Exotics Flashcards
Marek’s disease what birds affected, clinical signs and aetiology
- Only chickens are affected, fairly rare due to vaccine
- Insignificant in terms of the poultry industry
- Sulkies particularly infected
Signs - Usually 3-4 months (point of lay)
- Paresis/paralysis - unable to walk or lameness
○ wing, leg, neck
○ respiratory, GIT - if these nerves are affected - Non-specific signs
Aetiology - Herpesvirus
- Three serotypes -> evolving and increasing in virulence over the years
○ serotype I -> pathogenic, a spectrum of virulence
○ serotypes II & III (HVT) -> ubiquitous but avirulent
Lymphoid leucosis what age, clinical signs, transmission and mechanism
- Naturally occurs in chickens
- Usually > 5 m
- Clinical Signs - non-specific
○ Reduced weight, weakness & anorexia
○ Egg parameters, hatchability & fertility
○ Non-specific mortality
Transmission - Virus generally comes from the parents
○ Chicks hatch with viraemia and shed from all systems (respiratory, gastrointestinal, reproductive)
Mechanism - Affect B cells within the cloacal bursa and B cells become tumour and metastasise to other organs
List some immunosuppressive conditions
- Infectious bursal disease
- Chicken Infectious Anaemia
- MD, LL & RET
- Pigeon circovirus infection (any circovirus)
- Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease
- Polyomavirus
- Mycotoxicosis
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Stress
What is important to do when clipping bird wings
- Clip last 10 primary flight feathers
What is good alignment for v/d and lateral projections at radiographs
○ Good alignment results in the marrow cavity of the sternum being clearly marked and directly over the backbone.
○ Good alignment of the lateral x-ray will have the acetabulum directly overlying each other and gizzard in direct line to acetabulum (pathology may change this)
What are the 3 main blood vessels to take samples, what is important and how much to take
- Jugular vein -> large right jugular and smaller left -> common
○ Large blood vessels, need to control the head to ensure not bitten - Wing vein
- Medial metatarsal vein -> better for ducks and chickens
- Long bleeding time -> need to be careful with the amount of blood you are taking
○ Rule of thumb 1% of body weight
- Generally don’t need to anaesthetise however if not confident anaesthetising can be done
Haematology/biochem what tube used, what % of immature RBCs is normal and what does a general blood exam include
- Needs to be done manually as no counters for nucleated RBC cells - may estimate which is not accurate
- 5% presence of immature RBC’s normally as high turnover rate - every 30 days
- A general blood examination includes CBC
○ Should include TP, Uric acid, AST, glucose, Haematology, PCV, WCC and blood film
Haematology/biochem what are important molecules in the liver, kidney, GI and blood glucose
- Liver
○ AST (hepatocellular damage), GLDH (sig liver damage if increase), LDH (mostly muscle), ALT (not helpful in birds), bile acids (decreased liver function), CK (is AST liver or not? - could muscle disease or VitE/selenium deficiency)
§ Most common bile pigment in birds is biliverdin but no test available for it - Kidney
○ Uric acid - main excretory product so good kidney function, Urea - dehydration, Creatinine- not helpful in avian med - GI
○ Amylase and Lipase, Electrolyte changes, CK, AST and LDH - Blood glucose
○ Don’t regulate mainly via insulin but by glucagon
○ much higher normal blood glucose
○ Treatment -> insulin not as good as glucagon
What are 7 factors that can lead to polyuria
- Stress or excitement
- Egg laying
- Species - lorrikeets and other nectar feeders
- Diet - increase green food or vegetables
- Toxicity - heavy metals
- Diabetes mellitus
- Multiple systemic disease
Usually associated with LOW INTAKE
what nutritional value is within seeds and pellets and what natural supplements are important
Seeds
- Really low in essentials nutrients -> vitamins, minerals and amino acids
- Extremely high in fat
- Birds will pick out favourite seeds -> such as sunflower seeds
Pellets
- Not full nutritional value
- But can mix with vegetables - better base diet than seeds
Natural supplements
- Gum leaves, nuts and flowers
- Other native flowers eg Banksia, bottle brush etc
- Seeding grasses
- Milk thistle
- Dandelions
Anaesthetic drugs what are some examples of premed and induction
Pre med 1) butorphenol 2) midazolam - sedative Induction -- Injectable drugs such as ketamine combinations (esp ket/ medetomidine or ket/diazepam) are useful in anseriformes and larger birds such as ostriches.
Euthanasia what are 4 ways of achieving
1) Halothane gas - ideal for small birds
2) lethobarb acceptable - Dilute 1:1 with water
○ It is not acceptable to inject lethabarb into the air sacs and the heart is often difficult to injected as it is well guarded by the sternum.
3) cervical dislocation - not in front of owner and consider doing this under GA
4) Can use IM pentobarbital, there could be considerable pain as the injection is highly irritant, use sedation with midazolam or butorphenol first.
Fluid treatment what is maintenance requirements and if 10% dehydration what fluid treatment needed over how many days and how given
- Maintenance requirements of parrots and raptors; 50ml/kg/day or 5% body weight, small species (eg passerines), may require up to 8% body weight.
- If a 10% dehydration is assumed, 50% of this deficit is replaced in the first 24 hours and the remainder over the following 2 days ie
– Day 1 – 5% (maintenance)+5% (dehydration) = 10% of body weight.
– Day2 – 5% +2.5% = 7.5% body weight.
– Day3 – 5% +2.5% = 7.5% body weight
Ongoing losses needs to be added onto this - total volume over a 24 hour period, every 4-6 hours - less often larger bolus, depends on the type of bird
oral fluids how much can give birds
- 30ml/kg PO q 6-8h may be used in larger birds (parrots) such as waterfowl
- In pssitacine (finches, magpies) birds the volume should not exceed 20ml/kg may repeat when the crop is empty.
Intraosseous fluids what bones used in, what good for, what bad about and needles used
- Distal ulna or proximal tibia - not pneumatic bones
- Good for shock treatment and surgical fluids.
- Painful to insert, best to do under general anaesthetic
- Use spinal needle as have stylet that prevent bone being stuck at the end of the needle
what are the common antibiotics used in birds, why and common analgesic drugs
antibiotics
1) tetracyclines (doxycycline) - psittacosis (oral or IM)
2) penicillin and clavulanic acid - 100mg/kg
- CHICKENS -> production animal -> shouldn’t use baytril
ANALGESIA
- Meloxicam and carprophen (chickens, ducks -> tablet form) have become popular drugs for short term or long term arthritis pain.
What are shock fluid rates for birds
- Shock treatment is usually an infusion of 30ml/kg to 60ml/kg in the first hour with poor perfusion -
What antifungals and corticosteroids use in birds
1) Nystatin is great for GI infections.
2) Newer generation drugs such as voriconazole are giving better results for aspergillosis and seem to have better efficacy.
NO CORTICOSTEROID USE
Trichomoniasis (canker) what age, types of birds involved, transmission and treatment
• Common in pigeons in small numbers • Most common in young post-fledgling ○ Pigeons, Magpies, Budgies. Raptors • Transmitted via feeding of young birds, possible sexual behaviour of regurgitation treatment - ronidazole
Differentials for trichmoniasis for budgies, pigeons and raptors
- Budgies ○ Goitre and other obstructions causing regurgitation ○ Behavioral regurgitation ○ “Megabacteriosis” - a yeast ○ Crop mycosis (regurgitation and lesions) ○ Vitamin A deficiency - Pigeons ○ Herpesvirus ○ Pox - Raptors ○ Helminthiasis ○ Pox
Stomatitis in gallinacious birds (chickens, turkeys) what is not likely and what is likely
- Trichomoniasis is very rare - NOT THIS ONE
- Pox
- ILT (infectious Laryngotracheitis virus)
Megabacteriosis - Avian Gastric Yeast what birds most susceptible, cause, signs, diagnosis and treatment/control
○ Budgies/canaries and finches particularly susceptible
○ Generally occurs with other diseases -> possibly a secondary disease to coccidiosis
§ Predisposing factors -> stress, viral infection, nutrition
○ Signs - weight loss, weakness, high morbidity, some mortality, regurgitation
○ Diagnosis - presence of the yeast rods via faecal smear, also can do via histopathology of proventriculus
Treatment/control
§ Amphotericin B (human or bird version) for a few days
§ Acidify drinking water
§ Balanced diet -> finches as above
§ Probiotics -> not cheap
What are the 5 main bacterial enteritis and treatment
1) salmonellosis
2) campylobacterosis
3) necrotic enteritis - Clostridium perfringens type A and C (neomycin)
4) ulcerative enteritis (quail disease)
5) avian tuberculosis - mycobacterium avium - reportable
What are some common anti-coccidials
Sulfaquinoxaline, Amprolium (coccivet), Toltrazuril (baycox), Trimethoprim
In birds what are the 2 main things kidneys are associated with and describe the renal portal system
- Kidneys associated with:
○ Sciatic nerve -> lesions on kidney may result in paresis of limb on same side
○ Abdominal air sac -> diseases of air sac may extend into the kidney - Renal portal system- valves associated with external iliac vein and vena cava therefore medication directed into vena cava may go into the renal circulation and excreted via kidneys before entering the body
List and describe the 6 parts of the reproductive system of a bird
- Ovary – yolk production - LEFT ONLY
- Infundibulum – fertilisation site and inner albumin layer and chalaza – 15mins
- Magnum – bulk of albumin (egg white) – 180 mins
- Isthmus – extra protein in albumin and shell membranes - 73 mins
- Uterus (shell gland) – ‘plumping’ w/ water and shell formation – 1200 minutes (20h)
- Vagina -> close to keep oviduct sterile, until lay then relax and open
What are the 3 main external parasites of birds and the types within
1) mites
1. knemidocoptes species
2. dermanyssus - red mite
3. ornithonyssus - northern fowl mite
2) ticks - argas persicus
3) lice
Knemidocoptes clinical signs in different bird species, diagnosis and treatment
§ Clinical signs
□ Scaly leg disease -> in chickens
□ In budgies leads to scaly face/scaly leg
□ Canaries and finches leads to tassel foot
§ Diagnosis
□ DEEP scrapings -> visualisation of the adult or immature mites
® Can get so deep done to the bone
§ Treatment
□ Easily treatable
□ Beware of withholding periods for commercial chickens
1) Malathion spray/dust
2) Ivermectin medications -> on the skin surface -
3) Moxidectin -> can be used in birds
Erysipelas cause, what most susceptible, zoonoses? and signs/lesions
Cause - Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
- Turkeys are susceptible
- ZOONOTIC - swelling of the limbs -> painful
○ If suspect use protective gloves
Signs/lesions
- Acute: sudden death, congested viscera, haemorrhages and fibrin exudates on epicardium with swollen liver/spleen
- Subacute/chronic: debilitation, poor condition, lameness/arthritis and endocarditis
Erysipelas transmission and treatment
- Persists in the environment -> route of entry through skin trauma
○ Fighting, poor husbandry, overcrowding, artificial insemination
§ 12-20 weeks of age most common due to increased
○ FREERANGE CHICKENS -> generally more susceptible - Pigs and sheep can shed it
Treatment - penicillin with vaccination
what is important about salmonella in chickens, which staph cause issues and 2 forms
REPORTABLE
- S. aureus (Coagulase positive -> ONLY ONE THAT CAUSES DISEASE)
- Opportunistic organism -> immunosuppressed,
Two forms
1. Septicaemic
2. Localised form
○ Arthritis, synovitis, osteomyelitis
§ Concrete hard floors -> breaks in skin -> “bumble foot”
§ Femoral head necrosis
