Nearly every reputable pet shop recommends you have your bird examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible after its purchase. However, you may not be able to return the bird since this is at the discretion of the pet shop. Neither the state of New York or the United States government provide any consumer protection that allows you to return a bird if it is found to be diseased or malformed in the first weeks after purchase. Curiously, you can return defective cats and dogs in New York State but not birds. If you have a concern about this, you need to check you local laws. In the past, the post purchase or new bird examination done by the vet was a cursory affair, and, unless the bird had obvious clinical signs, he usually found nothing wrong. This has changed, within the past few years, diagnostic tests for several devastating bird diseases have become available. Be sure to ask the veterinarian about these, they may cost a bit, but if you have other birds, it may be wise to have these tests done before introducing the bird into your flock. A trip to a veterinarian for these tests is especially important if you purchased the bird from a pet shop or other facility with a large turnover of birds. Although, the recent ban on bird imports under the Wild Bird Act of 1992 has limited the availability of fresh breeding stock, one of its merits has been a reduction of disease in our existing domestic breeding stock.

So, when you visit your veterinarian you need to discuss with him just what tests should be done and if he recommends any vaccinations. These will vary with the area of the country, the prevalence of disease, the availability of the tests and vaccines, and the relative reliability of the tests or efficacy of the vaccines. I have listed some of the routine tests here:

1. Physical exam. This is an examination of the general appearance of the bird. It will be weighed, its general appearance noted, and its muscle mass felt, etc.

2. Culture test. For this test the veterinarian swabs the oral and the cloacal cavities, streaks them onto agar medium, incubates the media overnight in a incubator, and looks for the growth of bacteria, yeast, and fungi. If he finds bacteria he suspects to be pathogenic, he will test them for their antibiotic sensitivity.

3. Chlamydia test. For this he will take either a little blood or a fecal sample. The blood test is the more reliable. It measures antibody levels. If the bird is infected, the antibody levels do not vary much over time. A problem with the antibody test is that antibodies do not disappear after a bird is cured. The fecal test only works if the bird is shedding the organism at the time the specimen is taken. I highly recommend testing for psittacosis to protect your own health

4. Psittacine beak and feather syndrome test. This is another blood test. This test should be done if you have other birds in your home, since it is highly contagious.

5. Polyomavirus test. This test requires a cloacal swab or feces. Again, this test should be done if you have other birds in your home.

6. Avian screen. This is a screen similar to the routine blood screen done for humans. It is done to check for diabetes, malnutrition, liver disease, kidney disease, cancer, etc. It often includes a complete blood cell count that provides information regarding possible bacterial, viral, or parasitic infections.

7. Fecal exam. A float test is done to detect parasites such as coccidia, capillaria, tapeworms, etc. A smear on a microscope slide is done to detect giardia, trichomonas, etc.

8. X-ray. This is sometimes recommended to look for granulomas, and bone structure.

He may also recommend other tests. These may include tests for infectious agents such as mycoplasma, aspirgillosis, Pacheco’s virus, pox virus, and Newcastle's virus. It is unlikely he will submit specimens for these tests. A complete panel of tests should only be ordered if you already have birds at home; birds that might be endangered by contracting a disease from your new bird. If it is your first bird, or only bird, the veterinarian should be more selective about ordering the tests. Having the complete panel is expensive, so you must balance this against rational risks. For example, if you are sure the bird came from a "closed flock," i.e., a breeder who has not added any new stock for several years and it is disease free, there will be little need for most tests. If the bird comes from an unknown source, or a place where the bird was exposed to birds of questionable health, it may be very worth while to go for most of the tests. This is why you need to discuss with the veterinarian just what tests should be done.

It is also important to have a well bird exam done on a regular basis. This is done to confirm that your parrot is free of problems and catch minor problems before they become critical. It is also an opportunity to ask the veterinarian questions. The basic well bird exam should include 1.) a physical examination, 2.) choanal and fecal Gram stain, 3.) and a fecal parasite check. Depending on the situation, other tests may be done such a blood cell counts and serum chemistries. You should plan on at least one well bird check up a year.

When your bird gets sick, it is important to aware that birds are not like humans. Birds try to disguise their illness as long as possible, so when you first notice your bird is sick you must act promptly. If your bird develops adverse clinical signs, take the bird to a veterinarian as soon as possible. Unfortunately most veterinarians are not knowledgeable enough to treat birds. You must find a veterinarian who specializes in birds ahead of time. The best approach for finding a veterinarian is to ask a local pet shop owner who deals in birds for the names of avian veterinarians. Usually, you will discover that there are only a limited number of veterinarians in your area specializing in birds, and often you have to travel some distance to find one that suits you. The second thing you need to know is where to take your bird in an emergency. It always seems that the bird gets sick or injured at 9 P.M. on a major holiday when the veterinarian's office is closed. If an emergency does occur and you do not know how to obtain emergency care, call you regular veterinarian's phone number. You will very likely get a recorded message about where to find emergency care. In most cities the veterinarians have organized in a cooperative effort to deal with emergencies. It would save you time, however, if you already knew where to call or where to go. For example, in the New York City area, the Animal Medical Center at 510 East 62nd Street off Roosevelt on the East Side of Manhattan has a 24 hr walk-in emergency clinic for all animals.

If your bird should die, and its death is not due to an accident, you should have it necropsied. This is very important and should be down as soon as possible. Many bird diseases can only be identified in this manner. If your bird should die and you cannot take to your veterinarian immediately, cool the body rapidly as possible. To do this, soak the body in cool soapy water. The cooling will stop the decomposition process. The soap is added to wet the feathers and allow the cool water to reach the skin. Then place the bird in a set of double plastic bags, squeeze out as much air as possible and place it in a refrigerator. Do not freeze it. Freezing damages the tissues making it more difficult to determine the bird’s cause of death. Having the bird necropsied is important to the health of the rest of your birds and to the health of its human companions as well.

The information I have given concerning veterinary care of your bird should not be construed as definitive. One of the good things about caiques is that they do not seem to be as prone to diseases and health problems as much as other parrot species. There has been a suggestion that caiques may be more susceptible to avian polyomavirus (Phalen, 1998), but this has not been confirmed (Ritchie, 1991). A sneeze now and then is OK. I have encountered a few other problems such as regurgitation, but I never attempt to medicate a bird without consulting a veterinarian. Using the over-the-counter antibiotics indiscriminately can lead to worse difficulties because the infectious organism may develop antibiotic resistance or worse disrupt the protective normal flora of the gut. Similarly, the bird sprays containing insecticides and the mite protectors are not only useless but dangerous. Healthy parrots seldom have mites. The book I recommend the layman on bird medicine is by Bonnie Doane entitled The Parrot in Health and Illness. I highly recommend it. Still, there is no substitute for a knowledgeable avian veterinarian.

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