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K
Kleenex (tissue & boxes). In all fairness to Kimberly Clark the problem is not specific to Kleenex. The ingestion of paper products seems to be risky. Birds that commonly play with paper may or may not eat it. There also seems to be a great deal of variability in what problems develop and over what period of time. We have recently seen three cases where there was serious GI tract problems, including proventricular dilation, in newspaper eating birds. In all three cases newspaper was flushed out of their proventriculus and ventriculus (stomach). It seemed to have both an obstructive and an irritative effect. In all three cases the birds were feather picking. All signs abated after flushing and removing all paper.

An amazon parrot with a long history of eating newspaper from the cage floor had severe inflammatory changes (seen on endoscopy and in biopsies) in her GI tract that have resolved slowly over time after the paper was removed. Many different clinical signs, including loose droppings, increased water output, weight loss and feather picking have resolved by simply stopping paper ingestion. It is likely that in the last 5 years the composition of paper has changed dramatically with the addition of recycled components. It is possible that something in these components contributes to the problem.

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