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Common Problems of Pet Bird Ownership

Common Problems of Pet Bird Ownership. Shannon C. Kircher. Introduction. Veterinarian’s duty to educate owners about potential problems: - Health problems - Proper care - Exotic Pet Trade - Release of birds. Hypothesis. Feather plucking in caged birds

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Common Problems of Pet Bird Ownership

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  1. Common Problems of Pet Bird Ownership Shannon C. Kircher

  2. Introduction Veterinarian’s duty to educate owners about potential problems: - Health problems - Proper care - Exotic Pet Trade - Release of birds

  3. Hypothesis • Feather plucking in caged birds • Abnormal behavior due to lack of enrichment • Beak abnormalities

  4. Methods • Primary research at exotic animal hospital (case reviews) • …and literature review (reviews, primary research, surveys, discussions)

  5. Results • Most common owner-associated reasons for pet deaths • Most common health issues affecting pet birds. • Most common problems with patients seen at my hospital.

  6. Owner-associated deaths • Water deprivation • Unclipped wings • Toxic fumes • Trauma • Other animals • Toxic food/plants • Hand-feeding mishaps • Diseases caused by owners • Heat exposure • Sleeping with birds Sources: Wissman 2006, McKechnie 2008, Veterinary Record 2008

  7. Common pet health problems • Feather cysts • Baldness • Feather plucking • Mites • Pododermatitis • Psittacosis • Avian polyoma virus • Salmonellosis • Pox virus Sources: Smeagal 2008, Faye 2008, Veterinary Record 2008

  8. Clinic results

  9. TOP 5 • 22 of feather plucking patients = behavioral • Giardia found in 10 birds (9 feather pluckers, 1 abnormal stool patient) • URI in 10 birds • Beak malformations in 6 • Mites in 5

  10. Discussion • Hypothesis partially correct, but information was difficult to synthesize • Clinic results skewed, but showed owner-associated problems were uncommon (vitamin deficiency) • Owner-education important!!!

  11. Thank you… • Dr. Michael Samuels • Jody Lee

  12. Sources Faye, S. 2008. Foods and plants toxic to birds. AvianWeb.com. http://www.avianweb.com. Accessed 30 March 2008. McKechnie, A.E. 2008. Phenotypic flexinility in basal metabolic rate and the changing view of avian physiological diversity: a review. Journal of Comparative Physiology. 178(3): 235-247. Smeagal, L. 2008. Pet bird care: Common diseases and illnesses affecting pet birds. Helium.com. http://www.helium.com. Accessed 25 March 2008. Wissman, M.A. 2006 Top ten bird killers. ExoticPetVet.net. http://www.exoticpetvet.net. Accessed 25 March 2008. Veterinary Record. 2008. Birds. Journal of the British Veterinary Association 162(10): 297.

  13. Questions?

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