New Member & Despirately Need Advice

It has been several years since I raised birds. At the time, I raised Cockatiels, Indian Ringnecks, Finches, Canaries, had an Amazon and Sun Conure. I loved my birds and had very healthy birds.

I do not presently have any but there is an elderly couple that have four and the couples health is beginning to fade to the point they are unable to properly care for them.
They are asking for someone to take them, they want all four to go together.
The birds are: Jenday Conure, Double Yellow headed Amazon, African Grey and Blue and Gold Macaw.

Here is the problem.....The birds have had two illnesses and have over come them but they will never be able to be around other birds because they are carriers. The illnesses are Pachecos Virus and Psittacosis. I know these are both very serious diseases and I want to be as educated as possible before I take on this challenge.

I fear that someone may take these birds just to try to make a quick buck and it would be a horror story if they were sold to someone that was not aware of their illnesses.

The couple is not selling them but there are unethical people out there that would take them just to try to make the bucks. I am told they are not old birds at all.
God love em, they just have been ill.

I do not mind taking them in and giving them tons of love but could their illnesses put me in debt for the rest of my life.

I would appreciate any input you would be willing to give me and also any questions I should ask the couple in regards to the birds.

Thank you so much in advance.

Honey

I would reccomend that you contact an avian vet. Look for one in the yellow pages or call your own vet and ask them to reccomend one.
For one I know that if those birds have had Psittacosis and lived through it they are fine and they are not carriers. They may test positive for the antibodies that fight Psitticosis, but that does not mean they have the disease. It just means they have been exposed to it.
On pachecos disease I do not know.
Good luck.

Thank you for your input. I did talk with an Avian vet today. He said the Pachecos Virus was also contagious to humans. I was not all that impressed with him. He told me that he would not take on that kind of load if he was me.
As you can tell, I didn't want to listen to him. lololol
I guess I need to meet with the couple and see how the feathered ones are doing. I believe that the couple loves them very much and only wants the best for their babies. They obviously believe keeping them together would make all the birds the happiest. My heart goes out to the couple because they can't care for them and have to give them up and it also goes out to the parrots because their lives will be changing also.

I just want to do the right thing for the couple, the parrots and my family. (sigh)

Honeyjenx

I once met a Bolivian Blue and Gold Macaw. His name was Sam, and Sam's owner had to give him up because she had developed Rheumatoid Arthritis and couldn't properly handle him ... she had acquired Sam when she was 16 ... she gave him up at 65 (Sam was just about 50 years old and was just a magnificent bird, very well trained). Everything in my heart told me that I should be Sam's new home, but the timing wasn't right, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to give Sam everything that he needed ... sometimes, as much as we want to help, we aren't in a position to. This sounds like a lot of work to me, with a situation that could be very rewarding, but there are so many other factors that go into this decision ... the noise alone from these four birds could drive you insane ...

Lots to think about, and I think that you are a very special individual to even think about taking this on! Good luck!

:50:

Thank you. This is really something to think hard about. I absolutely do not want those sweeties to go through more trauma than necessary. Leaving their home will be difficult enough for them without having to maybe leave a second home so I want to be very sure of any decision I make. I am an animal lover and have rescued numerous animals, racoon, possum, squirrel, iguanas, hedgehog, boa, and numerous cats and dogs. Some I have been able to return to the wild, others I found wonderful homes for and others I have raised until death do us part. Right now I have a beagle that was a rescue, he is approximately 14 years old now and I have a Munchkin Cat that is also a rescue. They have both had and have issues from the way they were treated in the past but that's ok, we work through those and besides I figure they have to look over some of my idiosyncrasy's too. lololol

Honeyjenx

It is really a hard decision, but one that has to be made in YOUR best interest. As much as we feel for animals in bad situations we can't put our selves into a bad situation because of our animals ...

Here's a link to information on Pacheco's:

http://www.avianbiotech.com/Diseases/Pachecos.htm

Julie

Thank you all so much.

Honeyjenx

I would get a second opinion from another vet. I did a pretty good search of biological and medical journals and I wasn't able to find a single instance of Pacheco's virus being transmitted to humans. It is in the herpes virus family, which the name itself will scare some people away, but many common (non-STD) viruses are also in the herpes family.

The real danger with Pacheco's is its reactivation from its latent state in the carrier. Any stress (such as that of being re-homed) can cause the virus to become active again. Once active it is a great threat to the carrier AND any birds around him.

Essentially stress means the virus's happy host of a home (the bird) may not be a good home for long, so the virus "comes alive" and does everything it can to be transmitted to another avian host.

Preemptive antiviral treatment has been successful in reducing infection. So whether or not you take these birds it would be good to advise the current owners to ask a good AV (versed in virology) about treating ALL FOUR of them with antivirals just before the move to the new home.

As far as the long term cost I suspect the initial preemptive antiviral treatment would be the most important (and would only be a couple doses each). The sad fact is that if the virus reactivates and/or is transmitted to one of the other birds it is not much of a long term care situation - treatment either forces it into latency, or the bird dies.

Thank you Auggie's Dad. This is a great forum and I truly appreciate all of the input and advise.
The more I info I receive to consider, the better it will be for the birds and my family.

Honeyjenx