disease testing

[SilverSage]

As many of you know, amjokai and I recently rescued 18 budgies, with 8 of them still being in the nest box. 3 of the adults have died, but we don't know the cause and I personally suspect injury from the rough way the man was capturing them. It is also possible that they were elderly, as the man had been keeping birds for decades with no records.

The remaining birds are still in quarantine, and aside from one chick who is struggling they all appear in top health. They will remain in Quarantine for a minimum of 60 days, however I have decided to pursue disease testing in addition to the quarantine. If you were doing this, what diseases would you choose to test for? They were in filthy conditions, but none of the birds showed obvious signs of disease before being caught. The company I am using charges about $25/test, and the tests involve taking blood.

 

[henpecked]

IMO it would be easier to examine the dead birds for the cause. There's just so many possibilities. I'd start with gram, stain test. Your vet can give some swabs and show you where to take them. These can also be cultured to see what bacteria ,fungus is present and then do a sensitivity test to determine what drugs to combat the infection. I'm not sure what blood test your getting done for 25 bucks. Around here most vet's charge 100-200 to cultures or histology (sp). There's one AV who charges 36 but he has his own lab and pathologist.

 

[SilverSage]

I am submitting blood samples to Avian Biotech, which is much less expensive since I pay only the lab fees, and none of the vet staffing fees. Of course if any birds are found to be diseased they will immediately be taken to the vet. I no longer have the deceased birds, but all three of them looked fine when I saw them first, and looked badly before we arrived at home, which is what leads me to suspect injury. Because I have 18 birds that I want to test, I cannot afford what around here can be upwards of $300 per test on top of the initial $90+ just to bring a bird in the door.

 

[henpecked]

I understand where your coming from. i carry my vet fishing/hunting and do landscaping/ remodeling/repairs at his office to help with bills as i have so many birds. I'm afraid that shipping samples won't help you with anaerobic bacterias. And the long turn around time for answers, but at least you can afford to have them done. good luck and hope that it isn't something catching.

 

[RavensGryf]

Budgies being parrots can of course carry the dreaded viral diseases as well as a myriad of bacterial or fungal infections. They are also said to carry psittacosis more commonly than some other species.

I think like henpecked mentioned, start with trying to get to the bottom of why the ones passed away. At the same time practice as strict quarantine procedures as possible, away from your Pionus and others.

I know that you started this with the best of intentions for the poor birds, but it could end up costing you more money than expected. Good luck with this

 

[SilverSage]

We called the only "real" avain vet, and he told us that while we "could" bring in a dead bird, even freshly dead, the necropsy would likely reveal nothing, but would be very expensive. We lost one of the babies last night after a battle of more than a week to save her. She had developed and was treated for a yeast infection in her mouth (amjokai spent several sleepless nights with her), and seemed to be recovering and finally was gaining weight again, but she took a sudden turn for the worst, seemed to lose control of her wings, and passed last night. Her name was Malulani, a Hawaiian name that can mean many things but for us it meant "divine protection" which is what we wished for her.

We do practice extremely strict quarantine, not even wearing the clothes around our birds that are worn around the babies. Amjokai does not have the birds on the same level of her house as the babies, and when they are with me (we rescued them together, and where they are depends on the demands of our lives) they are in a room that my birds have never entered. No cages, toys, dishes, etc are shared between them.