Bird Dust and You---3 Ways Pet Bird Dust Can Be Harmful

Bird dust is a powder like substance that some birds produce to keep their feather soft and in good condition. The birds that produce this kind of powder are appropriately called powder down birds. These include Cockatoos, African Greys, Cockatiels, and some Amazons.

Dust from the Amazon is less noticeable that from the others because it is darker in color rather than white, and goes unnoticed. And wing dust is just one of several kinds of dust birds generate.

Even more than being a pain in the neck to clean up, bird dust causes a tremendous increase in particles in your home day after day, month after month, and this can spell bad news. Here 3 ways this nuisance can become a menace.

Clogged Air Passages---Birds have incredibly efficient respiratory system and this is both good news and bad. Basically, even though their air passages are small these tubes take the air directly to where it needs to go. But because their airways are so tiny, they are easily clogged.

When birds in captivity are forced to breathe air that is thick with dander and dust as well as other normal household pollutants, it almost always leads to disease and infection. This shortens your bird's life span considerably.

Innate behavior is for birds to mask symptoms of illness or weakness. This is a built in defense mechanism that keeps them from being attacked in the wild. Unfortunately this behavior does not change when they are in captivity.

Being able to hide the problem from their humans allows the illness to progress, many times, until there is little or no chance of having them recover even with medical attention.

Bird Fancier's Lung----This is a disease that affects humans. It starts when dried feces dust is inhaled. Onset of symptoms occurs fairly rapidly-usually within a 6 hour period. Symptoms include chills, fever, dry cough, and chest pain.

Even though this condition is rare and is only occasionally fatal, those statistics will serve as very little comfort if by contracting this condition your name is added to the list of rare cases or occasional fatality numbers.

Allergy And Asthma Trigger---People who suffer from airborne allergies are generally hypersensitive to a variety of particulates. They generally include the normal types of irritants found in homes such as household dust, dust mites, mold and mildew spores, and pet dander.

Adding more particles into the air with a feathered friend (who is dusty) usually increases allergy and asthma flare ups to an uncomfortable level. And at that point many are forced to make a painful choice between the bird and their health.

So what is the solution for loving a bird that produces tons of dust, but keeping your health too? The answer is high efficiency particle arresting (or HEPA) filtration.

Using an air cleaner that can reliably and continuously clean the air for you, your bird, and your family will help insure a long and happy life for you all.

Keep bird dust from becoming a menace in your home starting now with help at http://purerair.com/bird_dust_air_purifier.html