# Snacking problem



## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

I have no experience with birds but I recall seeing some bird cages with mesh netting around them that caught a lot of the seeds.


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

I don't think it'll be possible to prevent it totally unless they all lived in separate areas of the house, and I personally would never want that as my pets are my family and I'm not keeping one or the other hidden away!!!

I'd try changing the set-up of the cage to minimise the food mess. I'm guessing you have bowls at the sides of the cage then I'd use heavy bowls in the middle of the floor of the cage with their staple diet in it so when they toss things about it'll be contained a bit more. A seed guard around the base with bowls down there will be more effective then too. Yes I know poop gets in when bowls are in the middle of the floor, but re-arranging perches to minimise that is possible too. If they get meals of other food then consider feeding those in another area where they can't throw it around for the dog (like the kitchen or bathroom, or a specific contained feeding station or something) and once they've eaten they can go back to their cage.

Or try re-positioning the cage somewhere where you can keep the dog back from it more (like, use an X-pen to keep a barrier a few feet around the cage, I know birds can toss food a LONG way (lmao!) but it'd again minimise it.


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## ziggylu (Jun 26, 2010)

Our cockatiel is pretty neat so we don't ahve this problem with him but when I had canaries they were really messy and threw food everywhere. I tried the nets but that didn't work so well. I did switch to one of the cages that had the trays around the bottom and that helped A LOT as long as a I kept the food near the bottom of the cage. Any treats I offered near the top of the cage still got thrown everywhere though as they were higher and had a longer trajectory over the tray when tossed by the birds .


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

They have expensive cages, I can't just buy new ones.

I can't put their food bowls in the middle of their cages, I'd have to change them a million times a day every time feces lands in there.

As mentioned before, seed nets don't work very well.


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

I've had birds inside, I know the mess they make and the poops in the dish etc. Don't just slam us down when we're trying to suggest ideas for something you've asked for help with!

Perhaps try covered food bowls then? Either in the middle, or even at the side, but if they're down low, below the level of the seed net, there'll be less mess. (and being covered they'll have less mess too) Just make sure they're the correct size for your species of bird!!


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

Seems theres options you may just need to try a few to minimize it or else your just going to have to clean it up more...

Maybe you try looking into Raw for your dogs diet


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I would NEVER feed Ginger raw. I don't want her to get intestinal parasites, bacterial infections, or any of the many other things that can go wrong. Dogs are NOT somehow magically impervious to intestinal infections and other food born illnesses and injuries, despite what some people may think. And I also don't understand how feeding raw relates to her eating my birds' food??

FlyingDuster, I'm not shooting down ideas, I'm simply explaining why those suggestions wouldn't work. Doesn't make sense for me to buy new cages when they have perfectly good cages that cost a lot of money. I already explained in my first post that I've tried seed guards and found them ineffective. And I can't put bowls in the middle of their cages because they have very fast metabolisms and their bowls would end up having to be changed every five minutes when fecal matter lands in there. Furthermore, they like to dump free standing dishes over and that would leave them without food and water and would create huge messes. Also, they'd push the bowls over into the corner of their cages and would use it as a nest and I can't let them do that for behavioral and health reasons. 

Their food bowls do have hoods on them. 

The solution doesn't lie with my birds, it lies with a way to alter Ginger's behavior. I just don't know what it might be yet.


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

msminnamouse said:


> I would NEVER feed Ginger raw. I don't want her to get intestinal parasites, bacterial infections, or any of the many other things that can go wrong. Dogs are NOT somehow magically impervious to intestinal infections and other food born illnesses and injuries, despite what some people may think. And I also don't understand how feeding raw relates to her eating my birds' food??


I don't know why you even asked the question! You seem to have an attitude at anything said to you. 

No one said dogs could not get illnesses, injuries and infections - you must be referring to the Raw threads you've made snide comments in LOL... and now assumptions in this one. ^^ I mentioned Raw because of your dogs stomach issues. 

If you use the guards and it helps 50% of the time thats better then nothing right? And the other 50% - keep clean with a mini vac.


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I don't know what you're talking about in regard to my apparent attitude? I also don't know what you're talking about when you refer to my snide comments in other raw threads. I only replied in _one_ other thread that had anything to do with raw food and I just simply said that dogs can get salmonella from raw eggs, which is completely true.

I'm also confused about where you saw that I said that Ginger has stomach issues. I never said that. I just said that she has allergies. Her stomach is fine.


To people who have made suggestions about my parrots:

Things with my parrots have to be extremely exact and specific. Everything has to be just so and has to be a certain way. They are very hormonal and I have to be very careful that they can't nest in anything or with anything. They can't have any closed off corners for them to nest in. If you don't have lovebirds hens, you wouldn't understand how crazy it is with them and how careful I have to be with every single little thing. 

Every little change can set off their hormones or self mutilation. I'm currently dealing with one picking her skin raw. It's going to cost me a pretty penny at the vet even though she's perfectly healthy otherwise. She just had her annual exam not long ago! I just simply can not go changing around things that have been working just to keep Ginger from eating their food. The fix has to lie with altering Ginger's behavior. My birds have enough of their own problems.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sounds to me as if you are dealing with two deep rooted, instinctive behavious - parrots toss food around, and dogs are opportunistic scavengers. It may be possible with a long, consistent training programme to teach Ginger to leave the seeds alone, but you still need to manage the behaviour in the interim. Could you barricade the area off in some way?


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

That's a tough thing to teach a young dog reliably.

Years ago, I was able to teach my adult Golden Retriever to leave the cat's food bowl (on the floor) alone, but I always considered him a saintly rarity. I wouldn't expect any but a complete saint of a dog to ignore edible stuff on the floor.

Sorry not to be more helpful, but I find with my poodle that if there is stuff I don't want to risk him getting into, and I can't be there to supervise, I have to either separate poodle from the desirable stuff, or live with him getting into it, whatever 'it' is. 

Training can work, and this looks like a good candidate for clicker training, but I would not leave the dog alone with the parrot cage for months and months. Every time the dog was unsupervised and snacking on parrot food, he's be reinforcing himself and undoing your training.

I've heard of people having success keeping dogs off the furniture by laying out sheets of aluminium foil, as dogs don't really like the noise/texture. Maybe covering the floor under the parrot cage with sheets of foil would help?

Good luck!


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I like the aluminum foil area and may also invest in a baby gate. 

But this seems to have solved it's self for at least the time being since my birds are also now on allergy food! It has nothing in it that Ginger isn't supposed to have. Mainly just rice and I guess artificial substitutions for what the rice doesn't provide in their diet.

All I can say is thank God I don't have food allergies! What a pain!


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