For birds, there is no 100% safe house paint product

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For birds, there is no 100% safe house paint product

Updated Dec 8, 2024

Dear Cathy,

I was very interested in your answer to Michelle from Naugatuck, Connecticut, about painting the house with birds in the home. I took my birds to my daughter’s house to avoid fumes from roof coating. It was so stressful for them. I will never do it again. But my house needs painting. If there is a 100% safe paint product, I would love to know what it is.

– Michelle, Oro Valley, Arizona

Dear Michelle,

Sadly, there is no 100% safe paint product for birds. The Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and no VOC paints mentioned in the previous column are your best options. If you can’t take your bird someplace else while you paint, then use only these paints and move your bird to a room in the home not being painted that day. Close the door, close the air vent, and open a window in that room to keep fresh air circulating for your bird. Move your bird back into the painted room only after the paint thoroughly dries. These paints are not supposed to release VOCs once they’re dried.

Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, children’s author, syndicated pet columnist, and pet expert with more than 30 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to moc.tidnuptepobfsctd-584dce@yhtac. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal

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Cathy Rosenthal (aka The Pet Pundit), CHES, CFE

Animal Welfare Communications Strategist, Writer & Educator

Cathy M. Rosenthal is an award-winning humane educator and author, animal welfare strategist, pet columnist, and speaker who has spent more than 38 years working in animal welfare with local and national humane organizations. She helps people better understand and care for animals through her nationally syndicated My Pet World column and has been the longtime pet columnist for the San Antonio Express-News since 2003.

In addition to her writing, Cathy develops humane education, leadership, customer service, and compassion fatigue training programs for animal welfare organizations nationwide, and has helped raise millions of dollars through grant writing, strategic communications, and program development.

Cathy is the editor and curator of Humane Perspectives: Leadership in Animal Welfare and is the author of several books, including Grant Writing Boot Camp for Animal Advocates, The Lucky Tale of Two Dogs, and The Happy Tale of Two Cats, which was the 2026 winner of the Association of Professional Humane Educators’ (APHE) "Educator’s Choice Award" for Best Humane Education Book for Young Children. She also received the 2026 APHE Nathania Gartman Heroes Award for Impact in Humane Education. Her humane education programs in Texas have reached more than 45,000 elementary school children since 2019.

She resides in Texas with her husband, their cat Sterling, and a former community cat, Maddie, who successfully negotiated an indoor living arrangement but still considers human affection highly negotiable.