Hi!
This is my first post. I wasn't quite sure where to post it! Hope it is ok here.
We lived overseas and adopted a beautiful cockatiel from another family who was moving. We were blessed and got to have this lovely bird in our family for a little over a year. We were first time bird owners but quickly fell in love. He loved to snuggle and was very much a 'hold me' bird. We kept his cage in our most used room and left it open. He had space to fly and we left his cage open so he could fly when ever he wanted. If we were around, he always flew to us and would snuggle to watch tv or what ever.
We moved back to the states over a year ago and as we could not bring him with us (we tried) he had to go to yet another family.
Fast forward to today. I ran across an article about Psittacosis. I've never even heard of this before. So my question is: could we have contracted this and not known? My daughter, 5 at the time, did get sick and had the symptoms. She was diagnosed with Pneumonia more than once, which was going around. But we wouldn't have known to test for psittacosis.
If we did catch psittacosis and wasn't treated, would we have known something was up by now? She does have breathing issues and allergies. We assumed it was pet related... recently had to give up a dog we adopted from the pound because we feared she was allergic. Just not sure what to think now. Now I'm worried about possible heart or liver damage!
For the record, my husband, son and myself held and cuddled the bird way more than she did (as she was younger) but there was still a lot of contact all around as he always perched on us and snuggled.
Would we know? Would she be very ill now if we didn't treat it? Should I be concerned?
Thanks so much for any insight!
This is my first post. I wasn't quite sure where to post it! Hope it is ok here.
We lived overseas and adopted a beautiful cockatiel from another family who was moving. We were blessed and got to have this lovely bird in our family for a little over a year. We were first time bird owners but quickly fell in love. He loved to snuggle and was very much a 'hold me' bird. We kept his cage in our most used room and left it open. He had space to fly and we left his cage open so he could fly when ever he wanted. If we were around, he always flew to us and would snuggle to watch tv or what ever.
We moved back to the states over a year ago and as we could not bring him with us (we tried) he had to go to yet another family.
Fast forward to today. I ran across an article about Psittacosis. I've never even heard of this before. So my question is: could we have contracted this and not known? My daughter, 5 at the time, did get sick and had the symptoms. She was diagnosed with Pneumonia more than once, which was going around. But we wouldn't have known to test for psittacosis.
If we did catch psittacosis and wasn't treated, would we have known something was up by now? She does have breathing issues and allergies. We assumed it was pet related... recently had to give up a dog we adopted from the pound because we feared she was allergic. Just not sure what to think now. Now I'm worried about possible heart or liver damage!
For the record, my husband, son and myself held and cuddled the bird way more than she did (as she was younger) but there was still a lot of contact all around as he always perched on us and snuggled.
Would we know? Would she be very ill now if we didn't treat it? Should I be concerned?
Thanks so much for any insight!