Birbs Flashcards
Most birds should have a diet of 80% pellets, 20% veggies, and less than 10% seeds, fruits except this type of bird
Cockatiels, they should have 50/50 seeds and pellets
Do you need to give psittacines or passerines grit
No
Are water additives a good way to supplement a bird’s diet
No
A cockatiel presents with polyuria making the stools look very watery, what may be the cause
Being on a diet of mostly pellets and not 50/50 seeds and pellets
What is the most common dietary issue in pet psittacines
Malnutrition
Seeds are high in ____ and low in _________ and ________
High in calories/energy and low in Vitamin A and Calcium
How could you differentiate between a behavioral or metabolic issue causing poor feathering
Metabolic will impact the entire bird, and behavioral will be where the bird can reach (so the feathers on the top of its head may be fine)
How many liver lobes does a bird have
2
What liver disease are captive birds prone to
Hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver)
A bird with an overgrown beak and nails and ratty feathers with broken off sheaths may have issues with what
It’s liver (not making enough animo acids)
And probably some other shit too like malnutrition
How do you gauge if a bird is overweight or underweight
You can palpate the keel bone (want it to be a 3/5, can feel bone but not super prominent)
What is the best test in birds for liver function
Bile acids
2 birds present to you for blood work
One has a blood panel showing an elevated AST, LDH, and CK and the other just has an elevated AST and LDH
What do these findings tell you
The bird with the elevated AST, LDH, and CK may have some muscle damage and not necessarily liver damage. The bird with the elevated AST and LDH is more likely to have liver damage
A bird presents and you determine it has a liver dysfunction. What diagnostic can you use to get a definitive diagnosis of what is going on with the liver
Biopsy (just isn’t done as a first test because it is so invasive)
T/F exercise is very important in the treatment of liver disease in birds
True
A bird presents to you and on physical exam you notice in the bird’s mouth the papillae around the choanal slit are blunted. What may be going on
Hypovitaminosis A
What cell type is targeted by hypovitaminosis A
Epithelial cells ex. Respiratory, renal (squamous metaplasia, respiratory tract infections, oral abscesses- rhinoliths)
What is a good example of how vitamin A can impact pigment in a birds feathers
Flamingos getting pink!
What can cause Rhamphotheca- proliferative and flaky skin and stressbars on feathers
Hypovitaminosis A
An African gray that spends all its life as a couch potato presents to your clinic right at closing for seizures! Oh no! What is a likely cause
Vitamin D deficiency, get that bird outside in some sun! (Well after the seizures are controlled…)
Birds should have a Ca:P ratio of
2:1
Which bone is used for intraosseous catheters in birds and why is this notable
The ulna because in birds it is bigger than the radius and it is non-pneumatic! Could also use the tibiotarsus
Which x-ray view is helpful for seeing a fracture in the coracoid or another part of the shoulder girdle in birds
The H view- they are placed in dorsal recumbency and a 45 degree angle shot is taken
T/F birds will start seeming sick soon after they are
False, they hide their symptoms
What is the normal body temperature for a bird
106-108
What is the maintenance rate of fluids for birds
100 ml/kg/day
How can you assess dehydration in birds
Use the eyelids
In the bird case we covered in class, why was giving fluids orally contraindicated
It was regurgitating
If a bird begins regurgitating when you are tube feeding it or giving it oral fluids what should you do
Let them go and let them do what they would naturally (shaking their head) or turn them upside down to let the fluid drain out
When you have a sick bird what change to the enviornment can you quickly do to help
But them in an incubator, hard to overheat a bird
What bones shoudl you NOT use for an intraosseous catheter
Humerus or femur
What vein is common to use for IV draws or injections but what is a negative aspect of using it
Basilica vein (in the wing, equivalent of vein inside of elbow), but this vein likes to blow
What anatomical feature helps with x-raying birds
The air sacs providing a lot of negative contrast throughout the coelom
How many air sacs does a bird have
7-9
cervical air sacs
Interclavicular air sac
Anterior thoracic air sacs
Posterior thoracic air sacs
Abdominal air sacs
T/F air sacs help with air exchange
False, they just store air
T/F birds don’t have a diaphragm
True
T/F birds have a larynx in addition to a syrinx
False they have a syrinx instead of larynx
What are 2 important things to remember about a birds trachea in terms of anesthesia
That they have a long trachea with complete rings- so there is more dead space and you should never use a cuffed ET tube on them
Bird lungs are not inflatable so how to they work
Like a sponge
Where does air exchange take place in the bird
Paleopulmonic parabronchi
T/F avian lungs are the most efficient of all vertebrates
True
What respiratory adaptation makes flight possible
The unidirectional flow of air through the lungs, way more efficient
Why are birds prone to aspiration pneumonia
No epiglottis
____ is an outpouching of the esophagus and stores food
Crop
What is the acronym CUP talking about
What is happening in the cloaca and the order (distal to proximal in terms of the vent)- Coprodeum, urodeum, proctodeum
T/F amputating a phallus is a big deal and you should send it to UGA!
False, it doesn’t interfere with urination only transporting semen but i guess if you have a very valuable breeding duck it may be a big deal?
T/F you can castrate a rooster to shut it up because of all the crowing
False, once sexually mature the testicle is closely adhered to a large vessel so it will likely bleed out
T/F the hen has 2 ovaries
False, it usually just has a left ovary
T/F you should never give corticoidsteroids to a bird
True, they are very sensitive and it will immediately immunosuppressive them
If you are doing coelomic surgery and you want to reduce risk of infection, can you flush the coelomic of a bird?
No, you have to open air sacs to do surgery in the coelom of a bird so you wouldn’t want to do this otherwise you will drown the bird
What is the most important diagnostic exam method in birds
X-ray
In psittacines, what size is a normal heart shadow on x-ray
About 50% of the coelomic cavity
On radiographs, what creates the “hourglass” shape in the coelom
The heart and the liver shadows
T/F you can easily differentiate large and small intestine on a birds X-ray
False
If you can see the primary bronchi or parabronchi on a birds x-ray is this normal or abnormal?
Abnormal, they may have something like aspiration pneumonia
What is a contraindication for doing endoscopy in a bird
If there is a cyst or something that could rupture and drown the bird (air sacs are cloudy)
Also acceptable is if you said that this was one of the first diagnostics you tried because it is very invasive and shouldn’t be a first step
If you see small ‘dots’ lateral to the heart on x-ray of an older bird what might this be?
Mineralization of the great vessels
On a bird lateral x-ray, what is below the proventriculus
The liver
Where are the kidneys located in a bird
On the ventral side of the pelvis
If gonads are visible on X-ray where might they be located
At the cranial pole of the kidney
If the proventriculus and ventriculus is displaced dorsally and caudally what may be the cause
Hepatomegaly
Enlargement of what organs can push the GI tract ventrally and caudally
Spleen, testis, ovaries, and kidney
A bird is presenting with respiratory difficulty. Well at least that helps narrow it down to an issue with the airway right?
Nope… everything is just chilling together in the coelom so anything taking up space could put pressure on the lungs
Ex. An egg bound bird will often have respiratory difficulty
If grit is pushed dorsally on X-ray what may be causing this
Ventriculus pushed up- could be from hepatomegaly or splenic enlargement
What is the best view for examining kidneys
Lateral because they are surrounded by air providing negative contrast
When is ultrasound a good idea and what can it differentiate between
It’s a good idea if the coelomic cavity is filled with something that isn’t air, it can help differentiate between fluid accumulation and a mass
When doing a barium study how fast do you expect the crop to empty
10 minutes
A bird presents for anorexia. You do a barium study and hurray the bird begin eating again afterwards! What is the likely cause
Gastric ulcers, the barium coats them and the bird feels much better
What is a helpful diagnostic tool for Proventriculus Dilitation Disease
Barium study
What are the best veins to use in parrots for blood draws
The basilic or jugular
What must you be careful of when doing a blood draw in a bird, especially if it is from the jugular
Don’t lacerate the veins!
What is unique about avian blood cells that you should keep in mind when evaluating bloodwork
They are nucleated so they can lyse easily, this will release potassium and cause elevated potassium on electrolytes
What is the normal hematocrit for a bird
35-55%
On bloodwork you notice an otherwise healthy bird has an elevated white blood cell count, most of which are heterophils. Should you be concerned?
Most likely not, birds will mobilize their heterophils from the periphery when stressed
How would you estimate total blood volume in a bird
It is 10% of the body weight
How many mls of blood can you take from a 1kg bird (if you can take 1% of BW)
10 mls
1kg-1000g
1ml= 1g
1% of 1000g is 10g = 10ml
What is the anticoagulant of choice for a CBC
EDTA
What is truly meant when someone says “oh its fine birds can lose a lot of blood and still be okay!”
It is relative to their size. They can proportionally lose a lot of blood when compared to their body weight becuase hematopoeisis is very quick in birds
However a lot to a bird may only be a few qtips full of blood to us
When a bird is stressed what WBCs are increased and what are decreased
Heterophils are increased (heterophilia) and lymphocytes are decreased (lymphopenia)
What WBC should increase with aspergillum
This is usually a chronic disease so monocytes would increase
What is a unique feature that bird thrombocytes can do and a unique trait they have
They have phagocytic function and they are nucleated (so they may look like lymphocytes)
What features can you see on bloodwork if there is liver disease
Elevated AST, LDH (normal CPK), bile acids, hyperglobulinemia, lipemia/cholesterolemia
Hypoalbuminemia
Why is jaundice rare in psittacines
They lack biliverdin reductase
You have a bird presenting with regurgitation and a mild head tilt. What should you include on your bloodwork panel
Lead and zinc toxicity panel
You do a crop swap on a bird and the swap smells funky and kinda fermented. What might be going on?
Sour crop
