# For Those Who Smoke and own birds



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

If you do smoke, i must BEG you not to smoke around your birds. have them in a smoke free room if you are to smoke in the house. i do not smoke, but i currently live with someone who does. this is for owners who are not aware of the damages, also to new bird owners who do smoke. i developed asthma from second hand smoke so i know first hand the damage of smoking.

i got tsuka when he was 5 months old, YOUNG! well he STUNK of cigarettes, horribly. it took eight baths in a matter of 3 days to get rid of it. his feathers were dull. He now has feather issues. his feathers grow in stunted and adult feathers often falll out a week after molting back in, stunted and deformed. he pants easily and wheezes and his breath whistles. he often tail bobs. hes NOT sick, just has a breathing ailment, permanantly done from his former home who smoked constantly around him. for 5 months of his life he was around smoking and he's suffered greatly. the damage is irreversible. i MUST ask you, if you dont want this to happen to your birds, do not smoke around yours. tsuka is almost 9 months old now.

this is the message of a concerned and desperately worried bird owner. tsuka has to go through this for the rest of his life, and it's probably going to be cut short from the respiratory problems he has. simply doing step up training last night had him panting after 5 step ups. simple flapping makes him pant. simply restraining for 1 minute for a blood feather check and he pants. please, smoking is terrible around birds. im not telling you to stop altogether, thats your choice, and i respect that, but please i ask not to do it around the birds in your home.

if you do not believe me, here are photos of the damage done to my tsuka








note the droopy wings as his feathers are painful and often irritate him. this is the condition we got him in, this was taken the day we got him.

and the feather issues are discussed in this thread, along with photos further in
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=15965


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## tweetycockatiel (Nov 18, 2010)

nice advice

have love and care with your birds,

nice post tsuka


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## Nika (Nov 9, 2010)

hey, i smoke a little bit (especially like it with an occasional glass of wine ), my partner is a more devoted smoker BUT we would never smoke around Cuddy- it's always a puff outside the house, which results in us smoking less, hose not stinking of **** and foremost our Bird not suffering


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## birdlover4life (Mar 6, 2010)

So sad . I would NEVER smoke, my dad quit and I wouldnt talk to him when he smoked, I find it so gross and especially around sensitive birdies.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

Nika said:


> hey, i smoke a little bit (especially like it with an occasional glass of wine ), my partner is a more devoted smoker BUT we would never smoke around Cuddy- it's always a puff outside the house, which results in us smoking less, hose not stinking of **** and foremost our Bird not suffering


and thats your choice, its not my place to tell you other wise. im just concerned as ive seen what its done to tsuka.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I did 2 year ago but not anymore 
Poor Tsuka he looks really bad on the pic, glad he is alot better than he was


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## birdlover4life (Mar 6, 2010)

I am glad you quit


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Im glad i didn't have birds then but when i quit i could smell the smoke in the flat and on clothes and i had to wash everything


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## Jess (Jun 20, 2010)

Good post. Even if people don't actually smoke in the same room as the birds it still must affect them as I've had birds from smokers who've smoked in another room but it the birds still smells of it. Worse one was a baby parrot, he reeked and had very dry feathers, he was constanly preening and seemed itchy. Everytime I showered him it seemed to bring the smokey smell out on him again.


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## .mpeg (Oct 6, 2010)

very good advice, indeed. my partner smokes (unfortunately) and i try to keep mister away from her for at least 10 minutes after she comes back inside (hard because he seems to think she's his mum  ). she goes outside to smoke with the door shut, but the room stinks when she comes back in, i have to cover my mouth and nose. she thinks i'm over dramatising it, but if it's that bad for me, think about the poor birdy  i'm now terrified mister has a respiratory infection, which wouldn't surprise me considering how sick he has been in his short life.
i'm getting him tested for psittacosis soon just in case and i'll ask for respiratory testing of some sort at the same time.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Smoking affects parrots more then a lot of people think. My mum smokes, as does her boyfriend, but they got right out the back onto the back patio to smoke, well away from the house, as well as the birds room, and other bedrooms. 

Some avian respiratory facts:

* *Birds have lungs, which are not lobed like our own. They also have air sacs (either 7 or 9, depending on species) which extend into their bones, which are hollow. This fact makes them lightweight and enables flight.*

* *Birds do not have a diaphragm. Air is drawn in and expelled by the contraction of muscles. Because there is no diaphragm, and the air sacs extend into the bones, respiratory infections also can extend to the abdominal cavity and the bones.*

* *A bird’s respiration is slower than in mammals of similar size.*

* *It actually takes two breaths to complete a single respiration cycle and move air through the entire respiratory system. The second breath pushes the first through to the end of it’s cycle.
* 
* *The respiratory system of a bird is more efficient than ours in transferring oxygen. This means that toxins inhaled are delivered equally as well. Because of this efficiency, a parrot will succumb to the same level of toxic fumes that would be tolerated by a mammal.*


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

thats why i posted this. my nonna had budgies when i was young. i thought they only lived at most a year because they always dropped dead after 6 months, and they were juveniles. but no, now that i know more about birds, i realized it was either the smoking or non stick pans. people think smoking does no harm to them. its lack of education, and thats all i think tsukas old owner was ever responsible for--bad education. she prolly didnt know.


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