Pamela Clark
We had a very interesting case in our veterinary clinic this week which underscores the importance of always doing veterinary lab testing on feather picking birds, but also that caregivers must be advocates for their birds, in terms of knowing what tests have been done and which tests should be done.
My concern for some time has been that many veterinarians no longer do fecal analyses or Gram stains on parrots. I routinely review lab testing results for my consulting clients, and I see a trend in vets to do only a CBC (complete blood count) and a chemistry panel with bile acids. At our clinic, we do those two tests, but we also recommend a fecal analysis to check for intestinal parasites and a Gram stain. The Gram stain that we perform checks the relative health of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts of the parrot by obtaining samples from the choanal cleft in the roof of the mouth and from a fresh fecal sample.
In this case, we saw a severely feather picked African Grey. History was limited because the bird belonged to a woman who did not attend the appointment. It was her son who had brought the bird into us and he did not have all pertinent information to share. We did a CBC, chemistry panel, fecal analysis and Gram stain. The CBC showed an elevated white blood count. The chemistry panel was normal. However, the fecal analysis showed roundworms, which can be a cause of feather picking. The Gram stain on the sample obtained from the choanal cleft showed oral spirochetes.
This was the first time I had seen these in 12 years and had to have a pathologist confirm my results. The fecal portion of the Gram stain showed budding yeast, yet another potential cause for the feather destruction.
If we had only done a CBC and chemistry panel, we would never have diagnosed the roundworms, the budding yeast, or the oral spirochetes. And, we would probably have concluded that the feather picking was non-medical in it's origin. Oral spirochetes can ONLY be diagnosed on a Gram stain sample obtained from a swab of the choanal cleft. They cannot be cultured. The sample from the choanal cleft in this case had slightly more mucous than is normal, but this would not necessarily have been a trigger for treatment.
This case is a good reminder that we must advocate for our parrots, become knowledgeable about the different lab tests, and learn to speak to our veterinarians in a knowledgeable fashion, requesting certain tests if they are not offered initially.
. Pellets are kind of like vitamin fortified cereal or bread- they have "nutrients" but certainly are not a balanced or complete diet. Parrots eat primarily fruit in the wild, and they need it every single day. The NATURAL sugar in fruit is not bad for them either, it can just make them a bit more aggressive when they are hormonal. It's the processed sugar in cakes and cookies that we eat that is bad for birds. They actually get most of their water intake from fruit, not drinking water. Corn is not particularly good for them (fine as a treat), but peas, bananas and sweet potatoes are very good for birds, and a good start to getting him into eating the right foods as a regular part of his diet
Avocado, onion, garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms are all TOXIC. The flesh of fruits like apples, pears, plums and apricots is very healthy, but the pits, seeds and stems are toxic. The thing with dairy is that since it isn't a natural part of their diet, many are simply lactose intolerant. It's actually rich in calcium and healthy fats when fed in small amounts to birds who can tolerate it. My BFA is actually like a cheese addict. He suffers no ill effects from dairy, and he usually gets 3 or 4 of the little strands of grated cheese a couple times a week. Parrots also like eggs and crushed eggshells. Egg has protein and healthy fats (a tiny spoonful a couple times a week is about all they should have), and eggshells are a good source of calcium.
