Avian - Veterinary Procedures
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- Created by: Becky_Berry
- Created on: 05-02-21 09:57
Assessing Weight
- Ensure adequate mediation is used.
- Medication may not be exactly for birds.
- Suitable digital scales are best.
- Trained Birds of Prey should be regularly weighed anyway to maintain flying condition.
- Refer to a weight-chart if not weighable
- Dependent on species.
- Few medicines are marketed for birds so vets should always be consulted prior to medication.
- Birds have a higher metabolic rate.
- Need to record weights.
- May be with the drugs cabinet.
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Why weigh birds?
- Health Reasons, e.g., monitor weight
- Detect illness
- Weigh change may be the first indication of illness
- calculate correct diets
- determine whether the bird is near breeding season.
- know medication dose
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Medication by Mouth
- can be tablet or liquid form
- syringe or dropper can be used for administration (not glass for parrots)
- inhalation of drug is possible
- oesophageal or gavage tube are safer
- get the dosage ready before thinking about administering medication to the bird and beginning to handle the bird
- can medicate
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Medication by Mouth: Oesophageal or gavage tub ins
- bird correctly restrained - consider PPE
- whilst holding beak open extend the neck in a vertical direction to straighten the S-Shape curve of the cervical vertebrate
- place lubricated tube in mouth
- advance beyond glottis
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Medication by Mouth: Can restrain using towel
- drape towel over the back of the bird and wrap it around the bird
- make sure you have control over the head
- do not squeeze tight, as if youdo, they might not be able to breathe
- can take out a single leg or foot so you can check them or trim their nails
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Medication in water and food
- a convenient un-stressful method of medication
- rough approximation is that 150ml of water is consumed by kilogram of avian body weight daily
- may increase/decrease by 50%
- water intake can be affected by condition, diet, habitat, and species
- parrots tend to drink a lot of water
- consider polydipsia and polyphagia (drinking too much and eating too much)
- consider colour and taste
- Positives
- reduces the number of bacterial organisms that may live in the water source
- a lot less stressful than some methods
- Negatives
- who has had the medication?
- many drugs will lose potency when diluted
- may be polluting if putting into water bodie sand may lead to antibiotic resistance
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Medication by injection
- zookeepers can do intramuscular
- most accurate and reasonably safe
- pectoralis (chest), Iliotibialis lateralis or biceps femoris muscles of the leg can be used
- injections should go into the middle of the muscle mass
- all sites have various advantages and disadvantages
- subcutaneous
- under the skin
- only 1 or 2 areas are suitable
- as birds' skin isn't very elasticated --> fluid tends to lead out through the point of needle puncture
- skin under pectoral muscle or precrural fold
- you can sometimes use the dorsal base of the neck
- intravenous (Vets only)
- into a vein
- most easily given into the brachial vein + metatarsal vein + right jugular vein
- not always easy = small diameter of the vein + fragility of the vein wall
- haematoma formation afterwards is a common occurence
- intracoelomic (into the coelom)
- intraosseous injection (injecting directly into the marrow of a bone)
- intratracheal injection (into the trachea)
- often use to get antibiotics to lungs
- treat respiratory disease
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Topical
- applied to skin
- apply lesser amounts with a cotton wool bud, if too much is used plumage can be damaged
- if using massive quantities of ointment an Elizabethan collar will prevent excessive contamination
- prevent bird interfering with the medication
- the faster the drying the better!
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Ophthalmic
- Applied to eye.
- Considered ‘better’ than topical application however effectiveness is short lived.
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Vital Signs of Improvement
- Temperature
- Faeces
- Behaviour
- Eating/drinking
- Respiration rate
- Pulse stabilising
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