I am wondering if an air freshener will harm a small parrot from another room in the house. It’s not a plug-in air freshener, but I am concerned that it might still be harmful from a few rooms away. Does anyone have any information/experience about this subject?
TIA!
–FCOD
Shouldn’t be a problem.
The toxin I see fairly often is inhalation of fumes from polytetraflouroethylene (?sp), AKA teflon. Over heat a teflon coated pan and birds in a distant part of the house can die. One client lost three birds when she plugged in a brand new space heater. The element was coated with PTFE and when it burned off (as the manufacturer intended) her birds died. But air freshener is not a problem.
Thanks for your advice. The reason I am concerned is because my wife and I lost a cockatiel when we were in college because we had a Glade Plug-In in our dorm room with the bird. I’m assuming that it was the proximity that created a problem. In your experience, are the plug-in type fresheners more of a problem? Thanks again!
–FCOD
Birds can be hamed by a variety of airborne chemicals. See here , for example, for a report of two macaws done in by a carpet cleaner.
I think I would start by checking the active ingredient list and googling for those in conjunction with bird names. If the deoderizer does not list its ingredients, don’t risk it.
Volatile oils theoretically can be a problem, however I would caution you that unless a post mortem exam confirms a cause of death, you just have coincidence. In the case of the cockatiel was the cause of death confirmed? I have seen similar cases where the owner was certain the bird dies due to a cleaning product, when post mortem showed the bird was egg-bound, for example.
Many exotic birds are chemically sensitive. A neighbor said his vet told him that his bird died and one got sick because they were spray painting some outdoor furniture.