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My mom has a parakeet that she has on her all the time. She takes it to the kitchen while she cooks and we (my sister and I) often find little feathers (not the whole feather but like loose “hairs”). This is disgusting and it makes us sick. I’m very sensitive with this stuff and when I find something I always end up puking. She’s also losing her hair so that’s something we find in our food too... We tried telling her not to take her bird out while cooking and to wear a ponytail. I even told her that I’d cook from now on, even though I am really busy with college, but she insists. How can I change her ways? We all agree this is a very important issue.

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Well, I’m probably a bad one to answer because I have 4 cats and a dog, but it’s difficult to live in a house without incurring a bit of foreign “invasion” in your cooking. If this is serious enough to make you “puke”, here’s what you should do: buy a few of your own pots and pans and a few plates and some silverware. If you can afford it, also buy your own food. Get some Clorox spray disinfectant and wipe down the counters and stove before you cook. Then, wash your dishes and keep them in a Rubbermaid storage box in your room.

You can also mention to Mom that cooking fumes and splatters might not be the healthiest for her parakeet, not to mention the heat from the stove. As for her hair, buy her a gift certificate for her favorite salon. Go with her and mention to the stylist that Mom has some issues with hair fallout.
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My experience is that my daughters’ generation are more fussy than I am, and were even fussier when they were college age. If you eat out, the chances are that you would be appalled at some of the practices in the back room of restaurants, if only you knew. You could try a hair net with your mother, if the hair problem happens regularly, and the advice to say it’s bad for the parrot might work too. You could google psittacosis and say you are concerned for your own health. On another tack, you probably know that there is quite a strong medical school that thinks it isn’t good for children and young people to stay too ‘hygienic’. I forget the name of the theory. It’s probably a good idea to try to change yourselves as well as your mother. You may find yourselves thinking a bit differently when you move out and manage for yourselves, and it isn’t worth a major yuck game in the meantime.
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Your mom is 58 and you are still in school, it is the natural order of things that someone your age will buck against their parent's lifestyle. My suggestion is to move into a dorm or share housing with some friends, then you will be free to arrange things as you choose.
As for the food at home, you and sis could perhaps pitch in and do the cooking a few days a week and then you would be assured at least some of your meals are up to your standards - btw, my father used to say we will all eat a bushel of dirt before we die.
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Keep the parakeet away from cooking, it could get hurt, burned, fly into a pot of boiling water. There is not a whole lot of bird meat on a parakeet.
If not, cleaning with clorox will surely kill it.

My new bird stays on the back porch, everything stays separate, and I clean the cage outdoors (after taking the bird out.). Everyone else in my family accuses me of being too particular. My son tried to pass off "the 5 second rule" if something falls on the floor, he said it is edible.

You can eat out a n y t i m e. Has your Mom always been this way, or is this a new behavior?

Everybody, wash your hands!
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