The adventures of a vet nurse

Melanism

(the opposite of Albinism)

Gorgeous.

    Which of these birds is sick? If you answered that the cockatiel is obviously ill you would be correct. However, if you said that perhaps one of the African Greys is sick, you would also be correct. In real life both of the Greys were healthy as can be and the ‘tiel was quite sick. The reason I put both of these photos up here is to remind everyone that many sick birds look like the Greys until they are so ill they can no longer hide it.

    The reason for this is that as a flock animal birds that don’t look quite right to the rest of the flock are picked on and shunned and invariably picked off by predators. So birds try very hard to look just like all the other healthy flock members until they just cannot do it anymore. Why does this matter to you the humble pet owner?

    Most bird owners don’t bring their pet into the vet unless it appears ill. They look in the cage and see that Sunny is fluffed up, has his eyes half closed, and is breathing rather hard. They assume that he is suddenly sick and so take him to the vet or worse, wait and see if he gets better. Of course this was not a sudden illness and the bird has been ill for a while now and so it is more serious than people may imagine.

    Once someone brings the ill bird to the vet and the doctor will take a look at it from inside the cage. Next comes the kind of scary part. These poor birds are so very ill that the stress of being taken out of the cage and handled can do them in. Many of them just cannot cope with the flood of endorphins and their hearts give out. The shock organ of birds is their lungs and so they can sometimes develop very bad breathing problems and once a doctor told me she saw a bird that hemorrhaged into its lungs so quickly that it was dead within seconds. This is why very good avian vets can get a fairly good exam just by watching the bird and then do a fast physical exam, it is quite impressive to watch. Eyes, ears, choana, keel, coelum, cloaca, and wings all examined in a minute or two. I am not quite that fast yet but hope to get there. Of course it is better to take your time but in stressed birds it is better to just get a quick overview and go from there. 

     Many vets seem to forget to tell owners that there is a risk that their bird will die during the exam because it is so ill and it can come as quite a shock. Just remember that it is possible and it has nothing to do with the vet, it has everything to do with how ill your bird was. Yet another reason it is important to seek out a veterinarian with training and experience in the species that you are bringing to them.

This is so very true. I lost my Benji boy cockatiel earlier this year because he didn't show signs of illness until it was too late. One day he was just sitting at the bottom of the cage, all fluffed up and trying to sit in the rays of sun shining on the cage floor. He was too weak to perch. This rang alarm bells for me, because I knew this could mean he was very sick. I felt his keel and he was soooo skinny, I almost started crying. Since it was evening and the avian vet was closed, I took him to my work and got some Poly-aid and lectade (electrolytes) for him. I constructed a makeshift incubator for him. I syringe fed him the Poly-aid and lectade and I kept him next to my bed so I could keep an eye on him overnight.

I took him to the avian vet and they hospitalised him, took a fecal sample (which showed not much more than an increase in gram negative bacteria), gave him a shot of vitamin A, put him on antibiotics and crop fed him Poly-aid. Unfortunately he passed away overnight and I woke up the next day to sound of my phone ringing, the vet informing me of the same. They didn't ever get a chance to take a blood test because he was just too weak. They did they bet they could and I was grateful. I felt so down on myself because I didn't pick up his illness sooner, especially because I'm a vet nurse. But the avian vet was very sympathetic and told me it wasn't my fault. Birds are very good at masking illness, as soon as you notice any symptoms of illness in your birds please get them seen to right away, don't wait!

courteousaviarist:

by Happy Healthy Pup