't work with a diluted chlorine bleach mixture, however. The first things you dunk in can diminish its effectiveness for subsequent items.

I noticed today that the directions on the concentrate say to use it full strength to wash floors or if using to deodorize. It says to dilute it if using as a "one step cleanser". What if I am using it as a disinfectant?????? Sigh...I wish I had read that before talking to the guy at the company. I'll try to get a clarification when they are open next week.

It also would have been handy if I had thought all of this through a little more. I have a bunch of stuff that is "for bird use only". A spray bottle that has only ever had water in it, a cleaning brush, etc. I don't really have enough "for bird use only" supplies for a cleaning job this large, however. I don't even have enough cleaning cloths that I can guarantee have never been used with something noxious. I took the ones I felt surest of, washed them once normally, and then again with just vinegar added to the water. I have a roll of washable bamboo paper towels on order. (I love them because they are strong, washable, yet disposable if use them for something really yucky.) I needed another bucket anyway, so this was a good time to get one. I also ended up taking my birds' spray bath spray. I promised them I would replace it quickly!


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