Anyone else had a bird with psittacosis?

[noribirds]

Has anyone ever had or dealt with a bird who had or has psittacosis before? I’m looking for advice. I’d like to know the treatment plan the bird went through and how you dealt with the feather loss (around the eyes). I talked about rushing my IRN to the ER before in the emergency category because she couldn’t breathe. Right now, she’s on day 5 of nebulisation with doxycycline and other meds, she gets an antibiotic, immunity booster and a medicine for respiratory problems orally and she gets a bronchodilator through steam inhalation at night. I go back to the vet everyday for checkup since her condition has not yet stabilised completely.

I’m just looking to see if someone went through the same thing as me so I would ask some questions.

 

[BirdWorld]

Bump

 

[noribirds]

Is there no one.....?

 

[dollfish]

bump

 

[Ulis_Beast]

Hey!

I'm really interested to hear what comes up in this thread...
So I did a bit digging but have yet to find a member that is currently active and has had a bird with psittacossis.
A few of the members who probably know a lot on the topic (including who might have had a bird with it) are @Monica @Hankmacaw @Macawnutz .

This is an interesting article originally posted by Monica

Parrot Fever (Psittacosis): Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatments

Parrot fever is a rare infection caused by Chlamydia psittaci, a specific type of bacteria. The infection is also known as parrot disease and psittacosis.

www.healthline.com

Also I find the google search engines to be a lot more useful when trying to find something in the depths of AA. Maybe you could give it a go

 

[Ulis_Beast]

Another good article originally posted by @finchly

Understanding Psittacosis in Birds

Psittacosis can cause disease in humans, other mammals and birds. It can kill a bird in 48 hours or it can survive in birds causing no outward sign of illness, for as long as 10 years. It can be explosively contagious or barely contagious.

www.multiscope.com

 

[LunaLovebird]

Anakin had it when he was first brought into the RSPCA, and we thought he was a carrier right up until his last vet check up this year. When he first tested positive after I got him, we went through weekly injections with doxycycline for 6 weeks for him and Luna as a precaution. There are risks, but they are rare and he responded well. The only other thing they got was metacam for the pain, and a bit of monitoring to make sure all was well between injections. They tolerated it all pretty well.

Besides that, I initially went through and soaked everything I could in F10 and tossed what couldn’t be soaked. I did that once a year after their vet visit. Cages and other perch areas / gyms got a thorough clean on the first diagnosis and then I just made sure to keep everything very clean and poop free in case Ani started shedding.

This year his immunochrome test came back negative. They are prone to false positives so it wasn’t too surprising except that he’d had four other positive tests that showed an increase in the years prior. My vet recommended we wait for another negative test on their next wellness visit before we say he’s clear, so I would make sure to do the same on your next two yearly check ups. Sadly, Ani passed not long after because of an unrelated issue, so I don’t know if he would have tested negative next year.

I might not be able to answer all your questions, but I’m happy to try. Sorry your little buddy is going through it.

 

[Hankmacaw]

That is probably the one disease that neither of my birds ever had.

 

[Monica]

My birds may have had chlamydia infections, however there's never been any extensive treatment for it. It's always been 14 days of antibiotics and retest fecal. If fecal is clear, no more meds. If fecal comes back positive, another round of antibiotics until bird is clear of infection. There weren't any physical signs of bird sick other than being lethargic... That is, there was no feather loss.

I've only used a nebulizer on one bird, however it was years ago... and I don't remember what it was for... unless it was AGY... in a bird that was undiagnosed with it. First vet didn't do any tests, just gave antibiotics and nebulizer.... (I know for sure that the nebulizer came from first vet, can't think if it was for any other bird) second vets did several tests but none came back positive for it. It wasn't until necropsy that I found out what he was sick with...


I really ought to have a file for their vet records..... but that's what the vets office is for! They keep those records! (insert vet leaving one clinic, practicing in another clinic, then leaving that clinic and starting up a new one with another vet elsewhere and I may not have access to all of those files anymore...)

 

[noribirds]

Anakin had it when he was first brought into the RSPCA, and we thought he was a carrier right up until his last vet check up this year. When he first tested positive after I got him, we went through weekly injections with doxycycline for 6 weeks for him and Luna as a precaution. There are risks, but they are rare and he responded well. The only other thing they got was metacam for the pain, and a bit of monitoring to make sure all was well between injections. They tolerated it all pretty well.

Besides that, I initially went through and soaked everything I could in F10 and tossed what couldn’t be soaked. I did that once a year after their vet visit. Cages and other perch areas / gyms got a thorough clean on the first diagnosis and then I just made sure to keep everything very clean and poop free in case Ani started shedding.

This year his immunochrome test came back negative. They are prone to false positives so it wasn’t too surprising except that he’d had four other positive tests that showed an increase in the years prior. My vet recommended we wait for another negative test on their next wellness visit before we say he’s clear, so I would make sure to do the same on your next two yearly check ups. Sadly, Ani passed not long after because of an unrelated issue, so I don’t know if he would have tested negative next year.

I might not be able to answer all your questions, but I’m happy to try. Sorry your little buddy is going through it.

Thank you for your response.

I think I might talk to the vet about injections. Initially, the vet was going to give doxycycline injections to her but he didn’t want to stress her out and wanted to try other methods. She’s been getting nebulisation with doxycycline and some other meds for a week now everyday at the vet’s because the vet is monitoring her condition very closely bc she was rushed to the ER last week as she couldn’t breathe and was shivering. She’s getting an antibiotic, a pain relief med, eye drops, immune booster and a med for respiratory problems at home. I was giving her steam inhalation with a bronchodilator every night and she was responding well to all the meds but two days ago, her breathing was getting strained after steam inhalation so I stopped giving her that. Talked to the vet next day and we switched to nebulisation at home too but she’s showing no improvements.

Today morning her nose was blocked because of discharge and her left eye had a transparent layer with discharge underneath the eye. I cleaned it and I’ll be talking to the vet tomorrow about maybe changing her treatment plan since she doesn’t seem to be improving.

 

[LunaLovebird]

I am not sure that getting it injected would help any more than what you're already doing. I would recommend getting a culture sensitivity test done ASAP though. This will tell you what drugs will and won't work. Are you absolutely sure it's psittacosis?