Sick bird

[Hookturn]

After reading some articles about bird and respiratory infections I'm more confused than ever. There are several different type, fungal, viral, and bacterial. Many, many causes. Some are the ones Pajarita listed but others appear to be just random. I called my vet to see if he had any info on the particular type of infection and he's out until Monday. I'll keep you posted as to what I find out.

[Pajarita]

Yes, there are different 'baddies' that can cause a respiratory infection, bacteria, fungus and parasites, (I don't list viruses because they don't present 'respiratory' symptoms although with Pacheco, a herpes virus, the bird is fluffed up and loses weight rapidly) but the point I was trying to make was that a healthy and strong bird would not 'catch' any unless we are talking about a very contagious disease like psittacosis, Pacheco, polyoma, etc. A bird with a weakened immune system (be it because of physical or emotional stress and/or bad diet and/or not enough sleep, etc) would catch a bacterial or a fungal infection BUT a healthy, strong bird would not because a properly working immune system will prevent (they are just like people). The last bird that had a bacterial infection in my birdroom was Zeus when he first came to me (the stress of rehoming always depresses the immune system and that's why quarantine is recommended) and that was 2 years ago - I don't even remember when was the last one before that but it's always new birds that get them because once they feel comfortable in the birdroom, they never again get any pathogenic diseases.

Now, the reasons for a malfunctioning immune system are many, I just asked you about the most common ones. Insufficient betacarotene in their diet will create avitaminosis A which inhibits production of the necessary phlegm to cleanse the respiratory system making it easy for bacteria and fungus to take hold. Lack of sufficient sleep or a malfunctioning endocrine system due to a human light schedule would depress the immune system. Chronic laying would also depress the immune system... Too much calcium in the diet could create calcium deposits in the lungs which, in turn, would cause labored breathing. Another cause of labored breathing is heart or liver problems (because of the accumulation of fluids in the tissues). And, then, as I mentioned before, birds need to fly in order to maintain a healthy respiratory system and, when they don't, a pair of air sacs atrophies which makes it fertile ground for any pathogen floating around and, as the respiratory system of birds is open ended (mammals are 'closed'), if one part of it gets an infection, the entire system gets it because the air carrying the pathogen or parasites would move from the lungs to a pair of sac, then another pair, then another, etc. Basically, when a bird gets sick, it's either that he was exposed to a very contagious pathogen OR that there is something not quite right with the husbandry.

Did the bird have a tail bob (when you see the tail going just a bit up and down when the bird is in repose) or labored breathing (when you see the little chest going in and out)? Were these or either symptom, plus blood work showing an elevated count of white cells that 'told' the AV the bird had a respiratory? Or did he just assumed it was and prescribed an antibiotic? Mind you, not that there is anything wrong with doing that! It's standard protocol for avian vets to always prescribe a wide spectrum antibiotic when there are symptoms of an unidentified infection because birds are so 'touch and go' that time is always of the essence when treating a disease PLUS a bacterial respiratory is the most common ailment that pet birds get. So, although when you say it, it sounds as laziness or neglect on the vet's part, it's not. It's the right thing to do because the prescription can be revised once the blood work results come back (you can narrow down the number of pathogens that could be causing the problem by the type of white cell that is elevated -certain fungal infections would, sometimes, not show an elevation in white cells even though the bird presents classic symptoms of an infection and other types of white cells would show an elevation just because there is inflammation present while others show it when the infection is chronic so, as you can see, bloodwork is very useful on this type of thing).

How long have you had the bird? How old is it? And, exactly, what were the symptoms aside from rapid and acute weight loss (this would eliminate a fungal infection, by the way)?

[Hookturn]

He's 5 months old and we've had him since he was weened. I didn't notice any strange behavior until the day he started losing weight. His feathers were puffs up and he was bobbing his head.

The vet took a fecal sample and mouth swab. He told me that the tests confirmed a URI.

Not sure why he would have a weakened immune system though. As I said befor he gets a good diet and solar schedule.

[Pajarita]

No blood work? That's a new one to me! I've never heard of diagnosing an infection from just a swab unless the results were super off! And it makes it even weirder that he prescribed cephalexin because this antibiotic is good for a wide range of gram positive but only a few negatives (while enrofloxacin covers a wide range of both) and the normal choanal flora is about 90% positive and 10% negative so super off results would mean A LOT of negatives in which case it would seem to me (I am not a vet, mind you, I've just had to learn because of all the animals I keep) that he should have chosen a more 'even' antibiotic.

For what I know (again, not a vet), Cephalexin is used for mammal bacterial sinusitis when it's caused by Staphylococcus aureus because this is one of the antibiotics that kills it but I've never heard of MRSA presenting respiratories in birds - all I've ever heard was skin infections (chickens get it). And I never heard of an avian vet not doing, at the very least, a CBC on a sick bird...

Well, if the vet did a choanal swab (beak swab), he would have looked at the papillae and taken note of whether they were blunted or inflamed (blunted meaning lack of vit A and swollen indicating a respiratory infection).

[Hookturn]

I trust my vet. He is a very experienced avian specialist. In addition to caring for private birds he takes care of all the wild species at our local raptor rehab center.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice and concern!

[Pajarita]

Well, I have learned not to trust any doctor but, most especially, avian vets. The oldest and best recommended avian vet in the area where I used to live in Pennsylvania misdiagnosed a bird I had rescued and the bird ended up dead because of it. I will always blame myself for not questioning his diagnosis and treatment because, if it had been caught in time, the bird might have been saved.