Towels dried with Fabric Softener, are they toxic?

[raychchel]

Hi Parrot Forum! I apologize in advance for the length of his post, but I am trying to be as thorough as possible!

I am a new Parrot owner, though I am not new to Parrots. I currently work in a vet clinic, and was a bird trainer/specialist for a chain of specialty pet stores in the U.S. for three years. I adopted my parrotlet from another owner, 5 days ago, who had been keeping him in a finch cage for the last 7 years. The bird is not socialized, and not use to more than the basic wooden perch. However, he is very active and vocal, and interacts with me from the safety of his new cage. He has not has his wings trimmed in years, and I can see that he has issues flying because of being confined to such a small living space in the past. He loves his new cage, and is moving about with little to no issues. He is doing quite well, and I intend on having his wings trimmed as soon as he is somewhat more use to his cage and is a little more settled in my home. However....

In a brief training today Franklyn flew out of his cage and I went to retrieve him with a clean wash rag. I am not a fan of using towels with training but because he is very hand shy/aggressive, so I have been using them only when I have had to catch him. Franklyn has been doing quite well doing things this way so far, but I realized this evening that I have been using a wash rag that has been dried in a dryer with dryer sheets 2 weeks prior to adopting him. I NEVER cover his head with the wash rag. His head, beak, nostrils, eyes, etc, are all outside the rag. However, this rag had a very STRONG smell of fabric softener, which I didn't even notice until this evening. I immediately put him back in his cage, put the towel in the dirty laundry, and washed my hands. My concern is that he has been in this towel less than a minute on three different occasions. The first was when I first adopted him 5 days ago to move him to his new cage, the second yesterday when he flew out during training, and tonight.

Being a first bird owner, I know there are the normal 'first parent' freak-outs. My home has been bird proof, for the most part, since the immediate addition of Franklyn. I keep him in the living room, which is far from my kitchen and even further away from my bathroom. After reading a few bird blogs and this forum, I started to panic a little. My concern is that he was wrapped in this strong smelling wash rag, probably had it rub on his feathers a little bit, and his beak/tongue has touched the towel and feathers. I havn't found any posts with scenarios as close to mine. I just want to know what kind of signs to look for in the event that he might be poisoned.

He is not as vocal this evening as he has been, he usually sings and chirps loudly until he winds down at 7/8pm. It has been raining on and off all day, and has been quite humid. In my experiences working with tropical birds, parrots have been both calm and quiet during rain storms, especially during my time in Florida. I know he ate plenty today and has been drinking his water. He even munched on some spray millet. Does anyone have any advice on wether or not fabric dried with dryer sheets is safe for birds (I guarantee his laundry will be washed without fabric softener for now on), and if not should I take him to the vet before his scheduled check up next month? I appreciate any advice you may have!

Thank you!

-Rachel

[KimberlyAnn]

I just asked this about a month ago!

In short, yes it's bad for them. If he's not showing signs of distress with breathing, eating, drinking and things like that, I bet he's ok. But when in doubt, you can call your vet and ask what to look for in case he's ingested the softener. I'm afraid I don't know. Others will chime in with more info and I'm curious to see what they say. Honestly, my aunt said she had no idea softner was bad before I said something a month ago. She's used it on her clothes for years. Her birds are fine. I'm sure five minutes of exposure has done no harm.
He's such a cutie though! What's his name?

[raychchel]

Ah! thank you so much for your reply! I've been in a fit of panic since the incident. His name is Franklyn.

I think he will be fine, but of course I'm still worried. Doesn't seem to be having issues breathing though, and had enough energy to go after my hand when I went to remove his fruit dish. He's sort of been winding down since I put him back. I hope he's just grumpy and tired today...he's usually more sassy and vocal though

A friend of mine did state that his budgie loved to snuggle up in warm blankets fresh out of the dryer that were dried with fabric softener, and he never had an issue and that bird lived for 9 years.

[KimberlyAnn]

Franklyn! How cute!

I've noticed on overcast days, Emmi (My Green Cheek Conure) will be more quiet. But then everyone tends to have low energy on non sunny days. Today, my husband has had a headache so the blinds have been mostly closed. Emmi played some, but mostly is just sitting around and took a few naps. Lol Yesterday we had all the windows open and she was non-stop energy. I bet the rain is just slowing Franklyn down.

[raychchel]

That is such a relief to hear. The large parrots I worked with in Florida were always really active and loud before a storm, and were mellow and as quiet as ever during and after the rain. Its been pretty dim in my apartment today so I am hoping it's just the weather. I'll know at 7am wether or not he's doing alright...he always gives me an ear full in the morning

Has your conure ever come into contact with laundry dried with fabric softener at all?

[KimberlyAnn]

I'm pretty sure she has. I don't use it myself. But I know my step daughter uses it on her clothes sometdon't . I've seen the bottle in her room. I try to tell her to not have the bird on her if she has used it, but I don't know what happens when I'm not home. I'd like to think it hasn't! If I smell something, I'm on top of it! I've asked one guest in my home to wash off her perfume since it was a little heavy. I know this may be rude to some...but it was my cousin and so we are close enough for me to ask her that LOL

But I'm sure if you see a change in droppings or breathing or eating tomorrow, I would call the vet right away. I called my vet a ton the first month about EVERYTHING! lol She's been through it all so she settled my nerves a lot. Plus, with my mom and aunt having birds most if my life, I think I'm way more careful about toxins then they were. We know more now days.

[Pajarita]

I am sure he has not suffered any great damage but, in the future, please make sure you don't use dryer sheets or any softener on the towels you are going to use with him. I air dry the ones I use for the birds (I also use two bath ones to cover the electrical cord of their air purifier and their humidifier) and iron both Mr. Bad Towel and Mr. Good Towel (I have different colors for each) because they get stiff without the softeners. Their respiratory systems is infinitely superior to ours and, because of its higher efficiency (they never mix the 'clean' with the 'dirty' air), it's also more susceptible to anything bad (remember the canaries in the mines?) and dryer sheets are said to be carcinogenic so outmost care is recommended.

But, Raychel, I don't mean to correct you but a budgie which dies at 9 years of age is a budgie which died way before its time so maybe he did suffer damage from all that snuggling in the towels right out of the dryer.

I noticed you mentioned clipping him... have you considered the dangers of doing this?

[raychchel]

Thank you for your reply. As I said, I have not used fabric softener since adopting him, and the towels, blankets and rags I use for him are planned to be dried separately from all my other laundry. I have always used scent free detergent. In this situation however, I used a clean rag that was washed well before adopting him.

I have considered the dangers of clipping his wings as well as the dangers of not clipping his wings. I have very tall and large windows in my apartment, in every room. They are considerably dangerous with the shades down or up for he can get caught in them. There are no ceiling fans in my apartment, but there are also no doors connecting my living room to the hallway that leads to my kitchen. The last thing I'd want is for him to fly into my kitchen or bathroom and fall behind something. He has had his wings trimmed in the past, but not for the last 6-7 years. The old owner sort of gave up on socializing and training him, not realizing that Parrotlets are territorial (especially in their cage) and therefor becoming afraid of him.

He has shown some curiosity of leaving his cage, but is still hesitant. In the event that he does leave his cage and/or flies out, I'd hate for him to get hurt. He does not fly around his new cage, and showed much difficulty the three times he did fly out and I've had to retrieve him with the towel. I imagine this is mostly because he was confined to such a small space for most of his life. He currently climbs around his cage, never flying from perch to perch. He is also hesitant to use new perches (but is learning and opening up a little bit at a time) because of the consistency of the wooden perches in his old cage. It has been an adjustment for him, but he has been making great progress.

Once that trust is built between the two of us (which I understand can take a long time) I will consider letting the flight feathers grow out again. As I said, I don't plan on clipping his wings for a while from now. We have to work on trust and hand taming first. He currently lets me stroke his beak, but that is the extent of where my fingers can go.

[Pajarita]

Ahhh, yes, you are on the right track, I think. Let his wings grow and for him to build up his muscles before you make the final decision...

And I had to smile at the caressing his beak and nothing else comment because that is exactly what I do to the aggressive birds I get. They can't bite you if you touch the top of their upper beak but you have to watch them like a hawk because they can easily and very quickly turn their head up and bite you -LOL. But it's a great tool to get them used to your hands and to prove to them that your hands bring pleasure and never pain. I have a quaker which was given up because of aggression and she was so bad not even the rescue wanted her (she got out of her cage three times in the first two days and went straight to bite the owner of the rescue on her neck) so I ended up with her. Her name was Randolph but I could tell it was a little girl so I thought of changing her name to Rhonda... But I did the beak thing so often with her that she thought her name was Piquito (this is what I say to them while I do it -it means 'little beak' in Spanish, my mother tongue) and that's the name that she answers to now.