# Cage Questions!



## Hiriki (Oct 17, 2013)

A little over a year ago I rescued two white ringneck doves from a woman who takes in strays and neglected cases. Long story short, after one of them had muscle paralysis one night and sat on the bottom of his cage in poop until I woke up and cleaned him, I called the rescue lady and she scolded me for not having a wire grate for my doves to stand on so he wouldn't have gotten dirty like that.

It's been a year since he's had muscle paralysis and I'm now questioning her advice.

I bought my cage as a "rabbit run" and then just repurposed it for birds... it's definitely long enough, and there's room for them to flap their wings and several heights of perches, but the reason I omitted the wire grate at first was to give them a bit more vertical space and because they have flat feet. With the wire grate in there, there's really no comfortable flat place for them to stand in the cage.

So, my point is: what do you guys do for your pigeons/doves/other various flat footed birds? Do they have grates? Would it be better for me to remove the grate entirely or just maybe add a shelf? I'm not concerned about cage upkeep--changing the newspaper daily is something I try to do anyway.

Thanks in advance!


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## SandraM (Dec 22, 2014)

I have always used flat surfaces for my doves. Wire grates can damage their feet. Doves and Pigeons tend to be ground-dwelling birds, and spend a lot of time at the bottoms of their cages, whereas parrots can have grates as they tend to perch and climb more often. I'd definitely stay away from grates for doves and pigeons! What I do is line the bottom of my cage with newspaper then put paper towel on top of that. Whenever it gets dirty, I can just take out the paper towel and replace it with fresh ones.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

SandraM said:


> I have always used flat surfaces for my doves. Wire grates can damage their feet. Doves and Pigeons tend to be ground-dwelling birds, and spend a lot of time at the bottoms of their cages, whereas parrots can have grates as they tend to perch and climb more often. I'd definitely stay away from grates for doves and pigeons! What I do is line the bottom of my cage with newspaper then put paper towel on top of that. Whenever it gets dirty, I can just take out the paper towel and replace it with fresh ones.


I agree with everything Sandra has said. That's also what I do when I have a bird in a cage. Newspaper, then paper towels. That way the newsprint doesn't get them dirty. I know some do keep them on grates, but I think they are more concerned about the birds staying clean then they are about their comfort. Don't use the grates, just clean the cage daily. Grates are not a normal thing for a pigeon or dove to walk on.


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

You can remove the grates or leave them, your choice, they have claws and are able to grip on. Personally I do the newspapers as others suggested, but I would put a brick or two in there for them to stand up on off the floor if they chose. I even put cut logs in my flights outside and blocks, bricks and upside down ceramic planters and I note that they chose to stand on those instead of the ground, unless they are all laying about sun bathing after a bath.


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## Hiriki (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I'm glad my instincts weren't bad, I'll be removing the grate shortly. Without the grate they have a lot more room so I've been wanting to take it out more or less since the day I was scolded, haha...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I think they will be happier.


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