Avian Veterinarians and Quarantine for Parrots
Proper Pet Care for New Parrots and Established Birds
Quarantine is essential when adding a pet parrot to a house that already contains pet birds. Serious avian health problems can spread quickly from a new bird to established parrots leading to costly veterinary care and, quite possibly, the death of all your birds.
Avian Health and Wild Instincts
Birds are not dogs. This seems like a silly statement, but it really is important. It’s usually easy to see when a dog requires veterinary care—nothing looks quite as pathetic as a sick pooch. The situation is much different with a pet bird.
A parrot isn’t a predator—it’s prey. As such, parrots have a vested interest in not looking sick. In the wild, any sign of illness could attract predators. A pet parrot can be dying from a serious avian disease and look perfectly healthy until it reaches the disease’s terminal stages. You can’t judge the health of your new bird by sight.
Size and Species Doesn’t Matter
It doesn’t matter if your new bird is a greenwing macaw or a budgie. Either one could infect the other with life-threatening avian diseases. Diseases such as proventricular dilation disease (PDD) and psittacosis don’t measure birds before infection. No matter what species your new parrot is, it must be quarantined if you own other birds.
Quarantine Rules
Avian veterinarians recommend at least 45 days of quarantine for a new bird. Many avian health problems can go undetected for at least 30 days. Some pet birds can carry disease for months, and only display symptoms when under stress (such as, say, a move to a new home, with a new bird cage, toys, humans, and food). Some parrot owners quarantine for up to 90 days.
Ideally, quarantine should take place in an entirely different building to the one that houses your other parrots. Unfortunately most people lack the resources (or patient friends) to do this. If you quarantine in the same house, have the new bird as far away from the other birds as possible. Remember that heating ducts and air vents can carry viral particles from one area of the house to another.
When caring for your parrots—whether feeding, playing with them or cleaning cages—attend to the older birds first. Enter the quarantine room last. This way you lower the risk of transporting avian diseases to your established flock. Wash your hands after any contact with the new parrot, preferably with antibacterial soap. Some owners change clothes after interacting with their new bird.
Avian Veterinary Care
Access to an avian veterinarian is invaluable to any parrot owner. When you acquire a new parrot make an appointment with your avian vet as soon as possible. an avian veterinarian can examine your new parrot for signs of disease and test for some of the more common (and serious) avian diseases.
Even if an avian vet gives your new parrot a clean bill of health, maintain quarantine until at least 45 days have past. Even the best avian veterinary care can miss disease: time and observation during quarantine are some of your best weapons against avian disease infection.
