COMMON AILMENTS

COMMON AILMENTS

By Dr Colin Walker

The following is a short list of some of the common problems seen in canaries. It should be always remembered that management or environmental flaws weaken the birds, predisposing them to disease. The provision of clean, dry, draught free accommodation which is not overcrowded, together with good nutrition will do much to decrease the incidence of disease.

Nestling problem	DISEASE	FURTHER SIGNS THAT SUGGEST THIS PROBLEM	WHAT THE VET WILL NEED TO REACH A DIAGNOSIS	TREATMENT
Inside of nest stained with yellow diarrhoea of nestling, youngsters stunted, increased death rate first few days of life.	E. coli diarrhoea		Droppings, microscopic examination, staining and/or culture	Antibiotics. Neomycin. Sulpha AVS in water and soft foods (egg and biscuit canary starter)
Pale, weak youngsters, hen can be found dead in nest	Blood sucking mites	Crusty pinpoint feeding points visible, particularly under wings	Recently dead or unwell nestlings	Moxidectin. Spray cages with Permethrin prior to breeding
Nestlings dying, 10-20 days of age, many youngsters affected and dying	Circo virus	Black spot visible in abdomen, which is an enlarged gall bladder	Sick or recently dead youngster for autopsy, tissue collection and histology	Management – Break in breeding, thorough clean of aviary, identify carrier birds
Juvenile less than I year of age
Generally unwell and dying birds	Atoxplasma, ( a type of coccidian)	Birds usually 2-9 months, high mortality ( up to 80%, blue spot (swollen liver) visible through abdomen.	A sick or recently dead bird for autopsy. Parasite eggs occasionally found in droppings.	Sulfachlor pyrazine reduces but does not eliminate egg shedding. Given for 5 days per week until birds are well.
Any Age
Main symptom respiratory distress	Pox	Crusty wart-like lesions on non-feathered part of body and/or yellow plaques inside mouth. Difficulty in breathing, high mortality rate.	Appearance often diagnostic. Autopsy and histology.	Management. Separate birds, control insects, treat secondary diseases.
	Blood sucking mites.	Pale and lethargic. Crusty pinpoint feeding sites visible, particularly under wings	Examination of an unwell bird, or a recently dead bird.	Moxidectin. Spray cages with Permetherin
	Air Sac Mites	Loss of condition, cough, sneeze, nasal discharge, unable to sing, response to treatment	Moxidectin
	Trichomoniasis (canker) a flagellate	Weight loss, regurtation, dried saliva around beak	Crop flush from live bird	Tubosole, Flagyl
	Bacterial infection, e.g. Enterococcus faecal is	Red watery eyes, nasal discharge	Live bird for bacterial culture	Antibiotics, review hygiene.
Main symptom diarrhoea and weight loss	Coccidiosis	Huddled, fluffed and lethargic	Droppings collected from bird in late afternoon	Baycox (3 mill/1L) for 48 hours. Protein supplements (sprouted seed, seeding grasses, soft foods)
	Mega bacteria	Fluffed and under weight	Droppings, Autopsy of recently dead bird if available
	Salmonella (a bacteria)	More prevalent in wet times of year, outside aviary, low hygiene, exposure to mice or wild bird droppings.	Autopsy and culture. Pooled dropping samples, checked 3-6 weeks after therapy to check success. Canaries do not become carriers of Salmonella. (common in other birds)	Antibiotics, Usually Baytrill. Provision of chopped greens and soft food will help prevent dehydration, multivitamins in water, hygiene.
	Yesinia (a bacteria)	As above	Autopsy and culture	As above
	Other bacteria, e.g. E.Coli	Some birds may have an infection elsewhere, e.g. in eyes or sinus	As above	As above
	Chlamydia	Often also have conjunctivitis and nasal discharge	Throat swab or cloacae swab or autopsy.	Dopxycyline (Doxyvet 1tsp/2L), Baytril (1 drop twice daily per bird or 10ml/1L of drinking water.
Sudden death
	Toxic exposure	May have salivation, diarrohoea, difficulty in breathing.	Detailed history
	Starvation	Blood in droppings, some one else looked after birds.
Miscellaneous	Scaly face, Knemicoptes mite infection	Crust lesions on face and legs	Appearance often diagnostic. Microscopic examination of crusts	Moxidectin (2mg/m’l to affected birds twice! at 3 week intervals)