Use of microscope for pigeon health

[Pidgey]

A microscope is simply a tool and, as with most tools, it requires different techniques for different jobs. In fact, there is a bewildering amount of different techniques for isolating various pathogens. This will become clearer as you learn a few tests for your pigeons.

The first test you should do is for coccidia. A word about coccidia—it’s an organism that invades its host as a community. It’s considered a parasite even though it doesn’t assume the form of a multi-celled organism like a roundworm. Virtually all pigeons are infected with these things (actually, different species of them infect most animals on earth and you can use this technique on all of them—you can even check yourself and other family members!).

You can never completely clear a pigeon of them, but you can control it. Most of the time, a pigeon lives with it in something like a “dormant phase” and it doesn’t bother them at all. It’s only when they get stressed, sick with something else or have ingested too many of the oocysts (the “eggs” that you’ll be looking for in your microscope) that the infection turns into a life-threatening disease.

I’d have to say that the majority of pigeons that I get that need medical help are dying of coccidiosis. And most of those are young pigeons that are having a hard time learning how to properly forage for food. They start starving and eating dirtier stuff and get REALLY sick.

The things that you’re going to need for this simple test are your microscope, slides, coverslips, some kind of really small vial, a small bottle of saturated saltwater, a Q-Tip (toothpick, wooden matchstick, whatever) and a pretty good sized eye-dropper.

Some of this stuff could use some explanation:

MICROSCOPE: A good lab-quality microscope is NOT going to come cheap (not easily, anyway). I got a 30 year-old scope for US $275 that only has three objectives but is binocular (two eyepieces) and that was actually a pretty good deal. You don’t need a binocular scope but they sure are easier on the eyes (unless you only have one) if you’re going to spend hours doing it. It’s when you spend a LONG time examining things because you don’t know what they are that you REALLY start getting eyestrain.

I did look through a kid’s microscope to see if I could see the coccidia oocysts through it and I could. They weren’t as sharp, but you CAN identify them. Remember, it’s a tool—you’re trying to save the life of a pigeon so if it’s all you can afford and it works… it’s good enough. Now, a cat, of course, would rather die than be diagnosed with inferior equipment so don’t bother. (Oh, come on! I was just joking! Don’t call the SPCA!!! I’m making out a check right now…)

COVERSLIPS: The little squares of flat glass or plastic that are used to cover the samples on some slide preparations. They come in different sizes as well as different thicknesses. A “No. 0” size is generally used if you’re going to be using the 1000x oil immersion combination (10x eyepiece X 100x objective lens) because a No. 1 size is thick enough that the lens might adjust right down on it and break it as well as do possible harm to the microscope’s adjustment gears (depends on the scope).

If you don’t have coverslips for this test, then you’re going to have to check to see that your microscope focuses with enough clearance above a two-slide stack in the 100x configuration. That is, you’re going to use either a full slide or a broken piece of a slide (disclaimer: author not FINANCIALLY responsible for anyone cutting themselves with a broken slide) and put a hair in between the slides. Put the stack in the microscope with the lens adjusted up out of the way, center the hair where it should be visible through the smallest magnification lens and then begin to focus carefully until you can see it plainly. If your smallest lens is a 4x objective, then rotate the 10x objective into place and make sure it doesn’t hit the doubled slide. Refocus carefully. If that won’t work, get some real coverslips for this online through a scientific supply retailer or at an educational/scientific/laboratory store in a location near you.

VIAL: Think of a vial as a real small test tube. The vials that I use are from a commercial lab supply but you don’t need anything that difficult to come by. It’s best if they’re pretty small—mine are glass and hold slightly less than one teaspoon. They’re about 3/8” in diameter, 1-1/4” tall and flat bottomed. Another thing that could work is one of those plastic boutonniere water-holding thingies. I think they come on corsages as well. Everybody has one of those laying around, right? If you can’t find anything in the house that’ll work, you’re going to have to search the drugstore until you find something that will. I just tried looking through the house for a suitable replacement and the only thing that I came up with was half of a ballpoint pen or pen cap. You can’t see through them, but they’d work in a pinch. If it’s a tapered pen half with a hole in the bottom for the point to stick through, you’re going to need to make a base and seal the hole. I’d use fresh-chewed gum stuck to the tapered end with a piece of paper on bottom to keep it from sticking to anything else.

Uh… the idea here is to get achievable results RIGHT NOW instead of languishing in the throes of defeat because you’ve got to go shopping in some other city or online and wait for days, weeks or months for results. That’s why you CAN substitute for decent equipment here. After all, you’re looking at poop, not performing rocket science. The rocket scientists made the microscope and you’ve ALREADY bought that.

This test is called a “float.” They call it that because you’re going to put a fecal sample in some saltwater and float the parasites to the top. They float for the same reason you would in the Great Salt Lake in Utah—you’re lighter than the water. Worm eggs, coccidia oocysts and some other things tend to float right out of the poop when the saltwater solution is “saturated.” Pictures illustrating this procedure (verbally detailed below) may be accessed at this link:

http://community.webshots.com/album/390838288PpihBy

Step 1—prepare your saltwater. Use a small, clean (clear is best) bottle (don’t make a big batch—1/4 cup is more than enough) and fill half-full (half-empty if you’re a pessimist) with water. Start adding regular table salt by the teaspoon and shaking each time you add until you finally get to where the salt stops dissolving in the water. Add water slowly if you’ve way oversalted until most of it can dissolve when shaken.

Step 2—Grab a sample of the solids (sometimes, it’s hard to find solids in a REAL sick pigeon’s poop—just do your best). Often, the pigeon hasn’t had anything to eat before you got it and all that’s coming out the vent is water, acid and dark green bile. Either you’re going to have to stuff some food down the pigeon to get a sample (which is going to take awhile), or you’re going to have to use these liquids for your sample. Or both.

Step 3—Load the poop in the vial. You’d like to get the vial about half full (it takes a REAL pessimist to call half of a vial of poop “half empty”) or less of solid poop. Actually, you can do the test with a very minimal sample. Both worm eggs and coccidial oocysts will float up if they're present in the feces. Sometimes, there is mostly water and very little solids and you just have to scoop up what you can.

Step 4--Fill it part way with the saltwater using the eyedropper (spoon, whatever works). Use a Q-tip (fresh match, toothpick, whatever--just be sure it's clean) to reach in and mix the poop and saltwater thoroughly. Add saltwater until not quite full with your mixing instrument as far in it as you’re going to put it.

Step 5—Carefully place the vial straight upright on something out of the way and drop enough drops of the saltwater to top off the vial until the liquid beads up slightly out of the top.

Step 6—Center a coverslip (slide, shard) on top of the bead of liquid and leave it lay for about 30 minutes.

Step 7—Pick the coverslip (slide, shard) off carefully and lay it on the center of a clean slide.

Step 8—Examine the slide at 100x for parasites. That’s using the 10x eyepiece (if that’s what you have) with a 10x objective (the part that’s almost right down on the slide).

Step 9—Know both what you’re looking at and what you’re looking for! Usually, most of the solids sink to the bottom but you’re likely to see a few plant cell parts from the food the donor has eaten. Bubbles will look funny, like little black, shiny globes. There can be a million kinds of things—feather parts, fibers from a Q-Tip, dust, lint, litter from Piccadilly Circus (had to throw that one in for Cynthia!) but hopefully no OOCYSTS OR WORM EGGS!!!

Of course, since you’ve come this far, it would be a shame not to find a parasite egg, wouldn’t it?

SHAME ON YOU!!! THIS PIGEON WASN’T HATCHED TO SUFFER DISEASES FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT!!!

Still, you hate to spend all that money for this equipment and time to learn to use it and have nothing to show for it.

Okay, so now we have to go shopping for microscope images of what you're looking for. Here's one that shows close-ups of the single oocysts. When you're looking with 100x magnification, they're going to be a lot smaller than this. I'll try to find a more realistic picture link and post it in a follow-up:

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/13908...73664377NBbQUV

Here is a link to pictures taken of a typical Coccidiosis fecal sample before processing and through the microscope:

http://community.webshots.com/album/388039642jvhcQW

Here's a link to Vonda's page covering similar material:

http://www.finchaviary.com/Maintenance/FecalSmear.htm

[pdpbison]

Hi pidgey,


Very nice..!


Thank you..!

I can't wait to get started...!

Next week sometime, when I am done with my presently in-the-groove 'Spring Cleaining' jag...


Phil
lasvegas

[feralpigeon]

Pidgey, what a lot of work, thanks very much for this thread. Don't have the
setup yet, but this info will be saved for future reference.

[pdpbison]

Hi Pidgey..!


Got any links to images of the stealthy little Trichomona gallinae?

All I could find ( so far, ) were images for the Hominid borne 'vaginallis' ones, which I do not believe to be the same ones which our Birds tend to get, or, I should wonder how they got it, certainly, if it were...

Lol...

But seriously, I'd like to be able to positively I-D the little protozoans if possible, and some reference images would sure help.



Okay - 2:00 A.M., time to feed little dove again untill tomorrow, and...

..found some images!

See -

http://images.google.com/images?q=Tr...inae&hl=en&lr=

Nighty night...



Phil
lasvegas

[John_D]

Hi Pidgey,

We are thiniking of getting a basic scope for fecal etc. work. Wonder if you could take a look at this link and estimate whether this one, pushed by Pigeon Supply company in UK, is likely to have the power (we are total newbies to microscopes). It's made by a good quality optics company, anyway.

http://www.brunelmicroscopes.co.uk/coccidiosis.html

If you get a few moments, thanks

John

[Pidgey]

Phil,

I actually don't see that much canker here in the pigeon population so I haven't pursued it as much. That's another one of those things that they maintain an immunity to for the most part. Now, the mourning doves seem to get it a lot. I see plenty of them that can't even close their beaks trying to eat on the back porch. And they're still almost impossible to catch.

There's another difficulty to view flagellating protozoa in a microscope, though. I think that you have to use methyl cellulose to slow 'em down so you can see them. Usually, with the pigeons, you can look down their gullets, feel around down the necks, crops and belly buttons and if there's no hardness--there's no outstanding problem with canker.

John D,

A microscope can be pretty homely and work great because it has good optics AND a microscope can look lab quality and be useless. The setup that you're looking at is probably exactly the bare minimum for the work. There is a great deal of value in that it's a complete kit with all required equipment, procedures (I think) and pictures for comparison. Who knows, maybe they even include some information about the diseases themselves.

The scope doesn't seem too ambitious. By that I mean that I've seen a lot of kid's scopes that have a seemingly SUPER high powered objective for 1600x or 2500x viewing. Yeah, right. Maybe the magnification is that high but what about the resolution? This scope only boasts 600x. At least that's reasonable. Remember, you can adequately test for coccidia and worms with 100x--there's not much need for more than that unless you're just curious and want to see closer. It looks to me like they're advertising exactly what's required for parasite work at the lowest cost they can offer it at.

Now, from what I can see on the picture, I don't think that it has a "mechanical stage." That probably means that the slide is held down by two little springs and you have to move it around with your fingers to go looking for things. Like I said, it's a tool and your goal is saving lives so if price matters it's better to work harder with a simpler tool than to go without and only wish for more.

There is a note on that page referring to a more advanced kit with which you can see bacteria. That's probably a 1000x oil immersion system. It would be interesting to see that kit and the price difference.

Pidgey

[John_D]

Hi Pidgey -

Thanks for the observations on the scope. Because it is the only one offered by the Pigeon Supply co. which also advertises it, I thought it might be quite basic at the price.

Price is some consideration, certainly, in the sense that though I'd pay maybe two or (possibly) three times that for something more 'sophisticated' I wouldn't shell out more until/unless we found it really useful, on a regular basis, and became pretty experienced at using it and iable to make good use of findings.

Reckon the options are to start off simple and go up a stage if it can be truly justified, or to go for something a liitle 'better' right off.

Cheers

John

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Everyone,


At one time, I thought this would be an excellent way for me to monitor my own birds as well. Somehow it feels "safer" being able to keep track of things on one's own...being in the drivers' seat so to speak. Upon hearing Pidgey's detailed and quite complicated sounding instructions on what to do and how to use a microscope, I'd just rather take in my few birds samples when/if needed and pay the nominal fee for the tests For those that get in lots of birds for rehabbing purposes, this sounds more practical if/when you can learn all the intricacies of using one of these pieces of sensitive and elaborate equipment

[cyro51]

pay the nominal fee for the tests

The fee here in the UK isn't quite so nominal! I had a sick pigeon called Starlight and when the vet could not diagnose what was wrong with it he sent samples for testing. That cost £37 (about $70?). It took so long to test them that the pigeon was dead before we got the results (which had found nothing). I can't afford the loss of time, never mind the cost, or the cost when I am dealing with so many rescues without even a history to go on. A microscope would cost under £100 and hopefully give instant results, even ifit was just used for elimination of canker and worms as a cause of illness.

Cynthia

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Cynthia,

I'm sorry that happened to Starlight Here, where I am...I've FINALLY found a trustworthy vet who seems very good with pigeons. She charges about $30 (Can.) for a fecal float. For blood tests, about $85. As I said, it depends on what is needed and the extent of one's needs for testing. If a person has a lot of pigeon patients, your own microscope would be more ecconomical and practical to "see" for oneself. I think it depends on vets/regions and many other factors that determine the eventual costs. Not to mention each person's needs for those tests

[feralpigeon]

For me, it's not just the cost involved, although that, too, is a consideration.
Put the cost of the fecal floats together w/on hand medications, natural remedies, dietary supplements, and just plain good diet stuff, and your verging
on a small private practice except w/out revenues .

Then comes the wait for results, and whether the technician thoroughly examined the float or not. I had a clean bill of health on a bird from the "techy" when the doctor decided to look at the float and said in essenceo--not so fast, treat for cocci. I think most of us would take that extra time in the moment to give the float a good hard look as we are more involved in the outcome. Nor would there be as great a chance of "mixing" up results for patients, I seem to remember Phil having a problem w/that possibility.

Just as a mention here, I was looking on line @ microscope links, and checked
into used/refurbished possibilities, and there seem to be quite a few links to
places that have used/refurbished ones. Might be able to get more for the
buck/pound on a used one .

[Pigeonpal2002]

And to follow up further on my current vet:


It was thanks to Whitewings, indirectly that I have this vet now. I cannot remember who exactly referred me to Dr. Wendy Corver at the Bowmanville animal clinic, but she has proved "decent" enough for me. Granted, she has told me some things in the past that I seriously questioned, just ask Maryco because her and I are quite "close". In my half decade of having pigeons again, I never thought I'd need a constant supportive vet. I always figured that my own medicinal and husbandry practices would be more than enough to get me through my birds "iffy times"...NOPE. I have had to rely upon Dr. Corver for fecal tests and blood analysis' to ensure the TRUE health of my pigeons. Without her practise and the expertise of her staff and colleagues, I wouldn't have the peace of mind that I do now.

In 5 years, and with going through about 4 vets, I'm happy now that at least I have some peace of mind that this one is educated, caring and sincere enough to give me "honest" answers.

This goes back to earlier posts today for Aldante(Jen) and the importance of finding a reliable and trustworthy vet to look after one's birds.

[Pidgey]

Feralpigeon,

Yes, the best quality/price compromise is in the "pre-owned" scopes. That's exactly what I did. I tried a few other things before I selected mine. I messed with one of the smaller ones (monocular). To tell the truth, though, I got my scope BEFORE I knew what I was looking for or how to look for it (jump first--look second). When I realized what I'd done, I scrambled to find info and learn. I feel like an old hand at it now and I got the scope after this last Christmas.

Brad mentioned that they're complicated devices. Yep, they are. But you learn to use them one knob, procedure and test at a time. Just follow the instructions and let your curiosity be your guide.

I've ordered a digital camera that hooks right up to the computer so that I can take pictures of the various bandits that I find as well as pictures of the regular trash that you see. I was planning on eventually processing the photos with labels and text so that I could post it and take most of the grief out of "doing it yourself."

The biggest reason that I wanted my own setup was because there were just too many times that I COULDN'T GET AN APPOINTMENT TODAY or that the birds have a knack for getting sick RIGHT ON THE EVE OF THE WEEKEND. I don't mess around if I see that a bird needs services beyond what I can do, I get to the vet and I've got three of the best avian vets in the US right here in my backyard, as it were. I live a couple of hours drive from Dr. Marx. I have Dr. Steven Weir within a half-hour and I've got Dr. Paul Welch about the same.

Believe me, I'm covered, but it's still not easy to get an appointment RIGHT NOW! And besides, most of the time it's simple--straight coccidiosis or worms. I can go outside right now and take a swab and, using a simple smear technique, find a roundworm egg in the water pan that I keep outside for the ferals.

I feed the local flock in my backyard about 3 lbs/day of wheat and whole corn. They love to literally lay around in my trees because it's safe here. And it's still strange to me that when one of them gets sick, they usually park on the roof above my back door. They still don't like for you to grab them, but they seem to know that they need grabbing.

Anyhow, if I took all the rehab jobs that I've taken care of with my own lab and added up the fees, I'd have more than paid for all my lab stuff. And besides that, I've had FUN learning it! I even got a Microbiology coloring book for kicks (and even read it!).

Pidgey

[djenner]

An old message, but if the issue comes up again, I recently went through this, having decided -- I gather for reasons others here have expressed -- to Do It Myself. I looked at a lot of microscope sales sites, and quite by chance ended up at www.greatscopes.com. Nice guy on the phone, very accommodating, nice product/price range, strong customer orientation -- and a very good buyer's how-to. The scope I ordered arrived promptly and thus far everything seems in order.

Originally Posted by John_D

Hi Pidgey,

We are thiniking of getting a basic scope for fecal etc. work. Wonder if you could take a look at this link and estimate whether this one, pushed by Pigeon Supply company in UK, is likely to have the power (we are total newbies to microscopes). It's made by a good quality optics company, anyway.

http://www.brunelmicroscopes.co.uk/coccidiosis.html

If you get a few moments, thanks

John

[djenner]

This is absolutely brilliant! Detailed presentation, complete with useful images and complementing links. I am following this process.

There is another resource that may be interesting: IDEXX is a supplier of veterinary products; the company sponsors programs at various places; they offer a very good overview of float techniques of somewhat greater sophistication, mostly doggy-and-kitty oriented, carrying two CEUs (the test is not easy; the hard part is identification of various kinds of bugs; I missed passing by about 5 or 6 percent, mostly because I need to review the bug pictures...). The course is free, done entirely on-line, conducted by a seriously credentialed parasitologist from KSU and all that jazz. Go here: https://www.idexxlearningcenter.com/..._training.aspx and select "Fecal Analysis" from the list of online courses.

Not a substitute for what's here; but you may come away wanting to buy a centrifuge.

Originally Posted by Pidgey

A microscope is simply a tool and, as with most tools, it requires different techniques for different jobs. In fact, there is a bewildering amount of different techniques for isolating various pathogens. This will become clearer as you learn a few tests for your pigeons. ...