Pet Birds/breathing problems

[Barbara Moulton]

Does anyone know of any person who has had difficutlies owning pet birds? Carl gave me two budgies for Christmas last year (and I love them) but it occurred to me that some of my chest pain/shortness of breath has manifested itself since they came into my home :-)

I had heard that some people have problems with bird allergens and I suddenly wonder if that might be some of my problem?

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

yes

i love birds and was extremely close a parakeet pet in particular as a teen. After this pet died, my father (thinking he would aid me in learning more about birds) purchased four for me, two beautiful pairs. These parakeets never bothered me.

Later, i was given two finches. i loved these birds so very much. They made me deathly ill. i couldn't clean their cages without not just having trouble breathing but almost having symptoms similar to the flu. We finally gave our finches away and i try to never be around birds, now.

edited to add: i am not attempting to communicate that i believe that the birds are causing your problem. i was simply responding to your post asking of birds have caused a breathing problem. i do trust you are able to find answers to your questions.

[Barbara Moulton]

yes

i love birds and was extremely close a parakeet pet in particular as a teen. After this pet died, my father (thinking he would aid me in learning more about birds) purchased four for me, two beautiful pairs. These parakeets never bothered me.

Later, i was given two finches. i loved these birds so very much. They made me deathly ill. i couldn't clean their cages without not just having trouble breathing but almost having symptoms similar to the flu. We finally gave our finches away and i try to never be around birds, now.

Interesting.

There is a lady in the church who I know would take the birds for a couple of weeks. I am tempted to ask her to do so and see if I feel any better.

[Barbara Philipp]

Barbara: Birds carry air born disease. I have a friend, Str.St. Mary Eloise, getting over Chlamydia. Her bird (parrot family) gave it to her. She kept kissing on it, passed by fluid as well. You could be allergic to him. Mary Eloise was tested for allergies and they do a prick test for bird, dog, cat. So it is very possible.

Check with your M.D.

God bless,

[David Cash]

If you're having respiratory symptoms, you'd do well to see your doctor promptly.

My dad used to raise homing pigeons. While none of our family had the problem, it was known in that hobby that the fine dust created by the bird droppings in the avery gave some people health problems. As I recall, it was a pneumonia type illness.

David Cash

[Alisa Stoll]

My daughter's friend once had a nasty resp. ailment that was attributed to bird droppings - she did not have a pet bird at the time.

Alisa

[Barb Bouldrey]

Barbara,

I typed in "Allergic to Birds" in Google and found a lot of links talking about allergies and diseases caused by having birds. Some are respitory illnesses, some flu like reactions.

Check it out.

Here is one link:

http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/Diseases/allergy.html

Barb

[Dana Grant]

Does anyone know of any person who has had difficutlies owning pet birds? Carl gave me two budgies for Christmas last year (and I love them) but it occurred to me that some of my chest pain/shortness of breath has manifested itself since they came into my home :-)

I had heard that some people have problems with bird allergens and I suddenly wonder if that might be some of my problem?

Barbara, one of my clients is a group of pulmonary specialists. There have been many instances that exposure to pet birds has been discovered to be the etiology of pulmonary problems in patients. You may have something there. It is definitely worth discussing with your physician, and you may benefit from an evaluation by a pulmonologist.

[Donna Adams]

my 25 year old son has asthma and severe allergies. He was diagnosed at 18 months old. When he would visit his grandmother who had birds and a cat, hours later, usually during the night he would have trouble breathing and get a red bumpy rash all over him. After testing and talking to the doctor's at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, we found he is highly allergic to birds, more so than cats.
You need to talk with your doctor.