The danger of dusty birds?

[JaydeParrot]

Hi, I have some retired friends who are looking to buy a bird. I was thinking of mentioning to them about a particular african grey, saying we could go halves on buying it, they could keep it for as long as they are able and they could give the bird to me if/when they can no longer look after it.

I don't want to mention my idea to them just yet though, as one of them has breathing problems and I am concerned that the dust from the african grey would be aggrivate the problem. It's not asthma, it's an issue with one lung. I don't want to put the person in danger by exposing them to the bird so was wondering if anyone knew if african grey dust would be dangerous or not?

[shiraartain]

My sisters were not originally allergic to birds, though they were at risk for allergies since they were born premature.

Both are completely healthy, they run around and do everything they'd like

Twin 2 was not and still is not affected by powder-based birds at all. Twin 1 developed an allergy due to our cockatiel. It was not life-threatening, but she did have a discolored patch on her face and you could hear her breathing. This is in a household that was cleaned often, ESPECIALLY the birds' room, so there was not powder accumulating. Cockatiels are smaller than african greys, so i'm assuming an african grey would produce even more dust.

(I know you said it's not an allergy, but i'm giving an example of an otherwise perfectly healthy person developing a health problem due to the powder.)

I think in the case of someone with an issue with one lung, the dust would definitely have a negative impact on their health- They could look into HEPA air purifiers (I know many of the people on the tiel forum I used to frequent used them due to family members with severe allergies) but I can only vouch for their effectiveness as far as cockatiels go, I don't know if it would work for an african grey.

TLDR; I don't think it's worth the risk, there are too many possible negative complications. An oil-based bird would be a safer and better bet. In fact, I would recommend that you mention that an oil-based bird would probably be safer health-wise so that they factor that into their decision.

All that said, I think i'm pretty young in comparison to other forum members and so maybe someone within that age range would be able to offer better advice.

[marie83]

I have a cockatiel, asthma and allergies. My health suffers big time but I love animals far too much to rehome anyone and I will have more in the future. If you do a search for allergies or asthma then you can find some of the strategies on how to lessen the symptoms. You really do have to be 1000% committed though. Allergies and asthma leave you feeling completely exhausted, itchy, irritated etc -permenantly. Personally I dont think a dust bird would be a good match for their family but hey, maybe they will be as dedicated to the bird as the rare few other sufferers are to theirs, most will give them up though.

I do feel that poor grey needs a forever home though and the asthmatic wont know how bad things can be until she lives with it, unless you can take the bird in tomorrow then dont make a promise to take it in in a couple of years if things don't work out because its quite likely it will be much much sooner than you anticipate. I know how badly you want to "SAVE" that grey but I don't think this is the right way to go about it plus what about the next grey that replaces the existing one?