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Association of Avian Veterinarians
Bubble-Wrap for Surgical PatientsAuthor(s): Greg J. HarrisonSource: Journal of the Association of Avian Veterinarians, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1993), p. 221Published by: Association of Avian VeterinariansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27671100 .
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sent at necropsy. Furthermore, pesti cides may not be detectable in the
dead animal because these chemicals
quickly break down or are metabo
lized. In addition the limited sample volumes of gastrointestinal contents
from small birds makes detection of
these compounds difficult. These ob
stacles all lead to a very important
point ? the observations made by
the field investigator and the history submitted with the bird are crucial to
the successful positive diagnosis of
this mortality factor.
BUBBLE-WRAP FOR SURGICAL PATIENTS
Greg J. Harrison, DVM
Lake Worth, Florida
In human studies, water blankets
have apparendy been shown to have
little effect on maintaining or raising the body temperature of the surgical
patient. A p?diatrie surgeon once re
marked that babies undergoing sur
gery are wrapped with a hot air
blanket. The blanket is similar to
bubble packaging material, which
contains channels into which hot air
is directed. He thought a similar blan
ket could be made for birds from common bubble-wrap material. Al
though using a hair dryer might ac
tually burn a patient, perhaps a hot
air blower with some kind of thermo
stat could be used to bring heated air
into the chambers.
We have used regular bubble
wrap to envelop avian patients un
dergoing long-term surgery (along with a hot water blanket) and, al
though we have not measured body
temperature, it appears that the birds come out of anesthesia faster and
don't seem to sit around looking chilled after surgery. We just cut a
hole through the bubble-wrap at the
surgical site.
USE OF DERMCAPS LIQUID AND HYDROXYZINE HCL FOR THE TREATMENT OF
FEATHER PICKING Michael Krinsley, DVM
New York, New York
A 27-year-old Red-lored Amazon
Parrot was presented with a six-month
history of feather picking. The skin over the breast, abdomen, legs, shoul
ders and tail base were virtually featherless. The bird had been healthy otherwise and weighed 420 grams. The birds skin and plumage, in areas
that were not being picked, were nor
mal in appearance. Tests taken in
cluded a blood cell count, serum bio
chemistry, thyroid level, fecal parasite screen, fecal Gram's stain and culture, feather pulp Gram's stain and culture, and radiography. The test results were
all nondiagnostic. A complete review of the history
suggested that emotional and envi
ronmental factors were not involved.
The diet was varied, although nutri
tionally unbalanced, and the bird
readily adjusted to an improved diet.
Numerous successive drug thera
pies including antibiotic, anthelmin
tic and vitamin supplementation were attempted over several months.
No improvement was seen.
The final six-week trial consisted
of hydroxyzine HCl syrup 2.2 mg/kg PO TID. While the bird continued on
hydroxyzine HCl syrup, DermCaps
Liquid 1.0 ml/20 lbs/day (DVM Phar
maceutical Inc, Miami, FL) was
added. In one week's time, the owner noted that the bird seemed
less pruritic. By three weeks, picking
was minimal and plumage started to
regrow in areas that had been devoid
of feathers. After three months, there was little evidence of feather picking.
Attempts to reduce the dosage of
hydroxyzine HCl at that time resulted in a return to feather picking.
DermCaps have been used by vet
erinarians for the treatment of pruri tus in dogs and cats. The oxidative
metabolism of certain fatty acids re
sults in the formation of eicosanoids, which include prostaglandins and
leukotrienes. These compounds play
important roles in immunoregula tion, inflammation and maintenance
of normal integrity of the skin. Eicos
apentaenoic acid (EPA), the main
ingredient in DermCaps, is a potent
competitive inhibitor of arachidonic
acid metabolism and thus can inter
fere with the inflammatory effects of
arachidonic acid and its metabolites.
USE OF IV CATHETERS
Greg J. Harrison, DVM
Lake Worth, Florida
The 24 gauge intravascular over
the-needle Teflon-coated catheters
make nice cannulas for flushing of
nasal lacrimal ducts or flushing the
opening of the uterus in very small
birds with egg-laying problems. The
needles themselves can be used for
intramedullary pinning of the legs of
birds the size of parrotlets.
DUODERM AS A SPLINT FOR SMALL BIRDS
Greg J. Harrison, DVM
Lake Worth, Florida
DuoDerm (hydroactive dressing -
ConvaTec, Princeton, NJ) can be easily trimmed to fit from the groin area to
the foot in budgerigars, finches and
canaries, and can be used to handle
most bone fractures in these small
birds. In cases where the bone has
penetrated the skin, DuoDerm also
provides the environment to promote
Vex. 7 No. 4 1993 221
This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 00:38:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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