Clostridium, anyone?

[JennyHavoc]

Allo forum friends!

My dog got pretty sick over the New Years weekend/early week... vomiting, nasty diarrhea, the whole shebang. Upon taking him to the vet and having a fecal done, they found ridiculous amounts of Clostridium perfringens.
The vet asked if Nately had any access to birds and I said yup, we have an Amazon that hangs out outside of her cage and he eats her droppings whenever he can... gross, I know, but he's a dog Vet said "Aha! That's where he got it from."

Being only a dog and cat vet, he didn't know about the bird end of it. He kind of implied that it was normal for birds to have, as that was where he expected Nately got it from, but upon Googling, it is apparently NOT normal.

I can't imagine where Maxine would have picked it up, or how long she's had it - she has been with my boyfriend for 3 years in the same house and does not go outside or anything.

So does anybody have any experience with Clostridium, or know anything about it? I'm planning on a vet trip most likely (gah, my wallet is crying right now) but would like any tips you all have!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hi Jenny,

Not all of us are familiar with those Latin medical terms Clostridium perfringens is bacterial food poisoning if I'm not mistaken, correct?

I don't know how accurate or up-to-date this site is, but I found it nonetheless.
Clostridial Diseases in Birds and their Prevention

Now I honestly have never heard of dog contracting this from eating bird droppings. I have 2 hounds, and my female in particular eats anything and everything my 3 birds "drop". She's never been ill in any way, shape or form.

 

[JennyHavoc]

I did find that site and that's kind of where I gleaned that it was not normal for the bird to have. Unless the vet is wrong and my dog picked it up somewhere else, though he doesn't really eat anything outside...
The other sites I saw, including another bird forum, talked about necrotic enteritis (which does not sound pretty!)

I would assume your birds are not infected with the bacteria though, so that would be why your hounds have never been sick.

I think to be on the safe side I will have the birds tested. Checkups can't hurt anyway

 

[goalerjones]

Take the bird in for a fecal swab. Your baby wont be happy for the "close attention" he gets but better safe than sorry.

And Jenny, anything with the word "necrotic" attached to it is very bad. Dead tissue, mostly progressive destroying, slow death kinda stuff.

And here is a puppy link for Clostridium infections:
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_dg_clostridial_enterotoxicosis#.UOiuuXy9KSM