# Beware of Cloth Toys



## kimmy (Oct 22, 2012)

A while ago, I posted that my boy was brining up undigested seed.

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=36114

Turns out that he developed a crop obstruction (a wad of thread) from tearing apart (and swallowing tiny bits of) a rope swing bird toy in his cage over the course of two years. The swing was metal ring covered with a cottony type colourful rope. I believe that it was also a brand named bird toy and hence never suspected that it could hurt him. 

He underwent surgery (to remove the obstruction) successfully by the grace of God and with the help of a good avian vet. He's now recuperating and we're on day 3 of a soft food diet.

We're praying that all goes well with him over the next few days especially.

We just wanted to let people know to be careful and to know that these cloth toys may pose a threat to our cockatiels.

I've attached a picture of sort of what the toy looked like. The vet kept the actual toy to do a write up on it.


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## OOwl (Dec 5, 2012)

Yikes! I have an "Atom" like that, and while it hangs ABOVE Evian's cage, it is still one of her favorite places to be. I've not noticed her picking at the threads but thank you for the head's up. I would guess that would go for rope swings, boings, and perches, too. Almost all my parrots have toys that are made of rope. I had no idea they'd actually ingest pieces of it! Glad your bird is on the mend. Sounds like you have a great vet.


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## TexTiel (Mar 17, 2013)

Thanks for the heads up. Hope your little guy heals up well.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

It's best to cut the hanging thread parts on those types of toys as short as possible. My friend also had a budgie hang itself on one.


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## karendh (Mar 25, 2013)

Thankyou so much for the warning, I only joined the forum a few weeks ago and have been checking out toys etc. I was impressed with the rope swings and was thinking of buying one, now I definitely won't!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

rope perches are fine for most birds, you get the odd bird who does pick off fibers, but this is an exception--not the rule 

any toy, any perch, any thing can be a danger to different birds, and this is why owners must watch our birds carefully with new toys 

you can try a rope perch, just watch your bird with it


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Glad your bird is on the mend!

That's what they say though, the only safe toy is the toy your bird doesn't play with 
But thanks for the heads up! Will definitely pay more attention to what they're up to now.


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## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

Thanks for that warning! Is it the loose hanging threads that are the danger? We have one of those perches too so I'm gonna cut the strings off.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

I have a perch that's the same material, but it has no loose threads, and no metal inside. Do you think it's safe? It's Rocko's favorite thing in the world.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

as long as he is not _eating_ it, it is *fine*


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## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

Ollie has a triangle rope swing which she does eat things off. once she threw up a little ball of fluff - so scary and disgusting. thankfully she's gone off chewing the swing lately.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Poor little guy, thank you for posting this, I hope he makes a speedy recovery.


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## SarahBri (Dec 1, 2011)

OOwl said:


> Yikes! I have an "Atom" like that, and while it hangs ABOVE Evian's cage, it is still one of her favorite places to be. I've not noticed her picking at the threads but thank you for the head's up. I would guess that would go for rope swings, boings, and perches, too. Almost all my parrots have toys that are made of rope. I had no idea they'd actually ingest pieces of it! Glad your bird is on the mend. Sounds like you have a great vet.


Poop  I like the rope perches and boings.


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