I accidentally made my bird sick!
Posting in case this is something others don't know. I mean, we've had Baloo for almost 6 years, and this was news to us.
Baloo went for his annual checkup last night. Everything looked really good, except he had slightly elevated gram-negative bacteria in his beak/throat swab. The vet explained that this could be due to stress (we just moved to a new house in a new state) or bacteria from our own mouths. My husband and I looked at each other sort of shocked. We often give Baloo kisses on the beak, or bite off small bits of food to share with him. Turns out we've also been sharing bacteria! I mean, it makes sense, but we had never really stopped to think about it. We certainly will stop those behaviors now. Baloo is fine! No symptoms, like sneezing, vomiting, lethargy, elevated white blood cells, etc, so his little immune system is doing its job. But I can imagine how that could get worse over time or develop into a big problem if he were to pick up any other illness. We have a probiotic to add to his chop for a few weeks. And no more beak kisses!