|
| |
     
 | Preventative Health Care
 | Early recognition and treatment of medical problems |
| Development of a medical baseline |
| Vaccination against infectious diseases |
| Client education |
| Establish a client/patient/doctor relationship |
|
| Physical Exams
| Upon acquisition of the bird |
| 3 months later |
| 6 months after second exam |
| 9 months after the third |
| Annually thereafter |
| Can reveal a lot of information about the general status of the bird. |
| Subtle problems can be missed with a physical examination alone. |
|
| Laboratory Evaluation
| Birds are good at “masking” signs of illness. |
| Laboratory analysis can detect subclinical diseases. |
| Some tests should be done each visit; others just initially. |
| Some depend on the species, age, source, and purpose of the bird. |
|
| Test Functions |
| CBC |
|
Infection or anemia |
| Chemistries |
|
Organ dysfunction |
| Gram stains |
|
Bacterial or fungal |
| Fecal wet mount |
|
Parasites |
| Psittacosis test |
|
Bird/human disease |
| PBFD test |
|
Serious viral disease |
| Polyomavirus test |
|
Dangerous for chicks |
| Baseline Information
| Allows us to develop a baseline for the individual bird. |
| This will allow later recognition of more subtle problems than
comparison to reference ranges for a species. |
| Borderline problems can be tracked over time to determine when treatment
is needed. |
|
| Vaccines
| Polyomavirus and Pacheco's disease are the only available vaccines for
pet parrots at this time. |
| Birds at risk should be vaccinated at 5 and 7 weeks and then annually. |
| Some birds develop vaccine site granulomas. |
| Discuss this with one of us if you are interested. |
|
| Client Education
| Our knowledge of pet bird medicine grows continually. |
| During each visit, you will learn of the major developments in bird
care. |
| This is a time to ask any questions you may have about your birds care,
health, or behavior. |
|
| Establish Veterinary Caregiver
| The best time to develop a relationship with an avian veterinarian is
not during an emergency. |
| Ask about our hours, policies, and emergency procedures. |
| Find out if you’re comfortable with our style of practice. |
|
| An Ounce of Prevention
| Early recognition allows more successful treatment of problems. |
| Recognizing serious health problems allows new birds to be returned to
the seller. |
| Preventative medicine is less costly than emergency medicine. |
|
| |
|
