It is not the purpose of
this paper to make doctors out of bird owners, rather to instruct the owner of
the proper procedures to follow in emergency care of their birds until
professional help can be found.
A
SICK BIRD IS AN EMERGENCY!!! Much time can be saved if upon entering a doctor’s
office with your bird you already have the appropriate samples for analysis,
culture and sensitivity and have begun proper therapy.
I. IF THERE IS BLEEDING
I. Find the source-most bleeding
comes from two sources: a broken nail (claw) or from a broken blood
feather.
A. If the bleeding is from a blood feather,
pull it out. Then apply direct pressure using the thumb and forefinger where the
feather stump was.
B. If a broken nail is found, use a
styptic pencil or silver nitrate sticks. If these are not available, use baking
flour sprinkled over the bleeding area. It may be necessary to use quite a large
amount of flour, packing it around the nail and using some pressure to stop the
bleeding.
C. If blood is coming from the nose, mouth
or vent, there is not much you can do to stop the hemorrhage. This kind of
bleeding results from trauma or severe disease conditions. You may help by
keeping the bird quiet (cover the cage) increase the temperature around the bird
to about 85 to 90 degrees and the addition of Emeraide I to the drinking water
may help improve the birds’ condition.
II. IF THERE IS DIARRHEA: can be caused
by many conditions.
1. Replace lost fluids and
electrolytes-offer Gatorade, fruit juices or lactated ringers in place of
drinking water.
2. Increase temperature.
3. Place non absorbent material in
bottom of cage to catch droppings for analysis, and culture and sensitivity by a
veterinarian.
4. If bacterial infection is a
probability, begin antibiotic therapy NOW while waiting for culture and
sensitivity of droppings to return from the lab.
5.
Place bird on a high energy diet-peanut butter, cornbread, cake-anything you can get the bird to eat will help.
III. IF THERE IS FLUID COMING FROM NOSTRILS (bird
bubbling at nostrils &/or slinging head from side to side.)
I. Keep bird quiet.
2. Raise
temperature.
3. Take throat swab for culture and
sensitivity.
4. Begin antibiotic therapy NOW while
wailing for results of swab.
IV. If THERE IS VOMITING
1. Keep bird
quiet.
2. Raise temperature.
3. Take throat swab for culture and
sensitivity.
4. Begin antibiotic therapy NOW if
infection is suspected.
5. Offer Gatorade, lactated ringers
or fruit juices to replace electrolytes lost in vomitus.
6. Place non absorbent material on
bottom of cage (wax paper) to catch vomit for analysis by a veterinarian.
Note: You must differentiate
vomiting from regurgitation. Vomit usually is foul sme1ling with partially digested food in
contents. Regurgitation may be a normal manifestation of sexual maturity, i.e.,
courtship behaviour
V.
IF BIRD IS FLUFFED UP
1.
Raise temperature to 85 to
90 degrees.
2.
Check bird’s weight. If
there is a significant weight loss, begin antibiotic therapy
NOW.
3.
Place wax paper on bottom of
cage for fecal collection to be cultured.
VI.
THINGS ABOUT YOUR BIRD YOU SHOULD KNOW
1.
His
weight.
2.
How many times on an average
he defecates in a day.
3.
How much water he
drinks.
4.
His approximate age and if
known, if he is an imported bird or domestic raised.
1.
The instinct for survival is
highly developed in birds. In the wild, any bird of a group that does not look
right, or behave normally will likely become the target of a predator.
Consequently, the early indications that there is a problem may be very
subtle-be very observant.
2.
Birds have a very high
metabolic rate. Their temperature averages about 105 degrees. One day without
eating or drinking can have a more significant effect in birds than other pet
animals. Always be assured that your bird is actually eating seed, not just
cracking and scattering seed, which goes back to their instinctual responses to
look and act like a normal healthy bird.
3.
Birds that are sick respond
very well to raising the temperature around them. If you can do nothing else,
place a heating pad under the cage and bring the temperature up to 85- 90
degrees. (See footnote
1)
4.
It is imperative if your
bird is sick and is showing signs of probable bacterial infection that antibiotic therapy be
started NOW. Take cultures and make fecal collections and take them to a
QUALIFIED laboratory -sometimes it may take three days for culture and
sensitivity results to return. If you wait for test results first, before
starting therapy, your bird could be dead.
5.
Culture and sensitivity is
an absolute necessity -some organisms may be resistant to the antibiotic used; other organisms that also
grow with bacteria are treated with drugs other than antibiotics. Certain
organisms that may be identified require that you consider treating other birds
that may not be showing signs of illness.
6.
If your bird dies before you
can get help or do anything yourself, immediately refrigerate (DO NOT FREEZE)
the body and bring it to the state pathology lab or to a competent veterinarian
familiar with bird necropsy procedures. Unfortunately, much more information can
be obtained by viewing the entire body, both visually and with a microscope than
by other means.
Mississippi
after serving three years in the U.S. Army, serving two tours in Viet Nam. He
obtained a
Bachelor of
Science Degree from USM, after which he entered Mississippi Slate College of
Veterinary.
Medicine,
graduating in the first class in 1981. Dr.
Blakeslee has been actively engaged in general
veterinary practice
until recently, when he began to specialize solely in cage bird medicine. He is
also
engaged in
instruction of preprofessional students at William Carey College in Hattiesburg.
MS and Biloxi,
MS
branch.
Footnote
1--Be careful that in trying to raise the temperature you do not overheat the
bird. Give them an area in the cage that they can get out of the heat if they
are getting too hot.