Young Bird sickness

[pigifan]

I had one bird die from what must have been young bird sickness.
Now her brother must have it.
From what I have read there is no cure as it is probably a viral (adenovirus or circovirus) disease. The viruses supress the young bird's (ie. not fully developed) immune system. Various bacterial infections (eg E. coli) kill the bird with the immunosupressed system.
The following site explains the disease with pictures http://www.albertaclassic.net/E.coli/sickness.php,
I read that doxycycline ''appears'' to work but they eventually succumb.
This bird is not yet in the stage where the eyes are closed to conserve water.

Do you think I should give doxycycline, do you have any other suggestions ?
I am ordering adenosan too.
The bird is 4 months old. He is isolated next to a heat source. He still flies and eats a small amount of seeds although they probably cannot pass to the intestine. The crop is full and it has lost a lot of weight.

[Lovebirds]

Pigifan........I'm don't usually give advice on meds.......I leave that to those who are "in the know".........but........I have to tell you that I went through the exact same thing back in 2002. To make a long story short, I put my birds on Amoxicillin for 7 days. No birds died and I had a very good YB race season considering how sick my birds had been AND it was our first year racing.
At that time, I saw the same web site/info that you linked to. All the symptoms were there. I noticed it on a Friday afternoon and was lucky enough to have a fellow flyer that had the Amoxicillin. I keep the stuff on hand now ALL the time. It's all I've ever used.
That's my two cents.

[pigifan]

Thank you for your reply Lovebirds.

What is the dose - 10 mg ?
Did you medicate each bird individually or do you put it in drinking water ?

[Pidgey]

If memory serves, the high end dose for Amoxicillin is 100 milligrams of actual medicine per kilogram of bird, orally, twice daily.

Pidgey

[Feefo]

I am so sorry, G.

This is from Nooti's drug chart:

AMOXYCILLIN AND CLAVULANIC ACID (Synulox, Clavamox)

Dose - up to 50 mgs per kilo BID (twice daily) if injection or up to 125mgs per kilo TID (three times daily) orally- up to 3 weeks. Dose and dosing interval determined by infection site, severity and organism involved.

Used to treat severe or deep puncture wounds, and helps greatly in preventing the spread of necrotic tissue. Is also effective against gut E.coli.
It is not recommended that this drug be given orally in the case of critically ill patients as absorption from the GI tract is unreliable, however many people do not have access or knowledge to give by injection so orally is the only option and better than nothing.

Cynthia

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by pigifan

Thank you for your reply Lovebirds.

What is the dose - 10 mg ?
Did you medicate each bird individually or do you put it in drinking water ?

I put in the drinking water.

[SmithFamilyLoft]

I also am not one to give advice on medications. But, this I do know, antibiotics will have no affect on a viral infection. That is a known medical fact. So either the virus runs it's course, or there was a misdiagnosis in the first place.

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by SmithFamilyLoft

I also am not one to give advice on medications. But, this I do know, antibiotics will have no affect on a viral infection. That is a known medical fact. So either the virus runs it's course, or there was a misdiagnosis in the first place.

It is not for treating the viral infection but for the secondary, opportunistic infections which follow, which is what the original post stated and is described in the linked info. The secondary infections are what kill the birds. Antibiotic therapy can be effective, therefore...wings and fingers X'd for your bird

[Feefo]

Sometimes his breathing gets noisy as if there was some obstruction in the throat

When did this start? Does it start and stop suddenly? Does it start later in the day?

One of my rescues developed that problem as a secondary infection to PMV, the vet said it was Mycoplasmosis. The most effective treatment was Tylan combined with Doxy.

Cynthia

[pigifan]

I noticed the sound yesterday but since he only "coughs" for a few seconds he may have been doing it for a while and I hadn't noticed.
He was drinking water so maybe liquids irritate the throat. But today he did it as he was sitting. It was as if he had an asthma attack.

[pigifan]

The pigeon is doing better.
Following Cynthia's recommendation I gave doxycycline (in addition to amoxicillin). I did not have any Tylan.
Although he was coughing a lot - especially during the night (I have him in my bedroom) the cough has now subsided.
He is very lively, he flies quite a bit. He has also put on some weight - the keel bone does not protrude as much.
I think he may survive. I hope it isn't that he just ''appears'' to do better as the site says.
He is very anxious to get out to find his friends.

[pigifan]

I am giving amoxycillin and the bird looks a bit more lively and he seems to eat more. He is still very thin though.
Do you think I should also give Nystatin in case the killing of bacteria allows a fungal infection ?

Sometimes his breathing gets noisy as if there was some obstruction in the throat. He doesn't have (visible) canker and I gave him a spartrix tablet 2 days ago. His sister did not have canker.

[spirit wings]

Im going out to get more cinnamon, I use it alot on my applesauce...thanks that was very interesting and Im sure I will try it. esp for young birds....

[Trees Gray]

I'm sure it works, as it works well for humans. The cinnamon/honey is one of the oldest remedies from biblical times.

Thanks for sharing, Gille.

[TAWhatley]

Just want to be sure we are all on the same page. The portion of the drug chart that Feefo posted is for the combination drug, amoxicillin with clavulanate. The dosage for straight amoxicillin for birds appears to be 150-200 mg per kg twice daily.

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/umnuser/formulary.html#a

a slightly different dose: http://www.myrtlelofts.com/vet9.htm

and another:
http://www.pigeoncote.com/vet/formulary/formulary.html

and a wide range here: http://www.ivis.org/advances/harriso...ter.asp?la=1#A .. for this one you probably have to be registered with IVIS to view it.

Terry