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ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 126, © 2005
No reprints without permission
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Bird Bug Fact
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Toxoplasmosis is the name of a protozoan organism that has a two stage life cycle, with stage 1 in the bowel of the cat and stage 2 in various tissues of another type of animal, ideally a prey item for cats. However the tissue stage 2 can sometimes infect other non target species, including humans and it can cross the human placenta. It is not a common problem in cage birds (in Australia at least).
Atoxoplasmosis is a different protozoan organism. The prefix 'A' in front of the rest of the name indicates that the first researchers thought it was Toxoplasmosis but then realised it wasn't - 'A' as a prefix means 'not'. This organism is common in canary flocks and completes its whole cycle in the bird.
One stage is in the bowel and the other is in the tissue of the same bird. Because the organism damages multiple systems, it will quickly kill any bird that cannot develop a degree of fast resistance. Young birds are most susceptible at times of stress. I believe this organism has been renamed but cannot remember the new name off hand.
Coccidiosis is a third protozoan organism. In fact there are thousands of species of coccidiosis, each specialised to infect only one or two hosts. This organism normally concentrates only on the bowel, although there are reports of damage occurring to the kidneys or liver with some species.
All three organisms produce oocysts (similar to a worm egg) during their bowel stages and these can be detected in droppings. The similarities between the oocysts of different species can sometimes results in misdiagnosis. So whilst coccidiosis can certainly occur concurrently to atoxoplasmosis and would make the outcome worse for the bird, oocysts from atoxoplasmosis can be confused for coccidiosis which is a far less serious disease on its own (although still bad enough to kill some birds).
I hope this helps everyone clarify just what type of organisms these names refer to and gives you a basic understanding of what they do.
Terry Martin BVSc
For you
& Your Birds,
With Love
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Our next issue is due Aug 14th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then!
Robirda
July 31, 2005
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird
eZine
For breeder or pet bird owners who
care.
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Keeping birds is a challenging enough task, without having to face illness too; yet let's face it, sooner or later, all bird owners will have to deal with some kind of sickness or another in their bird(s). Due to a variety of reasons, particularly the often-cited inability to locate a suitably experienced avian vet, many small-bird owners regularly attempt to diagnose and treat their birds' ailment themselves. What do avian vets think of this, and what do they feel are the best steps to take to deal with illness, should no vet be available for direct consultation?
We're proud to present a special article this issue, in which one practicing avian veterinarian offers us the insight gained from his years of experience, and shares his answers to these questions and more...
To Vet or Not to Vet?
by Terry Martin, BVSc
Australia
Copyright © July 2005
The issue of quality avian vets and their experience is a 'two edged sword' or perhaps it's the 'chicken and the egg' scenario?
Vets can only learn and gain experience in the animals they treat, and if owners feel their birds are not valuable enough to treat, the vets will not have the same level of skill in treating those species they do not normally see. Some may tend to take the perspective that the breeder doesn't care, so they might not put the same level of effort into the treatment compared to another pet whose owner places more value on their 'worthless' pet. After all no animal has any intrinsic value other than that which we ourselves place upon it..
Many Australian avian vets do tend to treat a large percentage of avicultural 'flocks' above individual pet birds, primarily because pet birds have only become popular over the past decade. In other countries the relative percentages of bird types treated would be different. Flock medicine is a different perspective to pet medicine.
Even during my own career things have changed. For seven years I worked in Sydney and treated a lot of flocks for canary breeders, but since I moved to Brisbane I have treated mostly pet cockatiels and have not helped a canary breeder for a decade. Coming from a breeder perspective myself, I have had to adapt to treating 'pet' birds as individuals over the flock approach I take with my own birds..
I concede that it is not always possible to find the answers we need, which is frustrating to everyone concerned (owner and vet) and can be most serious for our birds. Even in human medicine, thousands of dollars are spent to make a diagnosis, and unfortunately costs can head that way in veterinary medicine as well.
However excessive cost does not condone too much random treatment. Often people credit random or even 'shotgun' treatments with success when in fact the bird recovered by itself. The most important things to do for a sick bird being to reduce stress (remove it from contact with other birds) and 'do no harm'. More often than not, the use of drugs including antibiotics are more negative than positive.
For instance infection with Avian Gastric Yeast (AGY - fka 'megabacteria') will become fatal if treated with antibacterial antibiotics.
The approach of isolation, supportive care such as extra heat and soft foods followed by euthanasia if there is not a response, can be the most appropriate course if the breeder does not place much value on an individual bird. Yet keep in mind that small amounts spent on post mortems (gross pm only, unless histopathology is specifically indicated) of low value birds (without spending large amounts on attempting treatment prior to euthanasia) can be an appropriate way to gather information about one's flock of birds.
That is where the built up relationship with your local avian Vet can work. Unfortunately most breeders view that ongoing expense of $30-$50 dollars per deceased bird is too much to spend as insurance for their flock worth perhaps $800 to $1000 as a whole. (And that worth is conservative because it does not take into consideration the years of effort in breeding programs.)
In the instance of an outbreak, then there is no choice but to try and find answers, however if you have not worked with a local avian vet before, they will be starting from scratch, whereas those owners or breeders with close working relationships with their vets will begin in a more advanced position.
As treatment options for sick birds not being taken to a vet, I would suggest supportive treatments like heat and isolation. Also probiotics can be tried and apple cider vinegar in the drinking water is proving successful as a preventative treatment to help 'normalise' the GI tract.
Be cautious using tetracyclines as they have poor bowel absorption and virtually all known disease causing bacteria are resistant to it, except Chlamydophila (fka as Chlamydia psittaci). Yet it doesn't even treat that well because of the poor absorption..
Many years ago when I first graduated and began work as a Veterinarian, I used to believe I could accurately diagnose many diseases on clinical signs alone, without laboratory testing. However, over the years the differentiations I would use have become blurred and lost. The reason being is that birds (and other animals as well as the organisms that cause their illnesses) are living entities and no two are the same. As a result, the clinical signs of an illness will vary to different degrees in different populations and conditions.
Eventually, if you try to consider the breadth of the disease across a species as a whole, you will find you cannot reliably and accurately diagnose a disease without specific tests.
Put more simply - with experience I have learnt that many of the simple diagnoses made in my early years were false, once I stopped making assumptions and began to investigate problems more deeply.
However there is light at the end of the tunnel for both pet bird owners and aviculturists. It is possible to learn, with the help of your local avian veterinarian, exactly which diseases, parasites and problems you have in your own bird or flock. Each flock acts as a discrete entity and once you have the problems properly explored, you can then apply the knowledge to your own flock in the future.
For instance, if you have atoxoplasmosis in your flock you can learn what to look for and when to treat or how to control. But information that helps someone else with their birds may be totally inappropriate for your own.
This is where the difficulty lies in aviculture, because breeders all wish to help one another, but the information one breeder learns may or may not apply for the next person and flock.
Considering a parasites such as atoxoplasmosis, this organism is difficult to treat medically and control should focus on reducing stress on young birds, and isolating them from older canaries that might carry the organism as well as 'bully' the young birds. Some drugs can help to some degree, whereas with coccidiosis medications are far more effective.
This means it is imperative that each breeder knows for certain which parasites they have in their flock, and sometimes it requires post mortems and histopathology to find this out..
But in each case, often the birds just present as 'sick bird look', perhaps with some diarrhoea and then death. And these signs will equally apply to many different diseases including bacterial infections. You could just as easily have E. coli problems in the flock or some other bacterial organism.
If you have a health problem with your birds, it is essential that you have professional help from your local avian veterinarian. Otherwise the only treatment to consider should focus on general management and disease prevention..
If you wish to help your birds medically, do not randomly treat with drugs. Either limit yourself to supportive care, isolation, quarantine and euthanasia or develop a relationship with a local avian vet you feel comfortable with. The health information passed between aviculturists often gross over simplifications of dynamic living systems and can as often hinder as help.
As for costs, I cannot comment as the variation around the world is enormous. All I know is that in Australia vets price themselves based on their costs and could all earn far more money in other professions.
by Terry Martin, BVSc
Australia
Copyright © July 2005
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