Cockatiel has Chlamydia

[kellie]

So major problem- the cockatiel my roommate found in a tree on Sunday has chlamydia. The test results just came back...

What do we do?

It is passed through the air, fecal matter, feather dust and discharge and can be passed from bird to bird and from human to bird. We kept the cockatiel away from Lukah (thank god) but there were some times when he was within a couple feet of the bird for a few minutes and we had the bird's cage about 8 feet away from his in the living room.
Is there any chance he will catch it? I'm so worried about my little guy.

Second problem- what the hell do we do now? The bird has chlamydia and we are terrified of keeping it around and possibly catching it. Treatment takes 45 days... a long time to keep it cooped up in a cage without contact and we don't have a spare room to keep it in. Still no word from the owner even though I posted it on nearly 12 different sites.

It is such a sweet bird, but we don't want to risk catching it ourselves or possibly Lukah getting it.

What are my options?

 

[jugoya]

Disinfect; and keep Lukah well away from it for now.

AS for not having a spare room... do you have an unused corner of the house?

If you set up the cage over on the other side of the room and limit contact but make sure plenty of noise is going on in the background...

Plenty of toys; and wear gloves and a mask when you interact with fooddish and waterbowl.

Change the paper every day, twice if possible for added affect.

45 days might be a long time... but when it comes to health sometimes its all you can do. Talk to the bird, sing to it... play music around it.

Eventually it will be safe to be around again.

 

[Kiryon]

Do you think the owner could have thrown it out because they found out about the sickness? Since you have no news and all...

 

[kellie]

Doubt it! It's only 25 dollars to treat the sickness and was 140 to find out it had it... If they had already spent the 140 they probably would've just paid to take care of it. It seems like it was very loved.

Jugoya... I don't know if we can afford to do that! I'm too worried about it getting me or my roommate or Lukah sick. ): Is there some place we could take it? I wish it didn't have chlamydia. This sucks.

Does anyone have any more info about chlamydia in birds? How easily does it spread? The internet made it seem like it was really easy to spread...

 

[jugoya]

Compendium of Measures To Control <I>Chlamydia psittaci </I>Infection Among Humans (Psittacosis) and Pet Birds (Avian Chlamydiosis), 2000

^

Useful information.

Seems as it spreads through the dust of dried urates and fecal matter or through contact with the beak and tongue, cleaning the cage once or twice daily and not having any contact with nose or mouth while doing so; and proper cleaning of hands afterwards should do the trick.

According to the above article.. It should go into remission after four to five days of the treatment; though I wouldn't let it out of quarrentine for the full duration of the treatment.

 

[kellie]

How exactly should I disinfect? I vaccumed the area that his cage was in and wiped it down with Clorox bleach wipes but I don't know what to do now. He flew around the house a couple times so could his powder be anywhere? Ughhh so stressful

 

[jugoya]

Vinegar, cleaning the paper at the bottom of the cage and washing his bowls is likely the best method.

 

[kellie]

How easy would it be for the chlamydia to transfer to my Sun Conure?

 

[jugoya]

Not sure; I'm pretty sure if you just keep your conure away from the other bird completely you should be fine.

Ask your vet.. should be able to help you a little more

 

[kc_y0]

My bird got this too a while back, but I didn't catch it from her and we were together all the time. Your chances of catching it aren't too high, just make sure you always wash your hands after touching him, and disinfect everlasting.

As far as transferring to other birds, I think its quite easy to transfer via bird. My bird wasn't even around wild birds and she still caught it. You might have to get him tested as well just to make sure he doesn't have it

 

[kellie]

Does anyone know if this would work? http://www.drdsavianpellets.com/images/DrDsCTC.jpg

If Lukah starts displaying symptoms, I don't want to take him to the vet and get bloodwork done because, honestly, it will be over 200 dollars. If he starts showing symptoms and I feed him CTC pellets for 45 days, would that harm him if he actually didn't have chlamydia? (I know that not all strands of it can be 100% cured)

 

[Echo]

Does anyone know if this would work? http://www.drdsavianpellets.com/images/DrDsCTC.jpg

If Lukah starts displaying symptoms, I don't want to take him to the vet and get bloodwork done because, honestly, it will be over 200 dollars. If he starts showing symptoms and I feed him CTC pellets for 45 days, would that harm him if he actually didn't have chlamydia? (I know that not all strands of it can be 100% cured)

I would get a free testing kit from Avian Biotech and have them test Lukah. It will only cost you about $35. You can also call them and explain the situation. They will tell you exactly what to do.

 

[kellie]

Does anyone know if this would work? http://www.drdsavianpellets.com/images/DrDsCTC.jpg

If Lukah starts displaying symptoms, I don't want to take him to the vet and get bloodwork done because, honestly, it will be over 200 dollars. If he starts showing symptoms and I feed him CTC pellets for 45 days, would that harm him if he actually didn't have chlamydia? (I know that not all strands of it can be 100% cured)

I would get a free testing kit from Avian Biotech and have them test Lukah. It will only cost you about $35. You can also call them and explain the situation. They will tell you exactly what to do.

Echo you are my hero. I didn't know they would do that! Do I have to pluck a feather ):

 

[Billy29]

Don't you get chlamydia if you bang a hooker?

 

[Kiryon]

That's...not quite the kind she's talking about =I

Psittacosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Echo]

Does anyone know if this would work? http://www.drdsavianpellets.com/images/DrDsCTC.jpg

If Lukah starts displaying symptoms, I don't want to take him to the vet and get bloodwork done because, honestly, it will be over 200 dollars. If he starts showing symptoms and I feed him CTC pellets for 45 days, would that harm him if he actually didn't have chlamydia? (I know that not all strands of it can be 100% cured)

I would get a free testing kit from Avian Biotech and have them test Lukah. It will only cost you about $35. You can also call them and explain the situation. They will tell you exactly what to do.

Echo you are my hero. I didn't know they would do that! Do I have to pluck a feather ):

No you need blood and vent swab. So you get a kit for a blood card and a qtip. Clean a toe nail and nail cutter with alcohol (or Nolvasan) and cut the quick slightly. Wipe the first drop of blood away and put some blood on the card (then put it back in the plastic bag it came in.
For the vent swab, with warm water just wet the feathers away from the vent, then insert the qtip just a little inside the cloaca. Twirl it around a bit then put it back in the plastic bag it came in.

Very easy to do.

 

[Echo]

don't you get chlamydia if you bang a hooker?

omg!!! Lol!!

 

[kellie]

Don't you get chlamydia if you bang a hooker?

haha I wish it were that simple! Then I wouldn't be so worried! haha

 

[kellie]

So awesome! Thank you echo. You always have great advice!!
Well here is where we are at guys...
It is too dangerous to keep the tiel at our apartment. Our apartment is so small and we don't have any spare rooms or corners that we could keep her in. The only corner we have is one right next to the air conditioning vent and since the chlamydia can be transmitted through feather dust... bad idea!
My roommate paid to get the medication to treat her chlamydia and we found some local heroes who take in unwanted birds, nurse them, care for them etc and they said they would take the tiel in and give it the medication and nurse it back to health since they have a quarantine room set up! They will (hopefully) be by to get her tomorrow. After she is in full health my roommate can decide if she wants her back or the people can put her up for adoption like they do their other birds.

We did a full whole-house clean. Took all the stuff out of the rooms, scrubbed furniture, changed the air filter, cleaned floors a million times over, all with masks on and Lukah tucked away in my room with a towel over the bottom of the door and the window open. Hopefully it's enough. I will still likely test him in a month or so to make sure he didn't pick up the disease (it can display no symptoms) but for now, this is the best we can do... and hey... our apartment is looking better than ever! It will be sad to see the little tiel go though, the noises she made were so cute and she was so lovable, but she is going somewhere where they can care for her better than we can.