roxynoodle
Cruising the avenue
Avenue Veteran
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Mayor of the Avenue
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I Can't Stop Posting!
It is true that heavy metal poisoning doesn't always show up on an Xray. However, medium to larger birds generally do fine with chelation treatment if metal toxicity is suspected. If there is any reason to think a bird might have it, it's probably just best to treat for it.
I have a bird with AVB. There is a lot of misinformation about this virus on the internet, or the information is out of date. My vet was a researcher on this disease at the University of Tennessee for many years and she assures me my other birds will not catch it. It is a very unstable virus that lives outside the body for a very short amount of time. So short, they first were calling it a "ghost virus". They would only see it right when the bird made a fresh poop and then seconds later it was gone. At this time they think the only form of transmission is from hen to egg. It is interesting to note that the AVB virus in wild bird populations remains a steady 30-40%, which is about the same as in mammals that have it as well. If this really were a dangerously contagious virus, it would go through the wild bird populations like crazy, and it doesn't. Not all birds with AVB develop PDD.
My bird does have some neurological problems from it and had ataxic seizures. At this time we have decided to treat her with Celebrex from the end of September until late spring each year to prevent as many problems as possible. As long as she was on the Celebrex this past winter/spring she did not have the seizures, so hopefully this remains true. I just adopted her in January and her previous owners did not realize she had AVB, so my experience so far is only a few months time.
I have a bird with AVB. There is a lot of misinformation about this virus on the internet, or the information is out of date. My vet was a researcher on this disease at the University of Tennessee for many years and she assures me my other birds will not catch it. It is a very unstable virus that lives outside the body for a very short amount of time. So short, they first were calling it a "ghost virus". They would only see it right when the bird made a fresh poop and then seconds later it was gone. At this time they think the only form of transmission is from hen to egg. It is interesting to note that the AVB virus in wild bird populations remains a steady 30-40%, which is about the same as in mammals that have it as well. If this really were a dangerously contagious virus, it would go through the wild bird populations like crazy, and it doesn't. Not all birds with AVB develop PDD.
My bird does have some neurological problems from it and had ataxic seizures. At this time we have decided to treat her with Celebrex from the end of September until late spring each year to prevent as many problems as possible. As long as she was on the Celebrex this past winter/spring she did not have the seizures, so hopefully this remains true. I just adopted her in January and her previous owners did not realize she had AVB, so my experience so far is only a few months time.