Several years ago when I was still working for avian veterinarians, I had a memorable phone conversation with a young man who had just purchased his very first parrot, an African grey.

He's real nice and quiet," the new owner said.

"There is a problem - your bird needs to be seen by an avian veterinarian as soon as possible," I said.

"No, you don't understand. I chose this bird because he was quiet - he was the quietest African grey they had at the store."

"No, YOU don't understand - it is not normal for a parrot to be quiet. The bird sounds like he might have some sort of problem and should be seen by an avian vet as soon as possible."

Fortunately, the young man made an appointment. When our avian vet checked the bird out completely, she discovered the bird had psittacosis ("Parrot Fever"). The bird went through treatment and did very well. About a month later, this nice young man called me back.

 

He's Learning!
"Remember when I said my grey was normally quiet and you told me that I didn't understand?" he asked. I remembered the conversation well and told him so. "Well," he said, "NOW I understand!!"

I have been hearing a lot recently from concerned bird owners who have been reading that they won't be able to tell if their birds are sick -- and I tell them this story. The point being this: if you are a novice bird owner who has no experience with birds, it may seem as if birds show no signs of disease at all. However, in most cases there are plenty of signs of the bird getting into trouble -- the trick is that the owner must understand the significance of what they are seeing.

 

Years of Experience
Over the years, I have dealt with hundreds of uneducated bird owners who sought the assistance of avian veterinarians when their birds had stopped eating completely or worse yet, were down on the bottom of the cage. These well meaning people truly thought their birds had "only been sick since this morning", or "only a couple of days". In virtually every one of these case, when the vet examined the patient they found it to be painfully thin, indicating that in reality the bird had been going downhill for at least a week or two.

 

"Come To Think Of It….."
Then, in addition to trying to save the bird's life, the process of educating the owner would begin. I would spend time explaining how subtle a bird can be about signs of illness -- and then would begin what I call the Come-To-Think-Of-Its: "Come to think of it, he has been quieter for the last couple of weeks", and "Come to think of it, he didn't show any interest in his millet spray for the last several days, and he normally LOVES his millet spray", or, "Come to think of it, he has acted like he didn't want to be petted in the last week or two, and he ALWAYS wants to be petted (or he DID want to be petted and he doesn’t normally) -- but I just didn't realize that meant there might be a problem."

 

More Familiar Behaviors From More Familiar Animals
To most people, dogs are a very understandable creatures -- even if we've never lived with one, they are very familiar. And when a dog doesn't feel good they're like a small child -- they are generally as subtle as a brick. They stare at you with mournful eyes, they sigh loudly. They practically pull on your pant leg, saying "I DON'T FEEL GOOD!"

On the other hand, cats are much more subtle when they're ill. They may not greet you as usual when you come home, or they don't come as fast as usual when they hear the can opener. Whatever their normal patterns, there is a very tiny, subtle change. Now, to someone only accustomed to dogs, a cat probably shows no signs of illness at all, because the body language is so different, and the body language is unfamiliar.

 

The Problem With Birds...
In essence, this is the problem with cage birds -- the usual signs of illness are much more subtle than people expect. It is not that, in most cases, there weren't any signs, but that they were more difficult to recognize as evidence of a problem.

For those unfortunate people whose birds were sick for weeks before they brought them to an avian veterinarian, I could promise two things to help them with their self-recriminations.

 

Learning The Hard Way...
First, since they brought their bird to a vet while it was still alive, they were doing better than I did with my first large parrot, who died five days after I bought him. I had no idea there was even a problem -- I thought the little Amazon was just a quiet, sweet-tempered bird. When I found him dead one morning, I took his small body to the only vet around that saw birds, and the vet showed me that "Torque" was horribly thin and had an empty crop -- evidence that he hadn't been eating for days.

That was thirty years ago, and that leads me to the second promise: a caring person who learns the hard way about the subtleties of a sick bird's symptoms NEVER has to experience it again. For those of you lucky enough to not have learned in this manner, let me tell you that you NEVER forget it -- the guilt and recriminations are simply too awful. Today's better educated bird owner rarely experiences a horror story like this. They notice subtle changes in their pet's behavior and may not know what it means, but they often seek medical help immediately.

It was couple of winters ago when my companion of twenty-three years started acting a little odd. She's a blue and gold macaw named Sam, and in addition to her normal nesting behavior, she just wasn't acting right. I watched her like a hawk for a day, talked to her, asked her questions that she refused to answer. I simply could not decide whether or not there was something wrong, because she always acts a little weird when her hormones are raging -- just like me! I have my own scale (a piece of equipment that is priceless to any bird owner), and I started weighing her daily. On the third day, she started dropping weight and her eating habits changed.

One hour later, we were sitting in the waiting room of the vet hospital, nervously anticipating our appointment. My avian vet, Dr. Liza Clark examined Sam and found nothing wrong -- "just a normal Blue & Gold hen in nesting behavior", she said.

I said "Fine, I'm sure you're right, but let's do a culture and some bloodwork anyway." (Obviously, I had too much money in my pockets.) By the time the tests came back five days later, I wasn't surprised that they were perfectly normal -- because in the interim, Sam had laid two eggs! (These are the second and third eggs that she has laid in at least 35 years, by the way.) (For those of you who think your parrot is predictable.)

The point of this story is simple - if you know your bird and pay attention to its normal behavior, body language, etc., then you will know when something changes -- and something changing indicates the possibility of a problem developing. You won't necessarily know what the problem is, but you will know that something is happening. In Sam's case there was no problem, but I didn't know that -- I just knew there was a change. And telling the difference between a normal biological change and a problem developing is the job of a competent avian vet.

This article was first printed in THE PET BIRD REPORT, Issue #11 Vol.3 No.3

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations, and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

Copyright Elizabeth H. Wilson, April, 1998.
All rights reserved. Parts or whole may be reprinted, but not distributed without express written permission of the author.