beak and feather

[aussieparrotchic]

Hi I would like any information that cold help my 4 month old cockatoo who has just been diagnosed with pbfd I also have a 3 year old eckie and a 1 year old alex and am currently waiting for test results on them should I be worried about them or are they old enough to have the immunity for their bodies not to accept the virus . Im very confused about all of this and what is best for my birds ie. having cockaboo put to sleep ( wich really isnt an option) any help will be appreciated thankyou Michelle :eusa_wall :eusa_wall

[Majj]

Gee thats awful Michelle...I don`t know much but I believe its very contagious a friend has just lost her bird who survived only a couple of years and she said she cannot get another bird for 2 years ...I would be quite worried for the other birds if I were you and I don`t think there is any vaccination for this horrid disease...
So Sorry....

[wildirish]

The omly vaccine is still experimental and won't work for an already infected bird, but is supposed to help build up immunity in uninfected ones. Haen't found alot of info on it though. There are some answers in the other thread about this too.

[Stacey32]

i'm so sorry to hear this. what a horrible thing. i'll be thinking of you and your birdies.

[afqu]

You did not say if your cockatoo was symptomatic....showing signs of the disease.

Your other 2 birds are old enough, they should be fine. They don't have immunities, but a gland, when they are babies, which the disease gets into. The gland slowly closes with age. The gland should be closed by now. If you clip nails using the same scissors, or the same needle when giving injections, then it could be transferred by blood, but that is rare.

Your alex, could have been exposed, depending on how old he was when exposed to the cockatoo.

If your other two come back positive, then you wait 30 days and retest. It will show in the blood, but they do not contract the disease and it will clear from their systems. Also, if you have healthy birds with strong immune systems they can fight it off, so don't panic.

It is confusing, but this is the basic idea.

If your cockatoo, isn't showing any symptoms, you retest in 90 days. It is 90 days in babies, which your cockatoo is.

If there are symptoms and euthanasia is not an option, you can retest again and again. In rare cases, very rare (I only know of 2) that a bird with symptoms cleared the disease.

Do not euthanise unless you are absolutly sure, after multiple tests, that any of the birds truly have it. There are often false positives. Keep in mind though, if a bird is showing symptoms, chances are it has the disease.

I hope this helps.
Jean, African Queen

[The Outlaw]

Thank you Jean. I see you're on duty already. What a wonderful addition to our board.

THE OUTLAW

[aussieparrotchic]

My cocky is showing a fes signs his beak and feet are blacker than they should be and his poo is a bit runny. He has no feather loss or beak brakage and he does not look sick or act sick he is very vocal and full of beans. You have no idea how much it meant to get a little positive feedback even just a maybe is better than no way right him off. Other supposed bird lovers hae been telling me to have him put down straight away but I just cant look in his big black eyes and do it. Plus my kids and the eclectus would never forgive me. I brought him a flight suit so we dont have poop anywhere where there are other birds. To answer one of your other questions the alex (clayton) was about 14 months old when he met cocky although they hae never had much contact and are in other ends of the house.. The Avian Vet we are seeing is trialing a new drug program I think its called inteventor or something like that so we are waiting to see if he can go on the program it is supposed to halt all symptoms of pbfd although not cure it so fingures crossed and heres to helping thanks again Mcihelle