Through heartbreak and horrendous guilt, I believe
I have earned the right to speak out on mold . . . and to share
some of the things I am now doing to protect my pets. When
I moved to the Northwest, I had two dogs and seven birds. Now,
I have five graves and one dog and three birds.
Sonya Fitzpatrick was my absolute
favorite TV entertainer. I miss not being able to see The
Pet Psychic any more, but hopefully there will be more programs
or reruns. She taught us so much about what animals feel,
what they know, and how they die, including what sorts of products
found in the home are potentially hazardous to pets.
I run a tremendous amount of filtration
(without ozone) in my bird room, but some years ago already,
I began giving the birds antifungal spices. The bigger
birds would chew on cinnamon sticks but the little ones ignored
these presents, and they are the ones who died. Of course,
their little lungs were more vulnerable.
 |
Just how wonderful is cinnamon? Take
a look at Celeste. She was born on the island of
Tinimbar in Indonesia. When I gave her a cinnamon
stick, she immediately split it. After chewing the
end a little, she rubbed it under her wings. On this
somewhat strange photo, you see her holding one piece in
her right claw and another in her beak. Her eyes
are partly closed, totally blissed. |
My mother always told me never
to give moldy bread to wild birds because once a fungus got into
the crop, there is no way for the bird to get rid of mold. I
have always been careful of what I fed both indoor and outdoor
birds, but with each horrible experience, my skills improved
a bit.
 |
Now,
in addition to cinnamon sticks and all sorts of herbs
and spices such as fennel seeds, dill seeds, slices
of galangal, and astragalus sticks, I make a sort of
muesli for the birds. Of
course, I add lycium or goji berries, bilberries, and
nuts to this mixture.
P.S. If you find a lot
of typos, it's because Fiesta can be very distracting! |
I put a couple of drops of Myco
Extract into muesli. They love muesli and don't
seem to object at all to the nasty taste of Myco. Everyone
has been happier and healthier since I started this. I
don't cook the muesli. I just pour a little hot
water over the mixture and then add one or two drops of Myco
for Fiesta and maybe 5-6 drops for Sky and Celeste. I
am hoping this gets the Myco into the crop!
For Tundra, my dog, I put everything
into capsules and then into the pill pockets that I get
at the local pet shop. These smell like beef jerky and
she likes them so much that she obligingly takes her medicine. Since
starting this, she has been friskier and her coat looks a lot
better.
I have also thrown out the carpeting
in all rooms of the house and washed Tundra's bedding in TKO
Orange with cinnamon oil. I thought she would fuss
about the smell but she likes it and has not thrown up since
I began these strategies. Before, she was vomiting a lot.
Ingrid Naiman
27 October 2005
Updated 16 June 2006
