Association of Avian Veterinarians

Caution in Use of Pellets for BabiesAuthor(s): Don HarrisSource: Journal of the Association of Avian Veterinarians, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring, 1989), p. 13Published by: Association of Avian VeterinariansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30133242 .

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of farms, importation stations and smuggled birds. A lot of people who are heavily involved in bird sales do not necessarily want to get involved with avian veterinarians, so they treat and prescribe with no knowledge of drugs. Birds have been sold here with a bottle of chloramphenicol or nystatin. If chloro is on the premises and the owner has used it, the bacteria on the premise have had am- ple opportunity to become resistant. Although the baby that is sold from this operation may not be undergoing a current medical challenge, when the bacteria that are carried with him become activated, the liklihood of resistance is much higher. It really makes practice difficult after patients have been exposed to this shot-gun approach.

We have seen a lot of increasing resistance to gentamycin, so we are using more oral amikacin. We are also using ciprofloxin (Cipro - Miles Laboratories), a relatively new quinolone. The 500 mg tablet is the

most cost-effective size. By breaking open the enteric coating, the tablet will dissolve in distilled water, lac- tated Ringer's, or saline. According to Miles Lab R & D, it is stable in unrefrigerated water for 3 weeks, however I refrigerate it for extra quality control. With a slightly salty, bitter taste, ciprofloxin may need to be hidden in feed for adults. Karo syrup, fruit punch or Kool-Aide mix have been very helpful in masking the flavor. We use 20 mg/kg b.i.d. Sensitivity discs are available from BBL.

One caution in the quinolone literature states that using these drugs at higher than recommended doses is actually counter-productive. It ap- parently can cause arthropathy at 20 times the recommended dose in pup- pies and colts experimentally. Ciprofloxin has good penetration (e.g., into joints and bones). It also gives us the first opportunity to avoid parenteral aminoglycosides.

We have also been experimenting

with both IV and IM forms of im- munoglobulins in babies (see McMillan, 1988 Houston Proceedings) and have documented increases in PCV's with this therapy alone. In some cases, birds that were taken off antibiotics and put only on im- munoglobulins were totally cleared on subsequent cultures, even with highly resistant organisms.

We have seen massively high CPK levels (6000-8000) in youngsters that exhibit generalized lethargy and lack of appetite. Lumeji (1988 AAV Pro- ceedings) believes the gut lining may be a source of high CPK's in some of these species. I'm wondering if these symptoms could be related to a viral enteritis. Banamine (flunixin) is a great treatment for babies that are not immunocompetent, particularly if you suspect there may be a viral enteritis. I have seen no adverse ef- fects from the use of this drug. These birds will frequently eat in 12 hours when you take away the gut pain. e

Caution in Use of Pellets for Babies

During the past year or so, many new varieties of pelleted foods have appeared on the market. Several large scale breeders in this area have tried using the pellets alone to feed babies but with disappointing results: slower growth, dull appearances, and more health problems in general. When in- quiries were made of one manufac- turer, it was discovered that very little field-testing had been done on the pellets. Also, in defense of the manufacturers, they really made no claims for feeding the pellets to babies. Although pellets may be a valuable addition to the diets of birds, the brands should be scrutiniz- ed and only those that are "tried and true" should be used in feeding babies.

- Don Harris, DVM, Miami, Florida

Rest Times for Babies For many clients, the novelty of

handfeeding a bird interferes with the baby's rest. Many babies are con-

stantly handled, particularly after feeding - they are showed-off to friends, family and are constantly on display. Exhaustion predisposes the bird to other problems. It is helpful to suggest to the owner to set handl- ing time restrictions, secure sleep areas and scheduled rest times. - Cathy Johnson, DVM, Seattle, Washington

Incubation of Emu Eggs Of the two breeding pairs of emus

at Lion Country, one pair built a firm, distinguishable nest and the eggs were left with the parents. The other pair laid eggs randomly throughout the large preserve section, so we decided to pull these eggs for artificial incubation.

Based on some information I read that hatching of emu eggs had been achieved at lower than expected in- cubation temperatures, the pulled eggs were divided between two in- cubators. One incubator was set at 99.5 "F, 84 "F wet bulb. So far, we have not had any hatching success from this incubator. The second in-

cubator was set at 96 "F, 75 "F wet bulb. Not only have all eggs hatched at this setting, but the hatch dates are exactly 54 days, which is the mean average incubation time for emus in the field. So far the lower setting seems to be working out. Ironically, both incubators went through two power outages where the temperature dropped for at least 12 hours with apparently no ill effects. - Randy Plewak, Lion Country Safari, West Palm Beach, Florida

Pad Support for Splayed Legs For baby birds with splayed legs or

turned hocks, we use a "Boysdon Pad" (named after it's inventor), that can be made from a variety of materials, but is most commonly made from foam or sanitary napkins.

The pad is cut into an hourglass

VOL.1 NO.1 13 1989

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