Update to: I am Stumped

[naturegirl]

Well I took the rehab pigeon to the vet, I named it Chance for now. The vet took one look at her and said she had conjunctivitis, she also has an upper respitory infection, and she is checking her stool for other things including worms. She has been on the garlic water since I have gotten her and she seems to like it. So I know I will have her for at least 2 more weeks because of the meds. She is very sweet and hopefully she will be ok.

Cindy

[Reti]

Well done Cindy.
Hope the respiratory infection clears soon and nothing additional is found.

Reti

[Trees Gray]

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the update and for taking Chance to the vet.

[naturegirl]

I think this bird is getting back to normal as she is starting to pinch and bite me Guess you could say that is the way it should be for a normal wild pigeon huh?

[Trees Gray]

Originally Posted by naturegirl

I think this bird is getting back to normal as she is starting to pinch and bite me Guess you could say that is the way it should be for a normal wild pigeon huh?

GREAT NEWS! I just remember posting on your original thread: ..."she will start putting up more resistance when she starts feeling better."

I'm so glad she is, as it does mean she is feeling better.

[Pidgey]

Conjunctivitis is a symptom, not a disease. It can be caused by many things but chlamydiosis (ornithosis/psittacosis) is the one that you should consider discussing with your vet and possibly treating for. I say that because of the upper respiratory component. A pigeon can get an acute infection where the prevalent symptoms can go away but it's not gone. They can actually become carriers.

It's not the easiest thing to test for and sometimes you just make the guess and treat anyway. The Tetracycline that you got is the correct family of antibiotics to use but the right kind of Doxycycline is the drug of choice. If you want to email me with your email address, I can forward you some emails that I sent to somebody else that detail that particular disease and the treatment protocols. It's true veterinary literature complete with all the medspeak but you can certainly decipher it with the internet if you don't speak that language fluently yourself.

Pidgey

[naturegirl]

Hi Yes I would be interested in reading it my e-mail address is:
naturegirl66@charter.net. She is treating her with an antibiotic and said if she does have psittacosis then this med will treat it as well. I know here in the states vets usually don't treat a wild bird found for conjuncivitis as they and the state say it costs too much money a rehabber told me if I get one in that has it too just put it down which in my personal opinion is such a waste of a lovely bird of all species.

[Pidgey]

They're headed your way. Each email has up to five pages out of the book and there are about 14 or 15 emails so that's almost 70 pages or so. You've got plenty of reading in front of you. You've got the section on Chlamydiosis (which you can get and it's not pretty so keep your hands washed and don't get your face too close to the bird for now nor touch your face if you've touched the bird), the section on antimicrobial therapy and a formulary chapter.

Pidgey