Coconut Oil

[liz]

Rambo has trouble with dry feet when the furnace is on. The vet gave me an oil that sort of numbs the irritation but does not heal it. What oil was given is not easy to find so I started using cocoa nut oil for his feet. This year I have used olive oil. It works as well as the other oils. He does not like his feet touched and picks off the dry skin sometimes making a sore on his feet. The oil stops the itching and allows the spot to heal.

[Wolf]

I do not have this type of problem with any of my birds, but if I did I probably also use a little bit of aloe in addition to the oil.

[Bird woman]

The very first thing with any new bird I take in is to get them used to me playing with there feet. That takes care of a lot of problems that may arise, not to mention filing there nails and my fids love a good foot massage. Towel drying after they shower gets them used to the toweling at the vets office. And most I can hold like a baby so they don't get upset when the vet draws blood. I too use aloe with the coconut and olive oil all have great healing property's . Red palm oil , I have one bird with a heart condition that is given this oil along with flax and other heart healthy foods. To me the red palm oil is the vegetarian equilivant to krill oil for us.I have a few that came with foot problems and these home remedies have done better than anything I've got from the vets office.

[liz]

I do not have this type of problem with any of my birds, but if I did I probably also use a little bit of aloe in addition to the oil.

I spray them with aloe water.

[Navre]

I've read some horror stories about aloe in the water. I'll have to find them. From what I recall, because aloe is an oil, if the bird inhales any, it can be very bad.

I know they use aloe in the bath spray water at the rescue. I don't regularly work bath days, but whenever I do I "forget" to add the aloe. I'm not sure if the reward is worth any risk. If a bird has a specific problem, for which aloe is a treatment, then maybe it would be worth it.

[Navre]

I found this on AA. It's attributed to the original author, so I suppose that's enough to keep my composition professor happy.

"
Laurella Desborough
<eclectusbreeder@...> wrote:

The best spray for our birds is WATER, just plain water. Why?


FIRST:Because the special sprays advertised that will make your bird's
feathers "shiny, bright" and so on, have chemicals in them and/or oils.

Now, our birds do not need manufactured oils or even natural plant oils
(aloe vera) on their feathers. These kinds of additives can cause
feather chewing and feather pulling as the birds try to get rid of that
unnatural coating.

SECOND: Because IF you manage to use the spray in such a way that the bird
BREATHES IN some of that spray, the oils (including the oils in aloe vera
sprays) will COAT the lungs and put the bird into respiratory distress,
possibly even causing its death.

One of my clients was following advice on one of the well
known eclectus yahoo lists, advice recommending the use of aloe vera
sprays, and she sprayed her beautiful healthy vosmaeri eclectus male. He
went into respiratory distress when he breathed in so much of the spray,
which contains tiny aloe vera oil droplets. The aloe vera oil droplets coated his
lungs and air sacs. He became immobile, lethargic, started
chewing on his feathers. He almost died. It took weeks to bring him back
to almost normal.

There is no way to remove that oil from the lungs! A
healthy bird now had his health forever compromised from the aloe vera
spray.

Bottom line: Stick with plain water to spray your bird!
Anyone who recommends anything else is NOT knowledgeable and is simply
following some nonsense advice on some internet group or website. Stay
with natural stuff and your bird will be safer. You may cross post this
message.

Laurella Desborough "

[Pajarita]

There is no oil in aloe vera. What people call 'aloe vera oil' is an infusion of macerated aloe vera gel IN oil (see this: http://oilhealthbenefits.com/aloe-vera-oil/). But, the gel can be a bit sticky and that's why I always make it a point to tell people to use only aloe vera juice from the inner filet and nothing else. If this is what the rescue is using for the bath water, it's perfectly safe.

[Wolf]

While I do sometimes spray my birds with an aloe/ water mixture, I never spray their heads with anything other than plain water. Even plain water can cause respiratory distress if it is breathed in.

[GreenWing]

I'm one of those folks who buys into the hype because there's a lot of supporting documentation that it is, basically, when correctly consumed, a superfood.

Mercola has great articles on the benefits on coconut oil.

Some parronts love red palm oil but, you want to make sure it's rainforest friendly.

[Loriusgarrulus]

I use coconut oil as a main ingredient for an essential oil mix for psoriasis for OH. It has antihistamine properties so is good for ichy skin conditions in some cases.
His skin specialists was amazed at his skin improvement after a few months use after he stopped taking the last lot of prescrption stuff as it made him nauseous and photosensitive.

The mix I originally made worked on our old terrier who was nearly bald despite numerous medications from the vet, he was nearly back to full hairiness and no raw skin patches when he finally went to rainbow bridge.

OH started using it, so I made him up a jar without the terrier hair in.