Psittacine pediatric diseases (Proceedings)
Medical presentations in neonatal psittacines generally fall into one of the following categories:
• Congenital /developmental
Overlap of these categorizations occurs; for example, nutritional and husbandry issues may predispose birds to infectious or parasitic disease.Congenital and/or developmental conditions include:
• Beak abnormalities
These are usually detected on physical examination. Diagnosis of MBD is generally confirmed via radiographs and/or calcium or iCa levels.
Husbandry/nutritional diseases include:
• Slow/sour crop
Infectious pediatric diseases include
Brief descriptions of the etiology, pathogenesis and treatment of pediatric conditions are listed below.
• Scissors beak
Both conditions are seen in young birds. The etiologies are unknown, but developmental problems, including inappropriate incubation temperature and humidity are possibly involved. The differences in the mechanics of parental feeding vs. human hand –feeding may contribute to these conditions.
Mild degrees of either condition detected and treated early may be manually manipulated to approximate normal conformation and function without surgical intervention, More severe degrees of beak deviation and those presented at an older age will require surgical repair., Many methods of repair have been documented, and details will be illustrated in the lecture.