Sookie flew into the dishwater last night! Gave him a shower and a bit of a bath last night but today his feathers are still not right. Just gave another shower and put a heater on in front of his cage.
I don't know what else to do!
If the feathers are greasy, you can wash them with a very small amount of baby shampoo or Dawn dishwashing liquid to get the grease out. Dawn is what they use on birds that got caught in an oil spill, so it's safe. It's hard to get soap out of feathers, so you need to rinse very thoroughly.
He may be able to preen them clean. Just make sure that he's still able to regulate his body heat by fluffing up. Feathers that are REALLY oil will lose their insulating properties.
Sometimes I wonder if once in a great while it is good to wash them with a little bit of baby shampoo? However, Ava would not let us scrub here so I would have to hold her to wash her. Is it good to wash them like this once in a great while or only if something like this happens?
In general birds should only be washed with plain water. Soaps and shampoos are only for when there's something on the feathers that really needs to come off (like grease gunking it up so bad that the bird can't keep itself warm), and plain water isn't enough to get the job done.
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