Polyfolliculosis/Polyfolliculitis Care?

[Teddscau]

Hey guys. Trixie, one of my rescued budgies, has had skin issues for a long time. I noticed she had ingrown feathers a year or two ago, and the vet had me deal with it by removing deformed feathers and mucking out nasty debris-filled "lumps" in her skin.

Anyways, today I was researching skin conditions in birds and I learned that the condition's called polyfolliculosis/polyfolliculitis. I was wondering if anyone else had any experience dealing with this condition. I was wondering if there were any creams that you'd recommend, etc. Thanks.

 

[SailBoat]

So very sorry that your Thread had gotten missed. Sadly, it does happen from time to time.

One of the on-going reasons I love this Forum is that something new turns-up fairly often and today its: Polyfolliculosis/Polyfolliculitis.

Over the years, I have come across a fair number of skin /feather conditions, but this is a new one for me.

Our DYH Amazon is a plucker and that can result in skin issues. We have been using an Avian Aloe jell. Commonly once a day for a couple of days. This product can build-up and as a result cause other problems. So, if you use this or any like product, make sure you flush the area (or bathe) with clean drinking water to raise the product away.

I would recommend you contact your Avian Medical Professional and ask for suggests.

NOTE: Great care must be taken regarding what type of product is used on Parrot skin as it is extremely thin! Always consult your Avian Professional prior to applying any product...

 

[Teddscau]

Thanks for the response! My animals always seem to have rare or obscure diseases. Whenever someone's sick, I usually assume it's extremely deadly and contagious, or it's an illness virtually no one, including vets, have heard of. We bought 8 captive-bred Banggai cardinalfish back in May, and they were perfectly healthy. A week later, a couple seemed off, and I was worried it was Banggai cardinalfish iridovirus (BCIV). Long story short, ever fish was dead by the end of the month and the lab we sent them to confirmed BCIV. It's 100% fatal and extremely contagious. And as you might remember, I had to deal with AGY in my aviary a few years ago. Then my 5 year old chihuahua went into congestive heart failure and had to be put down. Then today I realized Tiki and Ria may have had PDD as well. Well, at least I can say my animals never contract any preventable diseases. None of my critters have had parasites, broken bones, eye infections (well, except for Ria who had an eye thing going on when I adopted her), or any common illnesses. Well, except for the dogs who got kennel cough from coywolves.

There's virtually no information online about polyfolliculitis. Apparently it's thought to be caused by a virus? Dunno. I'm debating whether or not I should pluck all but one feather out of follicles that have multiple (i.e., three or more) pin feathers out of them. I think she just ends up removing them herself anyways.

It's unbelievably difficult trying to dig around in the pockets under her skin to remove all the feathers and muck in them. Like, the feathers are practically disintegrating while you're trying to remove them, and you have to gently scrape around in every nook and cranny in the "muck pockets" to make sure you remove absolutely everything. I felt bad the last time I was removing feathers that were stuck under her skin, because her skin suddenly ripped open while I was trying to tweeze out the feathers. I've removed hundreds of messed up feathers from her using this method, but that was the first time her skin tore like tissue paper. On a good note it opened it up enough the remove four feathers the were hiding in there. Some of the pockets have to be cut open with a razor to get into. Man, Trixie's such a good little girl. She never bites us while we're plucking her.

I'll have to look into some avian aloe gel for Trixie. There's virtually no photos online of the condition, so I guess I should take photos to document it for others. I'll ask the vet about a cream for Trixie the next time I take one of the birds in.

MODERATOR EDIT: ParrotForums wishes to advise that it does NOT endorse the treatment of polyfolliculitis as described in this post. If you believe your bird may have this condition, please consult a Certified Avian Vet.

 

[SailBoat]

With what you are doing and under the belief that your Avian Medical Professional is fully aware of it. I am surprised that you where not provided a medical cream to treat the area you are working on. Open wounds can quickly become infected and only make things worst.

Ontario covers a huge geographical area with vasty different weather, soils and number of people. You're dealing with these medical oddities would have me very concern that something is placing your 'animals' at risk for the more fringe ailments. When you are speaking with your Avian Medical Professional, consider a discussion regarding their immune systems and how you can enhance them.

 

[Teddscau]

I'll phone my vet tomorrow about getting some sort of cream to use on her ouchies.

I don't believe in luck, but I feel as though we have bad luck when it comes to animals. There shouldn't be anything putting my animals at an increased risk of illness. I think I just somehow keep getting animals who are asymptomatic carriers and/or have genetic predispositions for different illnesses. I do quarantine all my animals, but apparently that doesn't help at all. The young birds I get who are active and appear completely healthy remain healthy after adding them to the aviary, so I think everyone's (relatively) non-contagious.

Most of the birds I get are older birds who haven't received very good care for most of their lives (kept in small cages, kept singly with inadequate stimulation, malnourished, exposed to toxins, rescued from hoarders, completely unsocialized...). Most of the birds I get are shorter lived species, so even a few years of improper care tends to have lifelong consequences. Plus budgies are super inbred -_-. They started breeding budgies in captivity in the 1850s, and it was way cheaper to just breed budgies domestically instead of importing wild ones from Australia. Plus, with the discovery of different colour mutations (through inbreeding), people forgot all about "wild-type" budgies, and continued inbreeding them to produce different sizes, colour mutations, and feather mutations. Many popular colour mutations are recessive, which encouraged further inbreeding in the species. Even budgies who appear to have the same appearance as wild budgies are often actually a different shade of green, and the pigmentation of their skin is different. Other species of parrots have faired far better in captivity in terms of genetic diversity thanks to the fact that wild individuals were imported well into the 80s and 90s. Budgies aren't quite as inbred as Spix's macaws, but they're sure as heck getting there. Hmm, I guess they're like cheetahs.