Ikea is a treasure trove for parrot owners. Many of their products are wonderfully suited to make your life with parrots a bit easier or more fun.

My last trip to IKEA was triggered by four greenwing macaws currently in my bedroom, greys in my bathroom and a little severe macaw, Little Lara, in my living room. Cleaning – not my favourite pastime anyways – was reaching ludicrous proportions. Albeit this situation is – hopefully – only temporary before these birds can be integrated into the group – I needed to do something about the floor scrubbing time.

Once again, IKEA came to the rescue in the form of inexpensive IRMA fleece blankets. At $2.49 they are an unbeatable deal and I bought 20 of them. These can be put underneath high soiling areas such as feeding sites or favorite poop places. Once they’re dirty you throw them into the washing machine. They dry in no time in the dryer or if you hang them up to dry.

Photo: Ann Castro

I cut a few of them up into quarters, so I could use them as “placemats”.  The fabric does have an unpleasant chemical smell upon unpacking. I don’t know, if it is unhealthy or not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Thus I threw the whole lot  into the washing machine before using them.

Photo: Ann Castro

Here is an example of how I use the whole fleece blanket and a cut-up one as a placemat for Little Lara’s feeding table. The table is a valuable antique from around 1760s, not something I want to have destroyed, therefore I placed a plastic table cloth underneath the fleece blankets for moisture protection. The plastic food bowls are actually from IKEA, too. 🙂 Behind the food bowls I placed the obligatory cardboard box for shredding, as well.

Photo: Ann Castro

Of course, these blankets also have multiple other uses. They make great play blankets for my greenwing macaws, double duty when towelling is required and may even be used to wrap perches and seat platforms for handicapped or ill birds, for example those with foot ulcers.