Why do so many birds get sick and die young?

[JensFlock]

I agree with all of you. I have a great bird vet that has seen one of my 7 birds. I don't take unnecessary chances with my fids, but I sure don't shelter them too much, either.
I always worry about taking my birds to the vets and having the possibility of a sick bird being there and contaminating my bird!!!

 

[dishgal1]

mcw009 what kind of work do you do to need blood from that many finches?

 

[dishgal1]

I agree with all of you. I have a great bird vet that has seen one of my 7 birds. I don't take unnecessary chances with my fids, but I sure don't shelter them too much, either.
I always worry about taking my birds to the vets and having the possibility of a sick bird being there and contaminating my bird!!!

I feel the same way. Only sick animals go to vets and that is where the germs are, just like in our doctor's office. I don't go there either unless absolutely necessary.

 

[mcw009]

mcw009 what kind of work do you do to need blood from that many finches?

I'm a research tech at a college; we monitor a contaminant in their blood on a monthly basis and had around 800 individuals at the peak of the experiment.

 

[dishgal1]

An environmental contaminant? Or experimental?

 

[keepsmiling]

The gene pool is muddled. There is no new blood, because no birds are allowed to be introduced. This causes weaknesses, and you will notice, if you have been around birds as long as I have, they are getting smaller.

 

[dishgal1]

The gene pool is muddled. There is no new blood, because no birds are allowed to be introduced. This causes weaknesses, and you will notice, if you have been around birds as long as I have, they are getting smaller.

That is very true, they do get smaller when they are over bred and inbred.
Good point.

 

[mcw009]

An environmental contaminant? Or experimental?

We're studying the effects of environmentally-relevant, sublethal levels of mercury.

My point was just that taking blood like that is really no big deal at all.

 

[thermodynamic]

I agree with all of you. I have a great bird vet that has seen one of my 7 birds. I don't take unnecessary chances with my fids, but I sure don't shelter them too much, either.
I always worry about taking my birds to the vets and having the possibility of a sick bird being there and contaminating my bird!!!

I feel the same way. Only sick animals go to vets and that is where the germs are, just like in our doctor's office. I don't go there either unless absolutely necessary.

Agreed as well! No chances - to my understanding, birds are more sensitive and fragile... especially regarding their olfactory system. Using nonstick cookware can kill them, but I doubt it's doing much good for humans, apart from making that egg easier to slide off the pan... and don't show the bird the egg, either ...

And, yep, only as necessary and not just because of the cost. One sick birdy in for care can lead - ironically - spread it.

Great. Now I'm worried about bringing in Tybbi... :22:

 

[thermodynamic]

The gene pool is muddled. There is no new blood, because no birds are allowed to be introduced. This causes weaknesses, and you will notice, if you have been around birds as long as I have, they are getting smaller.

A guest speaker at my aviculture club stated the same thing, about not introducing new birds. Pity he's not local... but, yeah, especially with inbreeding, the species will get weaker...

Ironic, as evolution stated with smaller, simpler organisms that weren't very many doing not dissimilar things...

It is one regulation that could deserve to be changed. Especially with deforestation, preservation of habitat-centric areas is not enough. Needing people to care for species can't hurt either...

 

[Grenage]

I suppose it's also hard to get a clear, unbiased view of such things.

A) A bird is sick.
It dies, and you're told that you should have taken him to the vet.

B) A bird is sick.
You take it to the vet and it dies. (hopefully not).

I don't much like hospitals, people are always dying there; people rarely die at the park, so I'd rather go there when I'm ill.

I know that the above is incredibly simplistic, and bordering on patronising, but it's important to get an well-rounded perspective; a healthy pet wouldn't normally be going to the vet.

With regards to the immune system being built up, I agree. As someone here at work often says - "suck on a dishcloth!".

 

[Oedipussrex]

A very interesting thread. and i would think it is the combined effects of all of the above reasons. But thats not to say that the precautions we take are not necessary, i think they are necessary because we have made them necessary, even if they didnt used to be (such as in wild birds [who probably do have shorter lifespans])

It would be interesting to see in a number of years, if the australian / european / american species' of captive birds, have actually slowly deviated from each other for lack of inter-breeding...

It is really sad when it happens... but i would also think that sometimes for a sick bird who just needs some TLC (as long as you're sure it will be ok), that the vet can be the worst place for it to be. Some of the worst infections and diseases are only spread through hospitals, and i expect vets are no different, especially for an already weakened animal.

I am lucky by way of vets, that my avian vet works at the animal hospital, so i can see her in the event of out of hours emergencies as well. (have seen many terrible stories about ripoff emergencies on here). But i don't even know if she wants to see me anymore. She did not ring all last week to get us to pay her for some tests, and she said she would on tuesday... Pickles tests were positive for PBFD and i really want to get more blood work done to check for infections and his liver, but i have no idea how we are supposed to take him into that place with all the other animals that go through there every day... :/

 

[Spiritbird]

Healthy appearing and acting birds really should taken to an avian vet for a yearly wellness check up. Are people really doing this?? Are people really feeding their bird a healthy diet? Are people really exercising their birds? Are people avoiding bird fairs where viruses are spread? Are people breeding too many birds? Birds are complicanted and complex just like us humans. They really were not intended to be in a persons home. But we do.

 

[Parrotmamma]

My AV told me as long as my birds were eating a healthy diet ( pellets ,freash fruits and veggies and some seeds ) and they have had no changes in their behavior and no obvious signs of illness that a yearly check up was not necessary. why stress out a bird by making the trip and possibly exposing it to a sick bird that is there during my visit .

 

[friedsoup]

I think it was Walter Cronkite who said "The world is no worse off than it was a half century ago it's just that news travels faster now."