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Is it safe to leave birds unattended?

I am planning to have a short summer holiday of 6-7 days but am becoming more worried about my aviary birds (Cockatiels). They are in a secure wired enclosure but there is no one to look in to feed them. I have extra seed and water containers that I can leave in the shelter for them,but worry if there could be any health risk to them by leaving the water for this number of days without it being changed? At present I supply them with a mixture of seeds, cornflakes, apple, lettuce and broccoli along with vitamins which are changed daily. Would there be any health risk if I left an apple (not cut in pieces) along with the cornflakes? I would be glad if you could advise me please.

Ideally, it would probably be most appropriate to have someone check in on your birds while you are gone. 6-7 days unsupervised is quite a while, and many things (beyond food and water availability) can potentially go wrong.

In a situation where there is concern about the regularity of cleaning of food items that can spoil, it probably would be best to feed the birds a dried food base diet.

About Brian Speer, DVM

Avian veterinarian Dr. Brian Speer was raised in a small town on California’s coast. He received his BS in Biology from California Polytechnic State University in 1978, and his DVM degree from the University of California at Davis in 1983.

An active member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV), Dr. Speer is a much sought after guest speaker and has presented at numerous conferences in the avicultural and zoological communities both within the United States and abroad. He is well published in the AAV annual proceedings, has served as guest editor for the journal Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine, the Veterinary Clinics of North America, and authored chapters in several recent veterinary medical texts on pet bird, avicultural and ratite medical topics. In 1995 he co-authored the extensive avicultural reference, The Large Macaws, and helped to co-author Birds for Dummies in 1999.

Since 1989, Dr, Speer has run a “bird’s only” practice in the San Francisco Bay area and is the President and Director of The Medical Center for Birds. He is a consultant for The Veterinary Information Network (Avian Medical Boards) and the Maui Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Lafeber award for excellence in private practice of avian medicine and surgery and in 2006, was named Speaker of the Year for the North American Veterinary Conference.