charmedbyekkie
New member
Iām about to make Cairo a sheltered fid.
There was a scare in the community recently - about two years ago, a parrot died, and recently a rumour resurfaced that it died from PBFD. The owner stepped forward, saying that the more popular of the two avian vets in the country diagnosed it as a bacterial infection that killed his bird. So, ok, I can tolerate that. One person even reached out to me and said not to worry because if it was PBFD, then the whole community would notice from their birds dyingā¦. I tried to talk to the person about silent carriers, but my local skills arenāt that great.
Then a person just posted in a local group about their parrot not growing feathers ever since they got it as a baby a couple of years ago. Tbh, the feathers looked like a mess - the ones that did grow/remain. According to the owners, the bird doesnāt pluck. And a few people inquired after the ring id - apparently that breeder is known for producing parrots that have this āfeather problemā, and a few of the breedersā parrots died already four years ago. The person who owned the parrots who passed away from the āfeather problemā sold their perches off as well as his other species of parrot shortly after.
The comments on the thread were shocking to me. The owner brought their bird to the more popular of the two avian vets in the country, who reiterated what he told me when I first saw him: he doesnāt do blood tests and doesnāt ship it out of country for testing either. The vet just glanced over the bird and said that it might just be plucking.
(This is the same vet who glanced over Cairo and gave him a green light. After that experience and after consulting you guys, I marched Cairo over to the less well-known of the two avian vets in the country, who does blood tests. So naturally, I advised the person to go to our vet.)
But the blasĆ© attitude in the comments - they were quite chill about this āfeather problemā as well as the owner being unable to get the vet to do testing.
Meanwhile, Iām panicking on my side of the computer screen. The first rumour that went around made me immediately put a hard limit on which bird gatherings we go to (we havenāt been to any since that rumour came out). Then with this new post, Iām seriously thinking about calling quits to all bird community activities.
Itād be one thing if everybody got their birds tested and made sure they were clear. Or at least recognised the signs and took the necessary precautions. At the gatherings, I always keep Cairo away from the other parrots and look out for any birds that look off (whether feather-wise - I havenāt seen any - or poop-wise - I noticed once). But at the same time, Iām being a bit hypocritical because I havenāt managed to get Cairo tested for the standard diseases, largely because heās a single fid and Iād almost rather not know if heās positive because if heās positive, then that means I canāt bring him back to the US (or I canāt go back to the US while he lives) - and thatās a big life decision I donāt want to think about right now.
But Iām furious that that vet gave the all-clear, brushing it off as just potentially plucking. The fact that heās one of the most famous ones and heās downplaying this to owners just perpetuates the local myth that PBFD isnāt that bad. And I'm glad my vet keeps warning all her patients about letting your bird sit outside unsupervised and about free-flying with wild birds. But not enough owners go to her - they prefer the more well-established one.
Once Iāve saved up enough money (finances are too tight right now), Iām getting Cairo tested for everything, even if we have to send off multiple tests to Hong Kong, Australia, and America. Sure, Iāll have to make the life decision a lot earlier - if Iām staying here with a positive bird or if we can move to the US with a negative bird. But at least if he's all clear, I know to keep him sheltered better.
There was a scare in the community recently - about two years ago, a parrot died, and recently a rumour resurfaced that it died from PBFD. The owner stepped forward, saying that the more popular of the two avian vets in the country diagnosed it as a bacterial infection that killed his bird. So, ok, I can tolerate that. One person even reached out to me and said not to worry because if it was PBFD, then the whole community would notice from their birds dyingā¦. I tried to talk to the person about silent carriers, but my local skills arenāt that great.
Then a person just posted in a local group about their parrot not growing feathers ever since they got it as a baby a couple of years ago. Tbh, the feathers looked like a mess - the ones that did grow/remain. According to the owners, the bird doesnāt pluck. And a few people inquired after the ring id - apparently that breeder is known for producing parrots that have this āfeather problemā, and a few of the breedersā parrots died already four years ago. The person who owned the parrots who passed away from the āfeather problemā sold their perches off as well as his other species of parrot shortly after.
The comments on the thread were shocking to me. The owner brought their bird to the more popular of the two avian vets in the country, who reiterated what he told me when I first saw him: he doesnāt do blood tests and doesnāt ship it out of country for testing either. The vet just glanced over the bird and said that it might just be plucking.
(This is the same vet who glanced over Cairo and gave him a green light. After that experience and after consulting you guys, I marched Cairo over to the less well-known of the two avian vets in the country, who does blood tests. So naturally, I advised the person to go to our vet.)
But the blasĆ© attitude in the comments - they were quite chill about this āfeather problemā as well as the owner being unable to get the vet to do testing.
Meanwhile, Iām panicking on my side of the computer screen. The first rumour that went around made me immediately put a hard limit on which bird gatherings we go to (we havenāt been to any since that rumour came out). Then with this new post, Iām seriously thinking about calling quits to all bird community activities.
Itād be one thing if everybody got their birds tested and made sure they were clear. Or at least recognised the signs and took the necessary precautions. At the gatherings, I always keep Cairo away from the other parrots and look out for any birds that look off (whether feather-wise - I havenāt seen any - or poop-wise - I noticed once). But at the same time, Iām being a bit hypocritical because I havenāt managed to get Cairo tested for the standard diseases, largely because heās a single fid and Iād almost rather not know if heās positive because if heās positive, then that means I canāt bring him back to the US (or I canāt go back to the US while he lives) - and thatās a big life decision I donāt want to think about right now.
But Iām furious that that vet gave the all-clear, brushing it off as just potentially plucking. The fact that heās one of the most famous ones and heās downplaying this to owners just perpetuates the local myth that PBFD isnāt that bad. And I'm glad my vet keeps warning all her patients about letting your bird sit outside unsupervised and about free-flying with wild birds. But not enough owners go to her - they prefer the more well-established one.
Once Iāve saved up enough money (finances are too tight right now), Iām getting Cairo tested for everything, even if we have to send off multiple tests to Hong Kong, Australia, and America. Sure, Iāll have to make the life decision a lot earlier - if Iām staying here with a positive bird or if we can move to the US with a negative bird. But at least if he's all clear, I know to keep him sheltered better.
