There's Gluten In Bird Seed?

[mdzplus2]

I posted here a few days ago (Is he faking this?) and have received so much help and support that now I can't think of a better place to go as I muddle through the problems I now face.

Some of you replied to my original posting with great advice about making sure all the pet food was gluten free. Of course the dog's food was not. I ran right out and fixed that. Then I searched here for brand names and will go to Walmart with my fingers crossed that they carry some of those higher end brands. I have three year old twins and if they don't sell it at Walmart then it doesn't exist in my known universe. So the dog is solved. I'm going to scrub down the laundry room where he eats tomorrow with bleach, replace the food mat, scour his dishes, glare meaningfully at him....

Then I checked on the bird seed for our 15 year old cockatiel. I did this this morning. I'm so glad that I didn't do it before I went to bed last night because if I had, I would have never slept a wink. Gluten. I can count maybe 7 different seed varieties in the bag and yet the ingredients is a list of at least 40 items with three different versions of wheat. I checked all the brands available at Walmart and they all have wheat. I called a vet for more brands and checked those online and they also contain wheat. So the bird is looking for a new home. But here's the really horrible part. His cage is in the corner of the family room, seed spashes out constantly. My kids play in there, lay all over the carpet, have been observed driving toy trains through discarded birdseed that I have failed to vacuum. And this is probably the source of all of our problems here. So now I've moved the furniture and vacuum twice and then used the crevice tool in all the nooks and crannies. I've scrubbed the cage with bleach and hosed it clean. I've thrown away the old seed and he'll be eating nutritiously inferior millet sprays until we find him a place to live out his remaining months (he's already older than the average age span!), and now I'm just left wondering....should we also have the carpet professionally shampooed? My husband thinks this is overkill. But if we don't and the kids are still reacting, we once again won't know if it is this unresolved issue or something else.

Sorry for the length of this post. It always boils down to this: how lucky do I feel? Well, considering that all of my kids have a disease I had never heard of just two years ago, I'm not really feeling too lucky! So do I shampoo the carpet??

[tiffjake]

This is just my opinion. How old are you kids? Do they eat things off of the carpet? If not, then I think your normal cleaning would be fine. No need to shampoo. If they are picking through the carpet and eating everything they find, then maybe you should. But I know there are many people here who live with a non-celiac, and they share a kitchen and often pots and pans, and they are ok (as far as we know, not reactive). My point is, what are the odds? That is your decision. If you know they are eating what they find in the carpet, then maybe you should shampoo. I wouldn't.

About the bird seed, that sucks. I had no idea wheat was in that stuff!!!! Sorry you have to get rid of the bird. Could the bird live outside? We had a porch at my moms house and had birds on the porch. Just a thought. Anyway, take care.

[Guhlia]

Should you shampoo the carpets? Perhaps. I guess it depends on how old your children are and how good of a job you feel that your vacuum will do. If it's almost time to shampoo the carpet anyway, then I would just go ahead and do it, especially if it's not overly expensive. However, if you weren't planning on shampooing your carpets any time soon, I think I'd just do a super good job of vacuuming that spot and ask your children to try not to play on the floor right there for a little while. If you're not comfortable with that you could always put a throw rug down on top of your carpet or move the furniture so that area of your carpet is clean.

When I went gluten free, I never shampooed the couch where I ate all of my evening snacks, all filled with gluten of course. I don't think I ever got glutened from the couch. So, how likely is it for them to get glutened from the floor if you vacuum it really well? I think I'd just vacuum it and call it safe. That's just my opinion though.

[darlindeb25]

Wow, I had cockatiels, a conure, finches, a lovebird, and parakeets and never thought about their foods. We also had 2 dogs and cats, the cats outside. My kids had chickens for show and pygmy goats. I handled feed, loved my animals and birds, and do not believe I was ever glutened by them. In over 5 years, I have only been glutened a handful of times and most times I can account for what happened. Of course, I am not 3 years old and did not spend most of my time on the floor like kids do.

Good luck.

[jerseyangel]

Just a thought--after you have vaccumed up all of the birdseed, make sure you change the vaccum cleaner bag so that the (gluten)-dust is not being re-circulated

[ArtGirl]

It's a real bummer about the birdseed. If, as you say, the bird is on its last few months of life anyway, why not just buy the millet and other safe seeds and make your own mix with vitamin supplements from the vet(?), and keep the bird. I doubt that not having wheat seed would harm it because there is no wheat in the tropics where these birds come from. It's just that wheat is cheap.

I vote for shampooing the carpet. It may not be necessary (and I like the idea of a throw rug over the worst area) - but from reading your post and your concerns, I don't think you'll be at all content with just the vacuuming. Sure, it may be overkill, but..... there's always the "but".

Regarding cleaning with bleach. This really only disinfects, it has no extra punch for removing gluten. I'm only guessing here, but I would think that cleansers that suds up or foam would have more effect on loosening the gluten that's clinging to stuff, and soaking for a bit before scrubbing would also help loosen it from surfaces.

Good luck to you on the cleaning. Just know that you're not alone. We all have found hidden gluten sources in our environment after we thought we had cleaned it all up. Don't be too hard on yourself - there's a learning curve here.

[mdzplus2]

Thanks to everyone. All very helpful. Today we de-gluten!

[Phyllis28]

I don't know much about birds but below are links to two one specialty bird seed companies. I saw bird seed mixtures without wheat.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Best of luck with your de-glutening.

[Judyin Philly]

YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING TO ME...

WHAT WOULD WE DO W/OUT EACH OTHER..

BIRD SEED...OMG....MY HUSBAND IS AN AVID BIRDERS AND WE HAVE OUT DOOR FEEDERS EVERYWHERE...

HE FILLS THEM ABOUT EVERY OTHER DAY IN THIS - DEGREE WEATHER...

I DO NOT FILL NOW BUT DID IN THE SUMMER ON MY DECK...RUBBING MY EYES AFTER FILLING , EYES WATERED, ITCHED, FELT GOOY...NEVER EVER GAVE THE BIRD SEED A THOUGHT...

JUST BUSY WITH DIRT AND DIGGING AND FILLING AND NEVER WASHED HANDS TILL DONE...

NOW WONDERING ABOUT JIM BRINGING IN ON CLOTHES ETC. OF COURSE HE WASHES HANDS WHEN DONE AND IN THIS WEATHER WEARS GLOVES...

THE SOFAS' ...CLEANING THE VACCUM BAGS...OMG

IT'S NEVER ENDING..

PLEASE KEEP SHARING...'THIS ODD STUFF' THAT'S HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE POWER IN CLEANING GLOVES AS WHEN I'D GARDEN I'D USE THEM...THE WHITE OF MY EYE GOT SO SWOLLEN IT WAS BULGING OUT OF EYE LIDS..

WHO'D HAVE GUESSED THEY USED POWER IN THE GLOVES..

JUDY

[jerseyangel]

OMG--Judy, I never thought about Jim and his birding when I saw this. I guess I didn't know about all of the bird feeders

Wow--what an eye-opener! At least you'll be aware come the spring