# Can Marlene have a bath?



## Anouk (Jul 20, 2008)

Hello again!
Just wondering if it would be safe to offer Marlene a shallow bath. I don't know exactly how old she is but she no longer has any of the baby pin feathers and she now weighs 360g. She had the strapping taken off her fractured wing two days ago, and is definitely starting to stretch it some more. She's a feral and had a lot of poo on her when I found her (she was sitting on a small mountain of it) and she is also slightly sticky from my early attempts with the formula and the syringe. I've been wiping her down with a damp cloth, but I think a more thorough bath might work wonders. What do you think? Would the flapping involved be too much stress on the wing? Any advice would be wonderful!


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## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

Im not sure if she will bath at the moment, but there are many more members that will help you out on that shortly. I do know that the formula wont be to much of a problem, i had a baby budgie almost covered in it, i tried to wipe as much off with warm water, but after she was weaned she picked the rest off herself.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

If she has had the strapping taken off and is allowed to move her wing freely, why don't you offer her a bath of water? If she feels well she may take the bath on her own. Make sure the bath is set up in a nice warm, sunny location. You can also offer her a shower, somee pigeons prefer showers over baths.

You can use a clean cat litter box, or another spill proof type bowl for bathing.


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## lwerden (May 31, 2008)

I have a rescued feral that I have been bathing in ther kitchen sink since he was about 5 weeks old. I put an old towel in the bottom of the sink for traction, fill up the sink with a few inches of water and plop him in. The sink is deep enough to prevent his splashing from getting water all over the place. I finish off his bath by letting the water out of the sink and giving him a light shower with the hand sprinkler on the faucet.

Works real well, the bird loves it, however on the down side, every time I am washing dishes he wants to get into the sink.

Oh well.........Part of the joys of having a spoiled house piegon.

Louise


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

lwerden said:


> I have a rescued feral that I have been bathing in ther kitchen sink since he was about 5 weeks old. I put an old towel in the bottom of the sink for traction, fill up the sink with a few inches of water and plop him in. The sink is deep enough to prevent his splashing from getting water all over the place. I finish off his bath by letting the water out of the sink and giving him a light shower with the hand sprinkler on the faucet.
> 
> *Works real well, the bird loves it, however on the down side, every time I am washing dishes he wants to get into the sink.*
> 
> ...



ROFL  That is hysterical, Louise! Too bad you couldn't teach him to wash your dishes for you!  

Will the sink be big enough when he becomes an adult? If not, you may have to get a "litter box 'sink'!" 

Hugs and Scritches
Shi

Anouk...I give Squeaks showers AND litter box baths, depending on the situation. He lets me know when he wants a bath by walking in the cat's water dishes!


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## Anouk (Jul 20, 2008)

Thanks everyone! I offered her a nice shallow dish of lukewarm water yesterday, but she wasn't interested. Eventually I just popped her in, but she hopped straight out again. She still seems a bit nervous of me, so I'm going to leave it there today and see if she feels more uninhibited when I'm not around. I loved the story about your pigeon, Louise - I hope Marlene gets to that stage one day. That's also reassuring about your budgie, Noisy Minor -I wipe off as much formula as I can, but there's still a kind of thin residue and it's particularly tricky around her face because she doesn't like being picked at. By the way, I once rescued a baby noisy minor from dogs in a park - he was so sweet. He ended up going to a lovely place in the country that does gradual releases. He was much easier to feed than Marlene - just opened up his little beak expectantly every time I came into the room!


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