Intro to Companion Birds: Physical Diagnosis Flashcards
What history should be obtained during an avian physical?
- Signalment - Sex, Age
- Captive environment
- Diet
- Past medical hx
- hx of current presentation
What are the methods or sexing birds?
- DNA sexing - blood or feather
- Endoscopic (surgical)
- Hx of egg laying
What species of birds are sexually Dimorphic?
- Budgerigars (wild phenotype)
- male cele (nostril part) is blue
- Cockatiels (wild phenotype)
- Males have a darker cheek spot and larger yellow color through head
- Cockatoos
- males have dark iris
- females have light iris
- Pacific Parrotlet
- Male has a blue line on the end of its wing
- Eclectus Parrots
- Males are green
- Females are red
What is the average lifespan of a birds?
- parrot 20-30 years
- Macaw 50-60
- Cockatiel 10-20
Why are TVs a bad idea for bird environments?
- Birds can resolve alternating light frequencies up to 130-150 Hz (humans 50-60 Hz)
- UV vision - ability to see a whole sectrum of colors invisible to humans
- Tetrachromats - see 4 colors (UV, blue, green, red)
should birds have fluorescent or halogen lighting?
halogen
Why are birds prone to behavioral issues?
- Highly social
- Highly intelligent - need
- environmental enrichment
- foraging opportunities
- Reproductive behaviors
What should a bird diet include?
- Pelletized diet (minimum of 60-70% overall diet)
- Small amount of fresh vegetables and fruit)
- Occasional seeds and nuts
What should NOT be fed to a bird?
- All seed diet - high fat, low nutrient
- Animal products
- Table food
What are some toxic foods for birds?
- Avocado
- Chocolate
- alcohol
- mycotoxin containing foods (corn, nuts)
- salty food
What equipment will you need to restrain a bird?
- Towel for Parrots
- Gloves for raptors
- Goggles for water birds (herons, loons, stork)
Why is it important to not press on the keel?
- Birds lack diaphragm
- restricting body movement means they will be unable to breathe
What are the goals of avian physicals?
- Do not break trust of bird with owner
- Be as minimally intrusive as possible BUT
- maximize the information you get while the bird is restrained
How should parrots be restrained?
- Observe at a distance for subtle signs
- Approach slowly and calmly (towel out of sight)
- Encourage bird to step up
- Hold digits 2 & 3 and bring bird to your chest
- Drape towel over bird’s back/head
- Hold head with one hand and support the legs and body with the other
- All fingers below the mandible
- Encircle bird’s neck with thumb and forefinger
- Place knuckle of thumb in bird’s intermandibular space
- Use towel to help restrain wings
What are the risks of restraining parrots?
- Handling is stressful
- hyperthermia in 15 minutes
- Challenging to take blood if struggling
- Vocalizations are very loud
How can a parrot be sedated?
Butorphanol + midazolam intranasal or IM
What should be observed during the distant examination of birds?
- Diet in the cage
- Droppings
- watery ?
- color change?
- undigested seeds?
- Bird:
- fluffed up?
- eyes closed/head tucked?
- Respiration - effort? tail bob? open beak?
- abnormal feathers - stress bars, color, absence
- Safe to handle or incubator first
Avian BCS
can give idea of chronicity of problem
When should blood be collected from birds?
- If possible - prior to handling / full physical
- Stress leukogram
- increased muscle enzyme - CK, AST
- Increased BG
What blood vessel can be used for blood draw in birds?
- Jugular vein
- Brachial/ulnar vein
- Medial metatarsal vein
What structures are being examined when looking at a birds head?
- Eyes, Ears, Nares, Beak
- Oral exam
- Choana
- Choanal papilla
- should be sharp
- blunt from Respiratory infection or Vit A deficiency
- Infundibular cleft
- prevent ear popping at high elevations
What structures of the body should be palpated on a bird?
- Crop
- Coelom
- Concave window between end of the keep and pelvic bones
- Wings
- Legs
- Cloacal
- Evert with moistened Q-tip
- birds >100g look for papillomas
- Uropygial gland (preen gland)
- impactions
- Neoplasia
What are some Abnormalities that can be palpated in the coelom of birds?
- Egg - hard, round, caudal
- Ventriculus, left sided, hard and round
- Mass
- Liver enlargement beyond the edge of the keel
Which birds do not have a uropygial gland?
- African greys
*
How is hydration status determined in the bird?
- skin movement over sternum
- eyelid pinch
- ulnar vein refill time
How are the heart and lungs auscultated in a bird?
- Heart:
- midline on keel
- FAST - can be hard to pick up murmurs
- Lungs and air sacs:
- over back and over entire coelom
- Resting RR: 15 - 40/min
How is temperature taken in birds? what should it be?
- Cloacal temperature
- Not routinely measured - hyperthermia from stress
- used more in critical patients for hypothermia
- 100.4 - 105.8 F
Why would a wellnes exam be recommended for birds?
- Allows review of captive husbandry ad diet
- heath screening
- Obtain baseline information
- Infectious disease screening
- Sexing
- Disease prevention recommendations
- vaccination
- preventative therapy
- Screening tests
What screening tests can be done on birds?
- Blood work (CBC, Biochemistry)
- Crop and fecal cytology
- screen for yeast
- Fecal parasite testing
- new bird
- bi-annual in raptors, poultry, ducks, pigeons
What specific diseases do birds get that can be tested for?
- Psittacine Circovirus (PRFD)
- Avian Bornavirus (PDD)
- Avian Polyomavirus
- Avian Chlamydiosis
Who does Psittacine Circovirus affect? test?
- Who:
- juvenile birds
- old world species (mainly)
- Test: DNA on blood
Who is affected by Avian Bornavirus? test?
- Who: any bird except budgerigars
- Test: DNA on cloacal swab and pooled feces
- Carrier vs sick
What are old world psittacines
- African greys
- Cockatoos
- Cockatiels
- lovebirds
What are New world Psittacines?
- Conures
- Amazon Parrots
- Macaws
- Ciques
- Parrotlets
- Pionus Parrots
- Quaker parakeets
Who is affected by Avian Polyomavirus?
- Only chicks are susceptible
Who is affected by Avian Chlamydiosis? test?
- Cause: Chlamydia psittaci
- Who: mainly cockatiels and budgerigars
- Test: DNA on conjunctival-choanal-cloacal (CCC) swab
- ZOONOTIC
how many feathers should be trimmed during a wing trim?
- Small bird: 10 feathers
- Medium: 5 - 7 feathers
What vaccinations can be given to birds? what birds?
- West Nile virus - raptors and birds with outdoor aviary
- Salmonella and PMV - pigeons
- ILT, Infectious bronchitis, Salmonella, influenza PMV - Chickens
