This can't be happening

[liz]

Wolf, I was not opening a discussion on religion. What I was doing is using my experience to explain how I feel about it. You had a very bad experience with people who were Christian in name only. I am so sorry that it happened. I also used a story to tell how a sweet little boy like Rambo can do premenditated mean things like hiding behind the toilet and jumping out to attack my aunt.

Marie, we are not trying to influence you but you brought it to the forum and we are throwing out everything we can think of trying to help. As far as I feel about it, this is not just a forum, this is a world wide neighborhood. We are concerned for what you are facing.

[Wolf]

I wasn't trying to open one on religion either, I was just using it to show how previous life experiences can color your world for the rest of your life, in spite of all you do to overcome it.

[liz]

I understand. I am still fighting the demons of my past. That is what is so sad that these birdies can't tell us what happened to them.

[Wolf]

I understand. I am still fighting the demons of my past. That is what is so sad that these birdies can't tell us what happened to them.

Me too!!!

[Pajarita]

Marie, I always tell my children that, in life, one has to do what one HAS to do and not what one WANTS to do. I love my animals with a passion and I have no doubts in my mind that I could never be happy without any animal in my life BUT I have rehomed several of them over the years due to circumstances. I had to put back into rescue several birds and a couple of permanent foster dogs and cats when I moved from Pennsylvania back to New Jersey... I'll always regret having had to do it and will always miss them but, like I said, one has to do what one has to do and people need to come before animals. Rehoming is not a bad word. It can be done with care to ensure that the animal will be treated and loved well.

I wish you lived in America because, if you did, I would take them in but I am also sure that you will find good homes for them. The only hope I can give you is that allergies come and go and, maybe, one day, you will be able to have pets with feathers and fur. In the meantime, maybe you can consider having reptiles, spiders or amphibians (I used to have these little African frogs that were absolutely adorable).

[liz]

When my daughter left home she could not take all her animals. She left an iguana behind. It was not long before he believed he was a dog and even paper trained himself. When I sold my home I had to rehome him. His new family treated him like a dog. When the kids went out to play in the morning so did he. The last kid coming in at night was responsible for bringing him in. She once got a call from her neighbor that something green was on his porch banister.

[marie83]

This is my issue, I see animals and people as equal and neither as coming first- this is getting me a lot of negative comments "how can you not put the kids first? you must be heartless.."

There is no way they are going anywhere just yet until I have seen everything from the doctors with my own eyes and discussed if moving them into our bedroom, putting seals and double sided draught excluders on the doors to reduce airflow, keeping our clothes in the kids room so they are not in direct contact with the birds and thus reducing transferring hair and dander across the rooms (we have dedicated birdy clothes already which can stay in the bedroom). We can transfer anything that needs washing to the kitchen in plastic bags if necessary and having loads of air purifiers would be enough. I'll also *try* to discuss with my bfs ex if she would allow us to do a trial where we keep his son away long enough for him to get the allergies back under control and then allow him to come up to see if the measures we put in place are enough not to set him off again. I know his son would be willing to do that but Mum I doubt it... I can only try.

Is there anything else anyone can think of that could reduce the dander transfer into the other rooms? I do tons of wiping up and vaccuming anyway so I can't really improve there.

Pajarita, if I do end up rehoming them (and that better not have to happen) I would love for them to go and live with you (or a few other forum members) if it were possible as I know they would have a better life and the best of care.

[Pajarita]

Well, OF COURSE you should exhaust every possible avenue before you rehome them! I never meant to imply otherwise. A humidifier helps a lot with dander, too. And he could wear a mask over his nose and mouth when he is outside his own room.

[Harpmaker]

The only thing I could suggest is that in clean rooms they maintain a higher pressure in the room so that contaminants will be pushed out. Similarly, if there is a way to keep the bird/beast room at lower pressure than the kids' area, perhaps with exhaust fans to outside, the animal proteins would tend to stay in that area rather than spreading throughout the flat. You alone know the difficulty of doing something like this in your circumstances. Often when a room is sealed off, the pressure inside is different than outside by accident, so you could be lucky in this case.

When you have no good options, you can only study the bad ones.

[JaydeParrot]

I hope something works out for you...

There is a UK bird charity called birdline which foster out birds but never allow them to be adopted, they can also make sure that birds are fostered out in pairs, so your two at least wouldn't be seperated from each other.

I do have some retired friends who are looking for a bird, I'm not sure if they've already found one or not though