From
finches to ostriches, birds are our specialty. Dr. Riggs
was the first board certified avian specialist in Ohio and
has twenty years of avian practice experience. The rest
of our staff is also highly experienced in all facets of
bird care. Birds are highly intelligent, social animals
with special needs. We can help you get started with your
first bird or help you care for that elderly feathered family
member. They are masters of hiding their problems, so routine
check-ups are essential for long term health.
To accomplish this goal, we recommend the
following:
Routine exams
Routine thorough physical examinations are the cornerstones
of a total health plan for your bird. Birds are notorious
for hiding subtle and not-so-subtle signs of illness for
long periods. Often, by the time a problem is apparent to
you, it has progressed to very serious levels. By examing
your pet on a routine basis we can spot early or potential
problems and work to correct them before they progress.
As a valuable adjunct to the physical exam we recommend
select laboratory testing to give us your bird's full health
picture.
Wellness exams
Wellness exams are a combination of a thorough exam/consultation
and a select group of laboratory tests. Different types
and ages of birds will call for different recommended tests,
so we have designed various discounted screens that allow
test substitution to best meet your pet's needs in a cost
effective format.
As previously mentioned, birds' abilities to hide problems
can often pose difficulties in assessing your pets' health.
For this
reason, we will recommend bloodwork in healthy
APPEARING birds. First, tests may show an underlying or
early problem that needs correction. Secondly, if normal,
this gives us your pets' baseline values for future tests
to compare to allowing us to determine if your pet is having
a problem or not. In birds, an ounce of prevention is worth
a TON of cure.
Feel free to ask us what tests or health screens will be
best for your bird. Examples of tests offered;
- COMPLETE BLOOD COUNT (CBC): A CBC is
great laboratory tool that allows a veterinarian to
"peak" inside your bird. By assessing the
variety of blood parameters we can detect infections,
viral diseases, blood parasites, response to disease,
and states of anemia to name a few. This test can be
done in our office at the time of your bird's exam to
aid in our ability to assess your pet's health.
- BLOOD PROFILING: A blood profile or
serum chemistry series is a group of blood tests used
to assess various organ functions or disease states.
Kidney function, liver abnormalities, pancreatic disease
are but a few of the conditions a blood profile can
help evaluate.
- SEROLOGIC TESTING/SPECIFIC DISEASE TESTS:
Serologic tests use a combination of technologies(including
state-of-the-art DNA probe tests) to screen your pet
for the presence of various contagious diseases. Some
examples of common tests used are:
- CHLAMYDIA TESTING: Chlamydia, or parrot
fever, is a contagious bacterial disease of birds that
is also potentially contagious to humans. A variety
of symptoms can be displaye
- d and some birds can be healthy acting
carriers. Although a culture is the "gold standard"
for testing, a number of different tests are available
to use in different situations to screen for this important
disease.
- PBFD: Psittacine beak and feather disease
is a viral disease capable of infecting a wide variety
of bird species. This potentially fatal disease can
progress slowly or rapidly and involve a range of feather
and beak lesions. Although no cure is currently available,
this test can be used to help screen for the presence
or absence of this disease in your pet.
- POLYOMA: Polyoma virus is another potentially
devastating disease of pet birds that has a variety
of presentations and outcomes. Lesions can involve feathers
or cause widespread tissue destruction and acute illness.
Testing as well as a vaccine is available for this disease.
- PACHECO'S: Pacheco's disease is a highly
infective herpes virus of birds. Disease can be rapid,
widespread, and fatal or sporadic with asymptomatic
carriers. DNA testing is now available to help detect
and prevent this catastrophic disease.
Nutrition
Certainly nothing is more important for your pets' long-term
health than good nutrition. The majority of common illnesses
diagnosed in pet birds have poor nutrition as at least part
of their cause. Furthermore, a good plane of nutrition is
essential to help birds recover from illnesses or fight
off exposures.
There are over 8000 species of birds so obviously there
is no one diet that is suitable for them all. We feel an
important part of your pet's exam and consultation is to
help you structure the diet that best suits your pet. In
general terms, we encourage the use of a high quality pelleted
food where applicable. Seeds being very high in fat and
devoid of needed vitamins should be avoided or at least
minimized in your pets' diet. Where pelleted diets cannot
be used, great care must be taken to balance your birds
diet for caloric intake and vitamin/mineral content.
Both what is fed and how a diet is fed are important to
your bird. Food hunting and feeding are important parts
of a birds routine and affect its overall behavior. We can
advise you on various feeding schedules and enrichment foods
to improve your birds' way of life.
Grooming
An often necessary evil of the captive bird environment
is the need for periodic grooming. Since most pet birds
don't have to forage or work too hard in their search for
food or nesting sites, they don't wear down their beak and
nails as they would in the wild. In other situations, health
problems such as nutritional imbalances or, more importantly,
liver disease can lead to abnormal beak and nail growth
. Because of these potential underlying health problems,and
the potential risks they pose, we require a complete physical
exam and recommend a minimum blood testing database at least
once yearly in order to perform any grooming procedures.
This is in your bird's best interest and the best way to
correct early problems and minimize the risk to your pet.
Wing trimming is also often required in pet
birds. It can be beneficial during the period you are training
your bird to give you the upper hand and certainly is recommended
anytime your pet could have access to the outdoors. NEVER
under estimate the chance that your bird can escape. Even
the best trained, human bonded parrot can fly away if something
unexpected startles it. Once in the air they often will
become lost, disoriented or injured before you have the
chance to respond. Care should be taken EVEN IF your bird's
wings are trimmed. Given the right wind conditions, trimmed
birds can get airborne and be susceptible to injury. We
recommend mild to moderate trimming to both wings to best
prevent flight and minimize injury in the event they try
to fly.
There may be certain behavioral, medical, or species specific
(African gray) reasons for recommending NOT to trim you
pets wings. We'll let you know!
Behavioral problems
Behavioral problems are commonly encountered in pet birds.
Most larger pet species are no more than 3-4 generations
from living in the wild, so problems dealing with captive
situations should not be unexpected. Behavioral problems
can be manifested in many ways. Common examples are feather
picking, inappropriate aggression, or annoying persistent
vocalizations.
Behavioral training in the form of reward/penalty procedures,
environmental changes and enrichment training can in many
cases effectively shape a problem bird's activities. When
necessary, the use of medications or hormonal therapies
can be a useful adjunct to help achieve successful results.
Birds have a long lifespan and can be enjoyable, interactive
pets. Don't let a behavioral problem stand in the way of
an otherwise rewarding relationship. Call us. We can help.
Diagnostics,
therapy, treatment
Our goal is to keep your pet healthy and prevent illness.
If your pet is injured or ill, rest assured that we have
the tools necessary to diagnose the problem and offer state-of-the-art
treatment.
From blood testing and radiographs to ultrasound and endoscopy,
we have the means to track down your pets' problems. Once
the problem is uncovered we have the expertise, equipment,
and the years of experience needed to provide the therapy
or surgical procedures required to help out even the smallest
patient.
Emergency care
Our office is open for your pet's health care
needs Monday through Friday 8:00-7:00 and Saturday 8:00-5:00.
If emergency care is required after these hours, you can
rely on our 24 hour emergency facility- the Metropolitan
Veterinary Hospital. Metro is located at 1053 S. Cleveland-Massilon
Rd. in Copley(330- 253-2544) and is there to assist with
any of our client's problems. At Metro we have veterinarians
and technicians on duty 24 hours daily to address your needs.
Metro's staff doctors rotate through our clinic on a regular
basis to assure that they are comfortable addressing the
problems of our bird and exotic owning clients.
