Please look at these photos!

[JadeB]

I got Rita as a baby in April of this year. In June she started getting her peach forehead in. She still seems to be molting and some of the pinfeathers don't look right. She transmitted PBFD to Tito, who died, but never manifested any signs of it. Could it be showing up since it's her first molt??




Oh and never mind my dirty fingernails - I was gardening today

 

[MikeyTN]

Are you sure Rita is the one that transmitted PBFD to Tito??? Did you had Rita tested for PBFD? You should have Lupita tested too as well....IF PBFD exists in your flock, you know you can not bring home anymore birds or have them come in contact with any birds period!!!

From the pictures, it looks fine to me!

 

[antoinette]

Sorry about you losing Tito
You must take Rita to the vet to get tested as soon as possible.
It is difficult to diagnose only a vet would be able to tell you.
PBFD is very contagious.
Praying Rita is free from PBFD

 

[JadeB]

Well, Lupita & Tito lived together in the same cage for about 8 months and no one got sick. After I put Rita in Tito's cage, he was sick within a few weeks. Rita & Lupita live separately now because of that and neither have ever manifested symptoms. My vet thought Rita might be a carrier.

 

[Pajarita]

We know very little about avian diseases but there seems to be a consensus that carriers can re-infect...

 

[MikeyTN]

Tito could of been a carrier to begin with and started showing symptoms after moving with you! Stress of moving usually give the disease a chance to come out of dormid and do a full on attack. You should have them tested for PBFD!

 

[JadeB]

I had Tito & Lupita for the 8 months they were together, then I introduced Rita, I guess that could have stressed Tito? Well, plus, Lupita pulled out a bunch of his feathers after they lost their eggs - that's why I separated them! Crazy birds. Well Rita & Lupita are separate and I don't have any other birds. I was just worried that if Rita is a carrier, it's manifesting through her first molt...some of her pinfeathers don't look right to me.

 

[MikeyTN]

Have them tested so you'll know for sure!

 

[Oedipussrex]

I'm sorry about Tito

Pickle didn't manifest until his first moult so it is entirely possible, but having it manifest later means it is less likely to be (immediately) fatal. nobody on here will be able to tell using only pictures (it's different between them all) but pickle's feathers started to look more obviously wrong in his primaries of his wings and the bigger tail feathers before any of his coverts got weird.

If you are certain it is what killed Tito you should get them both tested just to be sure, a PCR test is the most accurate and usually entails a vet pulling a feather and using the blood from that for a sample to do a DNA test for the virus. It is the most accurate test because you can't get false positives, however the virus may not be present in each and every feather (especially if they don't look affected) so if the vet happens to pull a clean feather it can still produce false negatives.

(Sorry in advance for spelling, I'm on my phone)

 

[JadeB]

I got my results from Avian Biotech - they BOTH have PBFD. Now what?? Rita is starting to show it in her feathers, Lupita is not, but neither is acting sick.

 

[Echo]

Do you mind telling us where you got your babies from? Another member just lost his 2 baby Senegals to PBFD. Seems like a lot of talks about this disease lately...... What's going on?
Sorry to hear the bad news

 

[MikeyTN]

It all goes back to the breeder keeping them irresponsibly to begin with. I've seen more and more birds being bred out in the outside aviary type of situation, they have a high risk contracting PBFD. All it takes is a infected bird to poop into their aviary and the birds come in contact with it. This is something I'm weary about with outdoor aviary.

 

[jugoya]

My sister bought Pippin a GCC from a petstore that had their birds 'on sale'.

Five months later (I had him at the time) He exibited symptoms of the disease and came up positive. It is my belief that the whole store was infected.


I avoid buying birds from Petco now; and tend to stick with stores I know well.

 

[JadeB]

I got Lupita and Tito from a lady on craigslist here in Tucson. She said she wasn't a breeder but she did have a large outdoor aviary. Rita was from a lady at the bird expo. She seemed more knowledgeable and responsible, but I don't know what her aviary set up was. So I have no idea which place it came from to begin with.

Oh and I had them sexed. Rita's a boy!

 

[MikeyTN]

Are you able to contact both places so they would be aware of the situation so they can get their birds tested as well just to prevent heartache and further infestations.

 

[MonicaMc]

If the disease doesn't kill them, they can live for several years as otherwise healthy, happy lovebirds. I've been "following" the story of a PBFD positive lovebird since 2009, and he's still alive! He doesn't look like he's infected, but he tested positive for it!

You can see photos that I posted of him in this thread.

http://www.parrotforums.com/lovebirds/35073-wounded-lovebird-12.html#post306942



Being that he has PBFD his health has gone up and down at times and there's been times that his owner didn't think he'd live anymore.... but Igor is still kicking!

 

[FeathersandDrums]

What is PBFD

 

[MonicaMc]

Psittaciane Beak and Feather Disease. Best to look it up and do some research. It is deadly to many birds, but I don't think most pet birds end up getting it... usually isolated to certain areas/birds unless birds are carriers for it, never show signs of having it so therefore are never tested for it, and they don't die from it.


We still have a lot to learn about the disease. As it stands, I don't think we fully understand how it's transmitted. (might need to refresh my own research!)

 

[JadeB]

Mikey - I did tell Rita's breeder. She said none of her other birds were sick. The other lady, I no longer had contact info for when Tito got sick.

Monica - Rita is starting to manifest in his feathers. I KNEW he did not look right. It's even more apparent now.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but PBFD sorta seems like AIDS. Attacks the immune system and makes the bird more vulnerable to secondary infections which are ultimately the cause of death.

 

[MonicaMc]

JadeB, from what I know of it, it kind of is. I've also read that PBFD has been associated with avian bornavirus.