What You Need To Know About Pet Birds And Human Health
Pet birds bring grace and joy into the lives of many people. But are they risking their health by keeping parrots or parakeets? There are some illnesses that can cross fro a pet bird to their human family, but these are rare. Usually, by keeping up with good hygiene for both bird and human, these diseases can be avoided.
Types of Diseases
Diseases that can jump from bird to human fall into one of four categories:
• Fungal, which spreads from contact with the bird's droppings. So far, only pigeons regularly harbor fungal diseases
• Parasitic, such as lice or fleas which may use the pet bird as transportation to get to you
• Bacterial, such as e. coli
• Viral, although this has only been proved from wild birds and not pet birds
Preventing Spread of Disease
There are some classes of people which will be more susceptible to catching a disease from a pet bird than people in good health. These are very young children, the elderly and those who suffer from an immune deficiency problem. These people need to always wash their hands after handling the birds or cleaning cages and should refrain from kissing the bird.
Disease can also be prevented by buying or adopting only healthy birds. Those who are obviously ill or infested with parasites need to be quarantined before they can infect other birds or people. But even healthy birds should be quarantined for 30 days just to be sure they aren't harboring any illnesses or parasites that hadn't produced symptoms yet.
Benefits to Pet Birds
There are arguably more health benefits to keeping pet birds than there are disease risks. Pet owners regularly have lower blood pressure and are able to handle everyday stress than non-pet owners. The companionship and self-esteem that pet birds give a responsible owner is unmatched in terms of good mental health and a feeling of well being.
Pet lovers everywhere are working diligently to provide the best care possible for their little friends. While providing basic needs such as an appropriate and healthy food, as well as shelter and fresh water, pet owners are also responsible for other necessities. Other responsibilities of pet ownership relates to local laws and the pet's overall health.
Just like humans, pets sometimes need medications to help them achieve or maintain optimal health. But pet medications can be expensive. This is when savvy pet owners turn to pets. The medications provided by the company are the same high quality products sold in pet shops and veterinarian offices, but at a substantially reduced price.
We'd like to thank Miss Sue Lang on this amazing article.