Quarantine?

[happycat]

Hello all! I am considering buying a cockatiel sometime in the next week or so. I already have a cage (kirby's old cage) and mostly everything ready. Even a name! I was thinking of naming the new birdy either Wheatley or Quigley, since I thought it would go cute with Kirby's name :09:

I'm not sure about quarantine though. Would I have to keep him in a completely different room from Kirby? What about the cats and dogs, can they be exposed to the room it would be in? We live in a 3 bedroom apartment and Kirby takes up one bedroom, my sister and cats take up another, and the third is still storage space at the moment.

I was considering putting them in an unused bathroom for a week or two, but even with a light it'd be a little dark and sad for a bird. The bathroom is in my sisters bedroom so whenever I let the cockatiel out during quarantine I would have to remove the cats from her bedroom and let him out in there. The only problem with that is if he has, say, psittacosis, it could transmit to the cats. Is it okay if they go in the room after he's been out?
A problem like Psittacosis is more common if I get a baby bird. I'm going to "rescue" one off craigslist, so I have a lot of choices, from a baby bird from an unexperienced breeder, to a 5 year old cockatiel.

P.S. Do I really have to shower after handling the bird? xD

 

[95talongirl]

Wash hands between cleaning. It's ideal to have them in seperate rooms, and to change between handlings. But really, unless you have seperate air supplies, it's hard to do a true quarantine. Just try your best to keep things clean and the birds from interacting. A vet visit always helps, too. Since tests can find some things. Helps out your mind at ease too.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Looky, there are some great threads where Quarantine has been discussed.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/39941-quarantine-new-bird.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/33947-quarantine.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/30734-quarantine-not.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/12300-quarantine.html

 

[SilverSage]

When deciding what to do, it is important to think through WHY we quarantine. When a bird is under stress, such as from a move, its immune system is at its weakest, and any illnesses are more likely to emerge. Also, if the bird is to be housed with another bird, this time gives the owner a chance to examine the poo and watch the food intake without mixing these things with other birds. When I add a bird to my flock I test for Psittacosis and Polyoma, as well as PBFD unless the bird is in perfect feather. Still do the quarantine, but for about $20 per disease you can ease a lot of fears as well as identify a disease that you may have missed through simple quarantine. I use Avian BioTech which you can easily google, and they give discounts for doing multiple tests using the same sample. You can choose to pluck chest feathers for the test, or snip a nail juuuuuuuussst short enough to make it bleed. I do this unless a bird is trained or in training to accept nail clippings without a fuss.

 

[RavensGryf]

I always take them for a new bird check up right away, and do the blood tests which are available for PBFD, Polyoma, and Psittacosis EVEN WHEN IN PERFECT FEATHER. Unless they are from a confirmed "closed aviary" system where MAP Certified strict protocols have been consistently adhered to so the birds have NO contact to the "public" world basically... Otherwise they can still harbor disease.

Unfortunately, quarantine isn't foolproof. I once bought a Pionus (my first Bronze Winged before Raven) from a bird store. 8 months later she started showing her symptoms of PDD right before she passed. At the time there was no test for it, and even now it's not perfected.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I also highly recommend an immediate blood panel, even if your bird comes from a perfectly "safe" environment. I received Shiko from a breeder who never let anyone into the aviary where the birds were, but guests could come handle the babies once they were moved into the house when they became old enough. Meaning ANYONE could potentially infect my baby without me knowing. So I got all three blood tests done with a general vet check up the day after he came home. It cost me about $300, which was quite a good price (about $50 a blood test and it's generally done at the lab there because it's a veterinary college that does research).

I couldn't do a perfect quarantine either where we lived. No matter where I put Shiko, it was impossible to prevent the birds from coming into contact with each other regardless of how often I washed, showered, or changed clothes. If I could have, I definitely would've even after getting all the tests done. I can't recommend it enough. You just never know.