A pet bird can raise unique challenges during any natural disaster, but being well prepared ahead of time can ensure your whole family, including feathered kids (fids), ride out the storm in a smooth manner.
Pet Identification
These days most pet birds have metal ankle identification bands, other birds may have microchips. If your parrot does not have an ankle band, consult your Avian veterinarian to know if your bird is outfitted with a microchip. If you are the
Travel Cage
Most birds have large cages inside the home. All bird owners should also have on hand a sleep/travel cage. A travel cage should be spacious enough for the size of your bird/birds, outfitted with water and food bowls and have enough room for a toy while still allowing your bird room to move freely. Your bird’s travel cage should be sturdy, but also manageable for you to carry or move in case of evacuation.
Staying Together
During our hurricane we had all of our pets inside our bedroom with us, which was the safest area in our home. The dogs were lying on the floor beside the bed and our cockatoo was in a travel cage on a dresser, covered with a medium weight sheet. Her cage was placed in a corner beside a concrete closet to buffer her from the hurricane sounds as much as possible. We were five feet away from her on the bed. It is important that you reassure your pets during and after the storm, they will be frightened too. During the height of the high pitched hurricane winds, our cockatoo was softly squealing. By 9:45pm the hurricane really had picked up and between 10:30 pm to 1 am we were experiencing the most violent winds, the Northeast quadrant. Night time for her is quiet and peaceful, this was her first hurricane with us and I imagine it was terrifying. During this time, I hugged her toweled cage and gently whispered to her that we all were going to be ok. I could hear her clicking her tongue in contentment as she was reassured we were close by and all together. Seasoned parrots owners know many cockatoos rapidly click their tongues against their upper beak to make a continuous, soft “clicking” noise to express contentment. I continued to reassure her several hours in the height of the most violent winds anytime she squealed. Even though I was terrified myself, knowing that she was upset gave me great concern and comforting her took my mind off the sounds of our collapsing patio palapa (palm frond roof), car alarms and the excruciating wind sounds. The hurricane sounded like a freight train passing our house 10 feet away and 2 stove top steam tea kettles going off in each ear. The fluctuating barometric pressure is very painful on the ears for humans and pets alike. You can only imagine what those noises actually sound like to our pets with sensitive ears.
Prepare a safe place in your home for your pets to stay during a hurricane/tornado event. If you expect storm surge you’ll need to move to a different area in your home, so have an evacuation plan ready in any scenario. Have their carriers ready, wrangling terrified pets is extremely challenging.
Food
Be sure to have enough pellets, nuts, seeds and birdy produce for your pet birds. Our bird is on a mainly natural diet of mostly vegetables and some fruits, along with cooked quinoa, millet and about 10% seeds and nuts. Since birds are highly susceptible to fatty liver disease, we were lucky to adopt a bird that wasn’t on a seed based diet. Whatever diet your bird is on, ensure that their foods are stored in airtight (weatherproof) containers and are kept in a cool, dry place to prevent contamination or molding of their food. You can freeze nuts and seeds ahead of time in Ziploc bags or Snapware containers. Plan ahead to purchase their favorite fruit and vegetables, selecting produce that will last longer such as slightly green bananas, firmer fruits like apples, kiwis, large carrots, potatoes and zucchini. You can prepare birdy chop recipes and freeze them in portions. Before adopting our cockatoo she never ate oatmeal, quinoa, rice or beans. In our hurricane aftermath, on day 12 there was still no sign of food being restocked in stores. Food trucks were unable to get through due to damaged roadways. Most of the regular food she was accustomed to eating ran out or had gone bad. Some friends had brought eggs from out of town and it was what was for breakfast that morning. Initially she wasn’t having it, but then I explained to her that it’s either eggs or oatmeal, and she got with the program. Parrots are high intelligent and really do understand. In the coming days, we would eat together off one plate. Our cockatoo now loves eggs, oatmeal, beans, quinoa and all types of rice and cooked millet.
If you make bird chop (a mixture of fresh fruits, vegetables and grains) choose long lasting produce such as firm apples, firm bananas, pomegranates, cherries, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, as well as staples such as oatmeal, quinoa, rice and millet.
Medications
If your pet bird is on any medications, go to your Avian vet well in advance and get at least a 3 – 4 week supply of their medications. Keep their medications in an airtight, weather proof container or double Ziploc bags. Many things can go wrong after a natural disaster which may prevent you from leaving your home. In our case, veterinarian hospitals were destroyed and not open for many weeks. Everyone had their own disaster at home and at their business. Being prepared with several weeks of food and medications means you won’t be scrambling around town in a panic looking for hard to find items.
Birdy First Aid Kit
Keep a special first aid Ziploc bag or bin especially for your pets with such items as pre-cut gauze, cotton pads, cotton buds, hydrogen peroxide, stretchy self adhesive tape, and bloodclot (an antiseptic, anti bacterial and blood stop gel). We have a doggy bin and a separate Bird First Aid bin, I don’t want cross contamination issues between our pets.
Two weeks after our major hurricane, I noticed a small, fresh spot of blood forming on our cockatoo’s cheek. She had been grooming herself and scratching her cheek with her foot as many birds do on a daily basis. She wasn’t aware what was happening but we speculated she had either had a blood feather or scratched herself, pulling a small cheek feather from the root. We knew all the vets were closed as the hurricane damage was so extensive that very little was open. Fortunately, I remembered reading an article a few weeks earlier about blood feathers that detailed how to clot the blood quickly on a blood feather or scratch. We calmly got her to a position on her rolling bird stand and carefully looked at the area where the blood was coming from. The article said to pack the affected area with organic corn starch on a q-tip until you could get to the vet. The blood stopped almost immediately and later that day we got word of an Avian vet that was arriving from out of town. We made an emergency appointment for later that day. We monitored our cockatoo closely until our vet appointment. When we arrived, the vet carefully removed the packed cornstarch slowly with q-tips dipped in hydrogen peroxide. Upon close examination, we observed our cockatoo had pulled a small skeleton cheek feather prematurely from the root which caused the bleeding. We had done the right thing. Our pets during these times can also experience anxiety, so it is important to monitor their behavior especially after the storm has passed. Had we not noticed it right away our cockatoo could have died, their tiny bodies have a lot less blood that humans. When we arrived back home, we trimmed and filed her nails to prevent anymore pulled feathers.
We could compile the Ultimate Birdie First Aid kit, but Mitch from Windy City Parrot has already done that. We highly recommend Mitch’s blog post for the most comprehensive list of a bird first aid kit. Click https://www.windycityparrot.com/blog/2014/07/12/built-ultimate-diy-bird-parrot-first-aid-kit/ here for the ultimate Bird Emergency Kit.
In case of voluntary or mandatory evacuations ensure your pet carriers are ready and equipped with enough food, meds, first aid kit, toys and clean liners.
Have your veterinary’s number close by in case of emergency. Also have back up veterinarian (at least 3) just in case yours is unavailable or out of town.
City wide pest control
After a natural disaster strikes, your city may perform spraying in your neighborhood for mosquito viruses such as Dengue fever, Zika, Rocky Mountain fever and lyme disease or any other mosquito carrying viruses. The city often sprays with pesticides like malathion, which we are often told are safe around pets. However, all pet birds have incredibly delicate respiratory systems. Bird experts often warn bird owners against using Teflon coated cookware, harsh cleaning chemicals, essentials oils, perfumes, scented candles and air fresheners around the household. Therefore it is extremely important to have a safe area in your home for your pet bird/birds after a hurricane or flood to ensure your birds won’t be affected by any spraying. Bird owners should take every precaution in protecting their fids from inhaling any chemicals. The city sprayed on 3 different occasions after our hurricane, so we asked neighbors at the entry to our community to call us when they arrived at the entrance so that we could move our cockatoo and her bird cage into the bedroom. We sealed the door base with triple folded towels to prevent inhalation of the fumes. After a few hours the chemicals dissipated and we were able to return our cockatoo and her cage to her normal space in the house.
Calming your bird’s nerves
Many birds love chamomile tea, our cockatoo chugs it down when it is placed in a mug in front of her. Tea for your bird should be diluted down to half strength and should be serve tepid, not warm or hot. Chamomile tea has a very calming effect on your bird. Each individual bird owner should consult their Avian vet as to how much and how often your bird should be served chamomile tea. We usually give her half a mug once a week. Alternatively, ask your vet if Avicalm is suitable to calm their nerves.
Toys, enrichment and Foraging Items
If your pet has a favorite toy, teddy bear or blanket have it with them during the storm anything that will calm their nerves during this time.
Have on hand some treats for your pets during these trying times. Our cockatoo loves cracking into walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds. Activities will keep birds busy, so ensure their favorite foraging items and enrichment toys are available to keep them occupied.
Try to keep your routine as normal as possible for your pets. If you feed your pets and refresh their water at 7 am, noon and 5pm, try to keep to this routine as much as possible. It is easy to get side tracked with so much debris and chaos going on, but keep your pets high on the priority list.
Natural Disaster Aftermath – Some Dangers
I want to make a special note here about hawks and other wildlife in the aftermath of a hurricane. Several pets and wild animals were displaced in the days and weeks after the hurricane. The first thing I noticed at 4am when the winds died down were several shivering baby birds, hanging out on fallen tree branches and on our dog gate. Wet, shivering, and traumatized, we tried but could not capture them to keep them safe temporarily. My heart sank for them, homeless and parentless, in all likelihood. We placed a bowl of seed and water out for them, they could fly and we hoped they would have a chance against predators. While most birds will not be a threat to your pet bird, hawks and other animals (domestic and wild) will be.
We had a neighbor’s shocked German Shepherd in our yard on the first day. Most neighbors gates, fences and walls were destroyed, so he probably went for a walkabout. He was gone after 15 minutes, but a confused dog could be a threat to your pet bird(s). While sweeping up outside a few days later, I spotted a young hawk in a coconut palm on our property and a day later encountered a two foot long baby rattlesnake. While you may want to resume normal bird activities as soon as possible, you need to assess things for the safety of your own pets. While a young hawk is no match for our large cockatoo, its mother or father wouldn’t think twice to snatch and kill a cockatoo or pet bird in an instant.
We had a lovely and lush 30 foot tall ficus tree that our cockatoo used to spend a couple of hours in everyday. The ficus gave her full coverage from any hawk as she could not be seen under its foliage. After the hurricane blew through, that ficus was stripped of most of it’s leaves. We could not allow her in her tree until the foliage grew back and ,with all the displaced wildlife, we just would not take that chance. So we installed a swing in our kitchen patio and our cockatoo was very happy to be outside where she was fully protected by outdoor roofing. All pet birds must be monitored constantly while outside, if not in an enclosed aviary. Always ensure you are arm length’s away to ensure your pet bird is always safe outdoors.
Our cockatoo didn’t mind the new view of the neighbors’ places after the hurricane blew down about half of the Washingtonian and coconut palms. When some of our out of town neighbors arrived to access the damage to their vacation homes, she screamed with delight as they waved at her on her new swing installation.
Emotional Recovery Pet PTSD
Much like humans, each individual pet will process a natural disaster differently. Our cockatoo was a real champ. She experienced the sudden death of one of her original owners, lost 2 of her flock mates with her original owner and then survived her second family’s divorce. Within 5 months of her third home (us) she survived a category 4 hurricane. She is quite resilient, but all of your pets will require reassurance after a natural disaster. Hug your dogs, cuddle with your birds and have a chat with your pets. Our pets really do pick up on our energy, whether we are stressed, panicked or calm. Their hearts break, they feel anguish and many pets are extremely sensitive. We were like many other bird families, our cockatoo had bonded and was in love only one family member, my husband. I couldn’t handle our too and she would on occasion, allow me to groom her on “her terms”. But things shifted dramatically after our hurricane in more ways than one. We sat together for several meals on the outside patio, we would play with birdy bagels and blocks and on one afternoon she parked herself in front of me, declared many “I love yous” and dropped her head completely. I was allowed to groom her, to preen her head and crest feathers. When a broken hearted parrot gives you that trust, well it’s just magical. Those whispers of comfort and reassurance the night of our Category 4 hurricane meant I was finally approved as a flock member. In the chaotic aftermath of a natural disaster our pets need a little extra love and attention too.
