Your Bird and Emergency Illness

When you bird suddenly becomes ill, your very first step should be to call your vet. However, there are things you can do to prevent your bird from dying and to make your bird more comfortable while waiting for your vet or while on the way to the animal hospital. Birds make wonderful pets, but they require lots of work and attention, so if your bird becomes ill suddenly, it is important to provide the best care possible.

First, keep your bird hydrated. Just like humans, a sick bird can easily lose hydration, which can lead to a number of problems. Eating is important as well. If necessary, force-feed your bird. This will provide your bird’s body with the needed energy for fighting the illness. Your vet can instruct you on what to feed your bird and how to do it. In general, you should remove other foods from the cage to ensure that your bird is eating only the healthy foods for sick birds that you are providing.

It is also important that your bird be warm. A heater or light can make your bird uncomfortable, but make sure that your bird’s cage is in a warm room and provide a hot water bottle in the cage for your bird. Sick birds should have an environmental temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius, unless instructed otherwise by your vet.

When your bird is sick, quarantine from other birds or pets is usually recommended. Have an extra, smaller cage on hand use for this purpose and keep the ill bird in a different room. Use disinfecting sprays when handling he sick bird and clean his or her cage often to kill bacteria. To keep the germs low, keep the water levels in the cage as low as possible and replace often in order to stop bacteria from breeding.

If your bird is very ill, do not hesitate to take him or her to the local animal hospital. If possible, have someone else call or announce that you will be coming and get on the road, early treatment is the key to saving your bird’s life in many cases. Sometimes, no matter how well you care for your pet bird, his or her health will simply suffer. Make sure that you are providing the best home possible, and the rest is up to chance. The important thing is to look after your bird when he or she is sick to help your bird heal and become well again as soon as possible.

Psittacosis: The Parrot Fever

When you are dealing with Psittacosis, you are dealing with a sickness that is found in birds but can be transmitted to other animals, as well as to people. It is a disease that is caused by an organism called Chlamydophila psittaci. Psittacosis can be infectious to humans, birds, cows, cats, sheep, goats and pigs. It will also infect all different kinds of birds.

Most of the time, birds get it from one another by inhaling dust from the droppings or from the feathers of the birds that have been infected. When a lot of birds have been together, like in a pet shop or boarding place, it might happen more often.

There are several symptoms that might show that your bird has Psittacosis, even though there aren’t any for sure symptoms. If your bird doesn’t eat or drink, loses weight, is depressed or listless, or has watery green droppings as well as discharge from anywhere, or dies suddenly, it might have Psittacosis. Even if a bird doesn’t show symptoms, it can still be a carrier, and can pass it to its offspring.

If you think your bird has Psittacosis, you have to be sure that it goes to a vet, even though diagnosis is tough. Treatment should begin right away ,and is going to be done by a vet and should only be done by an avian vet. You should also get any birds that have been exposed to your sick bird treated as well.

There are several things that you can do to make sure that you prevent any of your birds from getting Psittacosis. You should always take your new pet birds to the vet, and should isolate them from other birds for at least 6 weeks to make sure that nothing develops. You should also only get your pet birds from a supplier that has a good reputation.

It is possible for humans to get Psittacosis. If you are sick or elderly, or have an immunosuppressing condition, you are gong to be at high risk. If you have lots of exposure to birds, and have developed something that seems like a prolonged flue, you are going to want to talk to your doctor about your exposure to birds and see if this could be the cause of your ailment.

Remember as well that good hygiene plays a role. Be sure to wash your hands carefully after handing your pet bird or anything that comes into contact with your pet bird.