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 ISSN 1492-8132 Issue 119, © 2005 No reprints without permission Table of Contents The folks at Bird & Cage aim to provide birdkeepers with a wide selection of good quality cages and cage accessories for great prices and top-quality customer service. Check out their Best Sellers page to see the hottest sellers! A recent customer comments, "The replacement arrived in good condition and I'm quite happy with it. ...congrats on selling the only decent-sized and reasonably-priced flight cage for finches that I've been able to find commercially." For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com. Table of Contents
Canary Song CD;
Books; Swings;
Care Sheets; For a full list of all our products and services, visit our Products Page. Table of Contents
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With Love Table of Contents We rely on you to help keep this publication and its associated websites alive. If you find help you need in this ezine or on our websites, please consider joining our sponsors. Read testimonials or find more details on sponsorships. If you're looking for something different, check our home page for links to all our great products and services!
Our next issue is due May 8th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, we look forward to seeing you all then!
Robirda
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 For breeder or pet bird owners who care. Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 119th issue. Subscribe and unsubscribe information for the email version of this ezine is at the bottom of this webpage. 
Table of Contents The author of last issue's story wrote in with a happy ending to the 'Canary Opera'. She says, "I took Bill Bailey back home. When last seen, he was singing his little heart out with joy. Now Bridget lives here and flirts outrageously with Robin Hood." Thanks, Elizabeth! We wish you a more conventional pairing and much success with your latest attempt at canary conviviality. Meanwhile, we are once again working to update our webpages, thanks for your patience during this process! Do please feel free to help out by letting us know what you think, and by taking our quick confidential survey. Table of Contents Nobody ever wants to see accidents happen, but all of us should be prepared in case one happens. A first aid kit is a very good thing to have, at such a time! But just what should you put in a kit meant for your birds? Do you know if you have the supplies you will need should an emergency arise? You will never know quite what what to expect, and that means that everything you might need and more should be found in your... Bird's First Aid Kit
by R C McDonald It can be difficult to think of and prepare for possible future problems, when you have a pet who is lively, bright, colourful, cheerful, and chipper. Yet that is exactly the time we should be taking steps to see that our pet or pets remain healthy and vigorous throughout their lives. It's not always all that easy to know what to include when assembling an emergency care kit for a pet bird. Birds hide illness so well that it is quite common to hear a pet owner state that they once had a lovely bird, and yet one day it simply fell over dead, with no warning. In most cases, there actually were warning signs present, but they were so subtle that they were not recognized. That can happen more easily than a lot of us like to think, especially for those new to birdkeeping. It can take some time to learn to read the tiny clues of body language and changes in habit that are often the only outward symptoms of developing illness. Unless these symptoms are recognized early enough, too often there will be very little if anything, that can be done by the time the illness is obvious. Because of this, some avian veterinarians will actually refuse to see or treat small birds! Their reasoning is that too often it is not until the bird is on death's doorstep that the owner realizes that it is sick and brings it into the clinic for examination. When any creature is so near death, treating them is touch-and-go, and very often fails. These vets feel that their lack of ability to successfully treat these birds impairs their chances of developing a good relationship with their customers, and worse, can lead to mistrust and suspicion of all vets. They hope to build a better relationship with their customers by avoiding these failures. While this may work, it leaves a subset of potential customers out in the cold. Too few practicing veterinarians have experience working with songbirds these days; they are not a common pet, and while canaries are used in some research projects, little to no research has been done on the maintenance of health and longevity for pet songbirds. By default, that information comes from longer-term bird caretakers and breeders, who have found by experience what works for them. Their eyes have learned through long practice to spot illnesses or other potential problems while they are still in development. One problem exists in this scenario, yet few seem to see it. That problem is the widely differing goals of the breeder versus the pet keeper. Some of the breeder's most useful tools are simply too expensive or too time-consuming for the owner of a single pet to adopt, and a breeder used to thinking in terms of raising and showing his stock may not be able to fully understand or anticipate the needs and wants of a pet owner. What's needed is a 'translator', a person able to understand both worlds, and mediate as necessary. Avian vets are in an admirable position to be able to do this. In the best possible world, a pet owner will live near an avian vet who has a working relationship with one or more breeders. I wish more canary breeders and avian vets would attempt to establish such a relationship, because it can be so very beneficial to all. Ideally, the breeder will have access to a great deal of knowledge, equipment, and resources through his or her contact with the vet, while the vet will have access to crucial experiencial data on understanding, diagnosing, handling and caring for small songbirds. Given that signs of illness in birds are so subtle, no attempt will be made here to establish a method by which you will be able to diagnose an ill bird. That should be left to the experts. But do watch for any changes of behaviour, such as a lively bird becoming lethargic, or a singing bird becoming silent; these are indications that changes are happening. One symptom especially to watch for, is that of the bird spending a lot of its time fluffed up as if for sleeping, during the day. This is a clear sign that something is wrong! The first thing to do in such a case, is to get the bird some heat. The second is to contact a good avian vet, and arrange for a visit. Since that visit needs must fall within operating hours, it is still a good idea for every bird owner to have a basic emergency first aid kit on hand, and to know how to use it if needed, to provide emergency support and care for an ill (or suspected ill) bird, until a visit to an expert can be arranged. These are some of the items, large and small, that I like to keep in my 'Birdie First Aid Kit'; Contact info, location, and hours for a reliable avian vet. I keep this info with my emergency kit, because during and emergency is the time I will most need it, and have the least amount of time to look it up. A Hospital cage. My hospital cage is an old, clean 10 gallon aquarium tank, with a plastic grill that fits onto the top.
A means of providing supplemental heating to the bird while in the tank. If you have a specially designed hospital cage, it may already have a built-in heating unit, but otherwise you will need to choose one arrangment or another to provide supplemental heat, so important to a sick bird. All of the following work quite well; You will also need a thermometer to measure the level of heat in the warm end of the tank. Ideally you want to ensure that the bird is comfortable, and can choose a cooler spot or a warmer spot, as he wishes. If the bird is huddled in the warm area, raise the heat a little - if it tries to get as far away from the heat as it can, lower it. Too hot can be as bad or worse, than too cool! Clean plain smooth towels or paper towels for lining the bottom of the tank. It's handy to have several, so you can replace them as needed, and wash them later at your leisure. A small pair of sharp scissors. Handy for lots of things. A small jar of unbleached white flour, for assisting in stopping bleeding. Quikstop, which is often recommended, does work, but it stings like fury! Flour is cheaper and just as effective. Note that corn starch does not work to assist in clotting as well as flour will! Several small undecorated plain china soy sauce dishes (or something similar) to hold seed, prepared soft foods or greens, and drinking water. Keep all such foods nearer to the cooler end of the tank, so they will not spoil so fast. Handfeeding formula. Although meant for use when hand-feeding young birds, it also works well for birds who are too sick and/or too weak to eat enough food to support themselves on their own. Some use a feeding syringe to offer the food to the bird, but with smaller birds this can be difficult. I prefer instead to use a flat-tipped straw, such as is used for eating ice-cream-and-soda floats, or the broad end of the applicator that comes with the plastic leg bands. A tiny spoon may do as well; just tap the side of the beak, and when the bird opens it, put the spoon into the mouth and let the bird bite down on it, then pull the spoon out. This is a much more natural way for a small bird to eat, and avoids the chance of accidental aspiration which can happen so easily when feeding small birds with a syringe. A bulb-tipped squeezie-dropper. This is especially useful for offering the single drops needed for some medication doses. A good pair of band cutters can come in very useful! Before trying to use them on a bird, get some experience using them by placing bands on soft green-barked twigs, and practice cutting them off until you can do it leaving the tender bark entirely unscarred. Once you can do that, you can safely remove a band from a bird's leg, should it be necessary. (Or if you have just one pet, you could just ask your avian vet to remove the band for you) Vet wrap, or some similar bandaging material. This is a type of bandaging material used by vets, which is made to stick only to itself, rather than feathers or skin. It can be very useful in the case of a splayed leg, or a broken wing or leg. Plastic drinking straws, (or use a piece of the flat-tipped feeding straws mentioned above). A short piece of straw, slit down the side, makes a good splint in the case of a broken leg. Stop any bleeding, then wrap the piece of straw lightly around the leg and tie in place with a small piece of vet wrap. Then make arrangements to see your vet ASAP! I also like to keep a small jug of distilled water, some alcohol for use in disinfecting if needed, some plain dry cous-cous, and a supply of electrolytes, either fluid in a sealed bag, or the tablets that are meant to be dissolved in distilled water, in my emergency kit. I usually will also have a small bottle each of Scatt (for treating air sac mites or other pest infestations), Avian Insect Liquidator, (to get rid of ants and other such pests in the surrounding or cage environment), a jar of Prime vitamin/mineral supplement with probiotics, a bottle of Calcivet supplement (for treating egg-binding, even if rarely needed!), and soon I will be adding a bottle each of Survive and Guardian Angel, special supplements made to assist a sick bird in healing. Survive is meant for use with antibiotics or other meds, while Guardian Angel is not. Last but not least, is a small collection of Bach flower remedies, for a variety of uses. I have found the Rescue Remedy compound to be especially useful when treating birds in shock. This is by no means a complete list of items possible to include in an emergency first-aid kit for your bird/s; but this collection works well for me, and hopefully it is enough to get you started! All it takes is a little research and a bit of imagination to decide what items will best suit your possible needs. Then you can prepare, clean, and assemble them so that if or when an emergency should happen to arise, you will be as well prepared for it as anybody could be! Some links to useful kit supplies and information;
Locate and contact an Avian Vet in North America; by R C McDonald |
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