Re: CWD - Birds and Bacteria

[Guest guest]

Yeah, it's a frustrating point that birds get better care than we

do. Not only do they test their organisms when they're sick. They do

follow up testing during treatment, until the organisms are gone. I

remember reading this article once, from an Oregon Vet, and I

suddenly understood what Tony was talking about with his testing and

gram stains.

:-(

penny

http://www.petsam.com/

Birds and Bacteria

Like humans, bird's bodies normally contain both good bacteria,

which are necessary to kill off organisms that can cause disease,

and bad bacteria, which do harm to the bird's health. The balance of

the two is critical for your bird.

Our pet birds are exposed to abnormal bacteria every day. If the

bird's immune system is in good condition, it will easily prevent

these bacteria from starting disease. One natural way to defend your

bird's health is to maintain the health of their own beneficial

bacteria with a proper diet and good care. Remember, every day a

bird is sick is like being sick for a week for a human. Protect your

bird's health with excellent nutrition, a clean environment, minimal

stress, and lots of love. Keep your birds separated from any sick

birds. Finally, keep in mind that birds are very good at hiding

illness, so to catch hard-to-spot infections, get blood work and

cultures done at least once a year.

Gram Stains and Cultures

The health of your bird depends on the balance of bacteria in their

system. Your bird needs a normal population of good bacteria to keep

the bird's acid-alkaline balance (pH) correct so that food can be

digested properly, and to help the bird fight off abnormal bacteria

and stay healthy. To find out if this balance is where it should be,

we do Gram stains and grow bacterial cultures. Before we examine a

sample from your bird, we stain it to make the various bacteria

easier to see. This test is called a Gram stain after its inventor,

a Danish physician named Hans Christian Jorchim Gram. The bacteria

that stain blue are called Gram positive bacteria, and the ones that

stain pink are called Gram negative. The Gram positive bacteria

themselves come in two general varieties: circular bacteria called

cocci, and elongated ones called rods. If the Gram stain indicates a

problem, we will want to do a culture. A culture is a colony of

bacteria grown in a laboratory from your pet's sample. It gives us

the opportunity to examine the bacteria present in the original

sample in more detail.

Your bird should have low numbers of Gram positive bacteria in its

throat. If your bird has many Gram positive bacteria in its throat,

then a culture is needed to find out why.

The bird's intestinal tract normally contains Gram positive bacteria

to help with digestion. The numbers of bacteria in the intestine are

larger than in the throat and should be a mixture of rods and cocci.

If there were only one kind of bacteria, either all rods or all

cocci, it would indicate an imbalance in the bacteria populations,

in which case a culture would help us determine the causes of the

abnormal counts.

Canaries and finches normally have very little bacteria in their

digestive tract. so if their Gram stains show a large number of any

bacteria, they should be cultured.

There are many bacteria that can be disease producers in birds, and

that are not natural to birds, so birds have no resistance to them.

Many of these are Gram negative bacteria. This group of bacteria has

many members, many of them commonly found in the digestive tracts of

mammals. As a result, mammals, including man, can expose our birds

to these foreign bacteria. Contamination of food by hands or

utensils that are not clean can introduce large numbers of Gram

negative bacteria into a bird's system.

Baby formula allowed to sit in the refrigerator will be teeming with

Gram negative bacteria in only thirty minutes. Water in cage cups,

especially if fortified with water soluble vitamins, can easily be

contaminated with bacteria. If not removed from the cage within 4

hours, table food can carry the bacteria. Many dry seed mixes carry

abnormal bacteria in a dormant state: as soon as the seed hulls end

up in the water cup, bacteria start to grow. Even tap water can

contain Gram negative bacteria.

A culture lets us reliably identify abnormal bacteria. Then we can

do a test to determine the best antibiotic to kill the bacteria that

are present. Using the proper antibiotic for the appropriate amount

of time is the best way to insure that the bird's natural bacteria

can regenerate, and that the bird will not be back with a new

infection in a few weeks.

Antibiotics

Bird owners, without the benefit of a culture, can purchase many

antibiotics for their birds over the counter. And that seems to be

perfectly workable, at first glance. After all, most of us have at

one time or another seen a doctor for an infection, been put on

antibiotics without having a culture done, and have gotten better.

This doesn't work as well for a bird, however, for several reasons.

The first is that the most readily available pet store antibiotics

just don't work. The bacteria have been exposed to those antibiotics

before, and over the generations have developed resistance to them.

Next, if the bird doesn't improve immediately, and a culture is

needed, the previously used antibiotic will often cause the culture

to yield inaccurate results. To really stop some of these avian

infections, many times we need to use two antibiotics together. To

do this, one needs a good knowledge of which antibiotics will

complement each other. Finally, the overuse of antibiotics

predisposes the bird to fungal and yeast infections (the overgrowth

of a type of fungus that is harmful to birds and mammals), and poses

a threat to the bird's natural bacteria. Giving your bird

antibiotics without a culture can end up destroying the very

bacteria necessary to keep the bird's metabolism in balance.

Which antibiotics do we usually use? Well, ampicillin and

amoxicillin are man-made antibiotics from the penicillin family.

Amoxicillin was developed to prevent Gram positive bacterial

resistance, and ampicillin is commonly used for both Gram negative

and positive bacteria, though many Gram positives develop a

resistance to it. These are generally poor choices unless they are

used with a culture and sensitivity report that say they will work,

but they are good antibiotics to combat cat bites.

Piperacillin, a man-made injectable antibiotic designed especially

for very difficult bacteria, and trimethaprim-sulfa, an enhanced

sulfa drug, are great antibiotics for deep infections and infections

caused by bacteria called anaerobes, which will only grow in an

oxygen-free environment. (editor's comment: like teeth and bones,

spine etc.).

Tetracycline is a fungus-derived antibiotic, often used in medicated

water for birds. Very often, it is not an effective antibiotic and

will cause fungal or yeast infections when used over long periods.

Erythromycin is another fungus-derived medicine, and is good for

Gram positive infections, but because most infections are Gram

negative its usefulness is very limited.

Vibramycin (a tetracycline derivative) is used to treat psittacosis,

a disease of birds caused by a virus-like organism called chlamydia,

and communicable to humans. Because it is broken down before it goes

into the intestinal tract, Vibramycin does not generally cause a

problem with yeast overgrowth.

A new family of man-made antibiotics called Quinolones includes

Baytril, Ciprofloxacin, and Nofloxacin. Most bacteria have not been

exposed to them, so these drugs work well. The manufacturer claims

that bacteria will not develop resistance to these antibiotics. As

with any antibiotic, however, some bacteria in your birds will be

naturally resistant.

It is very important to give antibiotics until a second culture

indicates that the infection is gone. Culturing a second time is the

best way to prevent over treatment, with its risks for the bird, or

under treatment, which could lead to the bird becoming a carrier of

a resistant strain of the bacteria. Infections in birds are often

secondary and aggravating to an internal organ problem. The bird

can't tell you that his kidneys hurt and the medication is really

not helping, or that his thyroid is so big he can't breathe. This,

again, is where a veterinarian's knowledge and experience with your

bird is so valuable.

It's our job to make sure your pets are cared for professionally,

with compassion, and at the very highest level of quality. As you

can see, we use precise knowledge and specific procedures to care

for your birds. We want you to know how much we care about your

birds (as well as your dogs and cats). It is very important to us

that you understand how to keep your birds alive and well.

> I think bird breeders can use parasitic blood technology to keep

there flocks healthy. This made me feel I could do as well if not

better than the bird breeder's.

[Guest guest]

Penny

I think that's a vet article, what got my attention was pidgeon

breeder's not vets that used parasitic stains to treat there birds.

> > I think bird breeders can use parasitic blood technology to keep

> there flocks healthy. This made me feel I could do as well if not

> better than the bird breeder's.

[Guest guest]

Yeah, I understood, but the point's good to emphasize. That common

breeders learn how to do simple microbiology for the sake of their

birds. We should be able to as well, especially since we can't get

the medical profession on the ball.

I just posted that article, because I read it when I was concerned

about my bird some years back, and that's when the light bulb went

off for me, what you were talking about regarding gram stains, etc,

and then I got furious that our own children can get as good of care

as our birds do.

If I could keep up my current level of energy and mental clarity,

I'd start thinking about setting up my own incubator and getting a

microscope. What a hobby, for your profile, huh? Hobbies: Playing

with bacteria. :-)

penny

> > > I think bird breeders can use parasitic blood technology to

keep

> > there flocks healthy. This made me feel I could do as well if

not

> > better than the bird breeder's.

[Guest guest]

Penny

This is all born from frustration with the system, a couple of

dollars worth of medical supplies are refused yet a couple of

thousand on so called proffesionals are accepted as necessary in

medical circles.I realised early in my ilness which doctors were

decent- and to stay away from piano clinic offices.This bunch is

really a well oiled money making machine with a very yuppy, in your

face, you need psych treatment being delivered to everyone.The other

things was that this group seemed to indulge in more of the psych

drugs themselves, which made it a strange doctor patient

relationship for me.

> > > > I think bird breeders can use parasitic blood technology to

> keep

> > > there flocks healthy. This made me feel I could do as well if

> not

> > > better than the bird breeder's.