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Shedding Some Light on Night Frights

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Macawnutz

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I read this excellent write up regarding night frights and have permission to repost it here. I think it could be very useful to those of us dealing with this issue.




Shedding Some Light on Night Frights

Night frights are a common occurrence in captive birds. I commonly hear people say that it only affect cockatiels or parakeets then some will say oh no it’s Amazons or African Grays. Truth is it can happen to any bird. When a frightened bird flaps around in the cage, hanging toys, mirrors, perches, all become obstacles that can injure your bird, so it can be quite dangerous. Some will say, “Oh leave a night light on for them” as a way of solving the problem. In truth the problem still remains, the night frights may lessen but the underlying cause still remains.

Let’s take a look at the avian eye and how it works. The shape of avian eyes may be flat, globose, or tubular and varies according to the type of bird. "Flat" eyes are found in diurnal (awake during the day) birds with narrow heads such as doves, pigeons and parrots. They have a short anterior-posterior (front to back) axis, so that the image that falls on the retina is small, resulting in lower visual acuity. "Globose" (more rounded) eyes are found in birds with wider heads such as raptors and passerines (canaries, finches). The anterior-posterior axis is greater than in flat eyes, increasing visual acuity (focusing quality). "Tubular" eyes are characteristic of nocturnal (awake at night) birds of prey, such as owls.

birdeye.gif
The retina is the thin layer of cells in the back of the eye and transmits visual images to the brain. The retina in birds is much thicker than that of mammals, which reflects their excellent vision. It contains two types of nerve cells, cones, which are responsible for daytime and color vision and rods, which are responsible for night vision. The ratio of cones vs rods depends largely on what time of the day the bird is active. Nocturnal birds, like owls, have retinas consisting entirely of rods, while the retinas of diurnal birds, like parrots, contain both rods & cones. In day-active birds, the number and density of cones is high and one efferent nerve cell is only connected to a few cones, which increases the sharpness of the image.

The avian retina has three types of photoreceptors that 'translate' light into nervous impulses:
1. rods - black & white vision
2. cones - color vision
3. double cones - color vision (UV)
pigeon_eye.gif
Animals in the class vertebrate have eyes that require large amounts of energy and, therefore, oxygen. Supplying adequate oxygen to the avian retina is potentially challenging because birds have large eyes and thick retinas with high concentrations of sensory cells (rods and cones), but an avian retina is avascular, (contains no blood vessels) in contrast to that of mammals, being avascular prevents shadows & light scattering. This 'improvement' is possible because of a uniquely avian structure called the pecten. This highly vascular structure projects from the retina (see diagrams above; for photo: P = pecten, R & Y = areas of the retina, & F = fovea) and nutrients & oxygen diffuse from it, through the vitreous body to the retinal cells (the rods and cones). Towards the center of the retina is an area called the fovea centralis which has a greater density of 'receptors' (rods and cones). This is the area of greatest visual acuity, i.e. sharpest, clearest detection of objects.

According to many avian veterinarians, vitamin A deficiency is the most common and preventable health problem in pet birds, surprisingly this deficiency usually goes undiagnosed. Most often when one thinks of vitamin A deficiency they think of the advanced signs of the illness, failing to realize the early warning signs or they dismiss them as normal. Example is “night frights” this is an early warning sign of low levels of vitamin A. A vitamin A deficiency in birds can lead to night blindness. This low could still be represented as a low within the normal range but still have an effect on their ability to see in low light but will most often be overlooked as a vitamin A deficiency because the test level fell within a range considered to be normal.

As previously mentioned vitamin A is essential to vision. Within the photoreceptor cells of the retina are the rods, which detect small amounts of light and are specialized for motion detection and vision in dim light, and the cones that are specialized for color vision in bright light. The retinal cells called rods contain a protein called rhodopsin and rhodopsin is the visual pigment used in low light levels, this pigment allows birds to see images in low levels of light. Both rods and cones possess specialized outer segment disks that contain high amounts of rhodopsin and iodopsin (protein for color vision) respectively. These compounds are often referred to as the "visual pigment". Photoreceptor cells detect light and undergo a series of reactions, which send signals to the brain, where they are deciphered as a particular visual image.

Vitamin A is one of the most essential nutrients for our birds, it is necessary for the health of tissues such as skin, the digestive system, the respiratory system and all the vital organs. Without sufficient Vitamin A, our bird can develop all kinds of health problems. They become more susceptible to sinus infections and a variety of other infections due to a lower immune system as well as liver and kidney dysfunction. Vitamin A deficiency can cause feather discoloration, motor disturbances, reproductive problems and many other health problems.

Vitamin A plays an important part in many body functions. It is mainly necessary for body tissue repair, to maintain the skin and keep mucous membranes in good health and to build and take care of bones, feathers, nails and beak. Their eyes need it for correct vision. Vitamin A enhances immune system, preventing many microbial diseases. Vitamin A also plays an important part in the formation of blood cells and gene transcription, so it takes care of the general state of our blood and body cells.

Retinol, the active form of vitamin A, is rarely found in foods. Instead, precursors to retinol, fatty acid retinyl esters, are commonly found in foods of animal origin, such as egg yolks, liver, fish oil, whole milk and butter. Plants can synthesize the carotenoids, but cannot convert them to retinoids; this process occurs within the body. The carotenoids are red, yellow, and orange in color and substantial in number (over 500 types). It is estimated that only 10% of the pigments have "vitamin A activity", with beta-carotene having the greatest activity, followed by the alpha and gamma forms. Fruits and vegetables that appear bright orange or yellow in color are usually high in carotenoids. All green vegetables also contain substantial amounts of carotenoids, but the orange or yellow color is masked by chlorophyll. Research suggests that the carotenoids alone do not provide the amounts of vitamin A needed in a bird’s diet and in order for them to have the correct amount of vitamin A foods of animal origin such as egg yolks, liver, and butter need to be added to their diets.

Another very important function of vitamin A involves retinoic acid. Acting as a hormone, retinoic acid first binds to retinoic acid receptors. The receptors then interact with specific nucleotide sequences of DNA. The interaction directly affects gene expression and transcription, which in turn control cellular development and body processes. For example, epithelial cells depend on retinoic acid for structural and functional maintenance. This role of vitamin A is important for growth mechanisms in a manner that is not completely understood.

Retinoic acid is especially important in heart, eye, lungs and ear development. The development of gap junctions between cells is also affected by retinoic acid. Besides the previously mentioned functions, vitamin A plays a role in numerous other processes. Vitamin A is thought to play a key role in glycoprotein synthesis. Once formed, glycoproteins are important in multiple cellular processes including: communication, recognition, adhesion, and aggregation. Reproductive processes, bone development, along with maintenance, and immune system function are dependent upon different isoforms of vitamin A. Retinoids are most commonly used in the treatment of skin diseases. The role the retinoids play in epithelial cell formation is very important in the treatment of skin cancer, acne, and acne-related diseases. Vitamin A also has antioxidant properties. However, beta-carotene has been noted as having pro-oxidant properties. Despite these discrepancies vitamin A is known to help repair damaged tissue and therefore may be beneficial in counter-acting free radical damage.

The cells that line the respiratory, reproductive and digestive tracts undergo structural changes in the vitamin A deficient bird, making them unable to secrete mucous. Mucous acts as a protective barrier, preventing invasion from pathogens (disease causing agents). Vitamin A deficiency allows bacteria and other pathogens to penetrate the mucous membrane and multiply within our bird's highly sensitive organ systems. Symptoms of vitamin A deficiency depends on which organ system is affected and which microorganism or combination of microorganisms is infecting the bird.

The main symptoms of vitamin A deficiency are:

• Nocturnal blindness (night blindness), lack of vision, dry eyes
• Fast growing, constantly flaking beak*, beak deformities
• Dry, rough, and itchy skin, skin eruptions
• Dry and brittle feathers
• Inappetence (lack of appetite)
• Fast growing and brittle nails, excessive scaliness and flakiness of the feet
• Usual fatigue
• Usual infections
• Motor disturbances
• Reproductive problems
• Sneezing, wheezing
• Stunted growth (young chicks)

*Layers of keratin flake off near the tip of the beak are completely natural. If this flaking is a continual process, the beak may be too dry due to a nutritional imbalance, such as too little vitamin A.

A bird’s eyesight is the most important of its senses and vital for its survival. As prey creatures, birds sleep with half their brain on alert. Pet birds possibly sleep more deeply as they feel more secure. Since birds have excellent hearing, they can easily become awakened suddenly, become anxious from unsettling sounds and noises (fight or flight response) and frightened (unable to see) if they are suffering from night blindness due to vitamin A deficiency resulting in “Night Frights”.

Note: White noise has been found to be a great way to filter out noise from the television, household members arriving home after your parrot’s bedtime, barking dogs, and other disturbing nighttime noises. White noise offers a soothing sound for sleepers within its earshot. It can be attained from white noise devices or from CD's that provide soothing, natural sounds or a slightly loud air purifier makes an excellent white noise device with the added benefit of cleaner air.

Warning: Hypervitaminosis A (Over supplementation of vitamin A) has the potential to be toxic. Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin which means it is stored in the liver and can be overdosed. Most professionals agree fish oil should not be in used birds due to the potential of hypervitaminosis A. The best and safest source of vitamin A (or any vitamin) is from food. How do you get enough vitamin A from foods? A diet high in vitamin A should include some foods of animal origin, such as liver, egg yolks, and butter as well as vegetables and fruits.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and does not in any way attempt to diagnose or treat any illness.
 

seamonkeychar

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Hmmm. very interesting. My Grey went through a period where he had frequent night frights. Now that I think of it, it hasn't happened in months. I wonder if I upped his vitamin A without realizing it?
 

penguin

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My lutino had lots of night frights when she was younger. She eats lots of carrots and greens as well as seed and pellets now, so hopefully that is giving her the nutrients she needs.
 

Anne & Gang

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that is mighty interesting but tell that to the scary fly that scared my Sam for a couple of nights..
 

jeme3

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Hmmm... Very interesting.

When I had cockatiels in the past (20-30 years ago) night frights were a fairly common occurrence.

With the two that I have now, there has not been a single night fright in the year and a half that I have had them.

I do feed a better diet now, much more variety and many more fresh veggies.

But, they also have a light on in the room they are in all night, and that wasn't the case in the past.

I had a lutino before, and she seemed to have the most night frights, followed by the pied. The normal grays never seemed as susceptible.

Now, I have a pearl and a gray.

Hmmm... Very interesting.
 
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