Bird Illnesses
About.com has some excellent resources for pet owners.
Here are the most common illnesses that affect birds in captivity. It is important to recognize their symptoms as soon as possible and seek treatment.
Pro ventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD)
How this disorder is spread is not known. It is also called Macaw Wasting Syndrome or Parrot Wasting Syndrome.
Symptoms include weight loss, vomiting, changes in the bird’s droppings, and a swollen crop.
Parrots are great pets!
Psittacosis
“Parrot Fever,” as this is also called, is a Chlamydia bacterium that can affect all parrots. The disease can be passed from birds to other animals, including humans and is extremely contagious. Symptoms include difficulty in breathing, eye infections and inflammation, loose, watery droppings, and general lethargy.
Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD)
PBFD usually strikes birds under the age of 2 but it can affect older birds as well. It is serious and symptoms include feather loss, abnormal feather development, absence of powder down, and growths, lesions, and abnormalities of the beak.
Polyomavirus
This causes the flight feathers and tail feathers of your bird to develop abnormally or not at all. Symptoms include appetite loss, an enlarged abdomen, paralysis, and diarrhea. Some birds can be carriers of the disease while showing no symptoms themselves, so this has to be watched for as well.
Candida
This can affect any bird and is a problem of the digestive system with yeasts. Expect white lesions in and around the mouth and throat, vomiting and appetite loss, and a crop that is slow to empty. Anti-fungal medications are generally successful in treating this.
Should you see any of these symptoms, bring your feathered friend immediately to one of the Pet and Bird Clinics. Our experienced and dedicated Doctors of Veterinary Medicine will take care of them and bring them back to health.
