There has been a video circulating for a couple of years that depicts a parrot on a counter top feeding long strands of pasta to a large dog waiting below. It is an adorable video of an interaction between two species that are not naturally seen together. While it is touching and sweet, I cringe every time I see it.
There are two parts to my discomfort. First, there is the idea of a prey animal and a predator interacting. I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard over the years about the family pet attacking the bird.
Years ago, I thought nothing of keeping my cat and dog together with my birds. They had all been raised together and I carried on with the false impression that the cat and dog “understood“ that the birds were strictly off limits. They all got along well and without incident.
Then one day, my cat captured and killed a wild bird and brought it to me as a present. I was horrified that my cat would harm a bird and had to rethink the way I was letting them all interact. Even though they are domesticated, cats are cats and hunting is a big part of their intrinsic nature. Some common and popular dog breeds have qualities bred into them that specifically increase their interest in birds.
Should there be an attack, we would never be able to sprint into action fast enough to save our birds when something triggers the hunting instincts in our cat or dog, and the dangers double when food is involved like it was in the video.
The second concern of that video is less well known to many bird owners and the topic of this post: the dangers of mammalian saliva.
Cats, dogs gerbils, humans…all mammals… carry a type of bacteria in their bodies that is referred to as “gram negative” bacteria. It is present in our body fluids and we are equipped to deal with it in normal amounts. Parrots, however, do not carry gram negative bacteria in their bodies and are not prepared to battle it.
Saliva is the most common way to transmit gram negative bacteria to parrots (who, hopefully, do not have access to any other body fluids from ourselves or our pets.) This means we should be careful when we kiss our birds and we should never let them eat from our mouths or our utensils.
The claws of mammals are often coated with gram negative bacteria. That means that if there is an attack, it isn’t only the bite that is dangerous to a bird. Any scratch, no matter how superficial it seems, must be tended to by a veterinarian immediately.
To test for gram negative bacteria in an ill bird, your vet will use a process called gram staining which separates the gram negative cells from the gram positive cells. A purple dye is introduced to a sample taken from your bird which will leave the thinner cell walls of gram negative bacteria a pink color and the thicker walled cells of gram positive bacteria purple. Your vet can then make an assessment as to the degree of gram negative invasion and medicate appropriately.
Parrots are entirely different from mammals physiologically and it is beneficial for us to keep their environment as separate from our own, and that of our other pets, as possible.
Author Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.
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My Parrotlet also loves to eat treats from my mouth. Now I feel dumb for thinking it was cute and helping us bond when it could make him sick! There is so much to learn about keeping birds as pets. I thought of myself as very animal savvy, but birds are really different. Birds, reptiles and fish, you really have to do your research and dig deep to find out odd things like this. I’m sure grateful I came across this.
My Pineapple buddy has decided he is going to drink out of the other pets’ bowls as an “alpha” move. Does anyone know if there’s anything we can use to try and head off problems? I’ll stop him when I see him but he’s learned to get quiet about it. He knows the other animals get in trouble if they go near him so instead of drinking out of his bowl or fountain (fountain cleaned daily unless he bathes/shats in it, then as-needed; bowl cleaned whenever I get up to eat or go to the bathroom) he does the power move of landing on their bowls and fountains to just…not let them hydrate. I try to keep them clean but there’s 3 places for dog water and 3 places for cat water. They all have a preset time of day to get washed out (except the two fountains) bevauzs I use the water to water my plants but the moment you put fresh anything down you have an animal who wants only that. I’ve pre-emptively taken care of the fish tank just because I didn’t want him to actually land inside (the 2 foot+ balas will definitely drag him down even if he could manage to float a minute on the 100-gallon expanse). Any advice appreciated. He’s flighted, sassy, and alpha, apparently. It’s strictly a power move AFAIK. He’ll take a drink and then just sit there until I go collect him or they move on. I’m sure he’s trying to establish territory but he’s not even 10% the weight of the smallest cat lul.
While “Gram negative” bacteria are rare in the avian gut microbiome, they are not absent and are required in small quantities for healthy microbiome function, especially Bacteroidetes. A higher Bacteroides:Firmicutes ratio is associated with greater microbiome diversity in avian species, conferring a plethora of beneficial effects (e.g. greater immune function, greater SFCA production), for example. “Gram negative” bacteria do account for some nasty metazoan pathogens, however, they account for all but three to four recognised phyla. Only 1% of bacteria are anticipated to be pathogenic in the non-immunocompromised host. Of course, many “Gram positive” bacteria are also pathogenic (e.g. Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Enterococcus faecium (VRE), and Streptococcus spp.). The microbiome is modulatory, meaning that it protects the host against pathogenic invasion in most cases. The microbiome is also dynamic and influenced by its environment. The human home environment has a plethora of “Gram negative” species on surfaces, owed largely to the human gut, skin, and hair microbiomes. I have been researching the avian microbiome for years now, my advice is to proceed with caution but not to fall for click bait without conducting some peer reviewed research on the topic. The following articles are highly informative: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5183021/ https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.02901-19 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253133 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00235/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00673/full
My bird loves eating food from my mouth. I will stop this immediately. I figured it couldn’t be good, but I didn’t realize how dangerous that was.
I’ve been giving my birds kisses and sometimes even let her eat the apple in my mouth. she’s been doing this since we got her as a baby, I will stop.
my 7-month-old budgie likes to bite my infected ear. im not sure if he can get sick that way. my ear does bleed a lot and sometimes i get plasma leaking from it. please tell me if this is dangerous. im very worried.
my bird has been putting her head in my mouth and drinkig it
Gram-negative bacteria is in everything—on our tables, floors, and even the dirt. Avoiding it is impossible, and in high numbers in the incorrect place of our bodies—they can be deadly for us as well. Birds DO have gram-negative bacteria in their bodies, just in low numbers. Like us, if they get too many they get sick. “..Gram-negative bacteria may be present in very low numbers in clinically normal birds. When present in large numbers however, they are frequently associated with disease. Enterobacter, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas are disease causing gram negative bacteria….”
This information is an eye-opener. Changes the way I’m planning interaction of my 2 dogs (18 month Cocker Spaniel and 2.5 year old Chihuahua) with my 3 month old African Grey. Thanks for all the inputs here.
My Galah recently had to spend time in a box with a nebuliser blowing warm air in to clear up her sinusitis. The avian vet told me that it is due to bacteria in my mouth that she probably got sick from. Since then she only gets dry kisses, no lip eating!
I was aware of this before, but it’s good to have a reminder. I always make sure to only give my bird dry kisses and I don’t feed him from my mouth even when he tried to force his head through to get the apples I’m eating lol. Great article.
WOW!!! Oscar… my blue & gold Macaw has kissed me and ate bites of food all his life. He is 20 yrs old. He has never been ill, THAN GOD. hE LOVES TO EAT FOOD FROM ME. i FEEL REALLY BAD THAT i COULD HAVE MADE HIM SICK. I will stop feeding him that way. Thanks for the tip.
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