Old World Aviaries

What is sick-bird syndrome?

Often as aviculturists and pet owners, we are confronted with a bird that is frequently described to me as ADR (ain't doin' rite). Typically, the owner presents a bird that is listless, with a history of rapid onset of depression with no previous indication of illness. The bird seemed to get sick overnight. Our pet or breeder bird just sits on the perch, eyes closed, fluffed, lethargic, silent, off food and water, with minimal response to stimulus. We call this sick-bird syndrome because the generalized signs of illness the bird is displaying are typical of a variety of illnesses.

Almost any avian illness you can name will elicit this same response. By the time the bird begins to show the signs of sick-bird syndrome, it may be in an advanced stage of illness, so timely medical intervention is essential. This is because the bird has been hiding his illness from us, which is an evolutionary survival mechanism common to all species of birds.

Sick-bird syndrome is typical for almost any disease. For some diseases, the signs identify the disease. (Vets refer to symptoms as signs because a symptom is actually described by a patient while a sign is observed.) These are called pathognomonic signs. But more often than not, generalized, non-specific signs are elicited as sick-bird syndrome.

Miami avian veterinarian Don Harris has a presentation in which he shows a slide of a bird with sick-bird syndrome and states that this bird is displaying signs of psittacosis. He then shows the exact same bird in the next slide and says that it is displaying signs of Pacheco's disease. He then shows the same bird for a third, fourth, and fifth disease. This illustrates that when birds get sick, there is little means for making a diagnosis just on the basis of presentation, because most sick birds display the same behavior, sick-bird syndrome.

Why do birds wait so long to “tell” their owners that they are feeling ill? Nature has provided birds with evolutionary protective mechanisms that ensure survival. For example, if an Amazon parrot in the jungle of Brazil becomes ill, he will hide his illness from flockmates and predators. If he displays overt signs of illness, he is likely to be selected as prey by a passing harpy eagle or attacked by his flockmates. This deceptive behavior buys the bird time to heal without singling himself out as different. So, the bird will hide his illness until he has absolutely no energy left for deception.

This same behavior carries over into our pet and breeding birds. Even babies that we have hand reared and that apparently trust us implicitly will often revert to this instinctual survival mechanism. Many times when I visit aviaries and must survey large numbers of birds quickly, I do not look directly at the birds but view them peripherally. Why? Because a direct stare indicates to the bird that you are viewing him as a prey item. The bird will respond by putting up his best front to state that, “I am well and aggressive, leave me alone.” But by surreptitiously viewing the birds, one can see signs of illness that are displayed as sick-bird syndrome. Household pets act the same way. When the bird is viewed directly in the cage, he seems normal. But by spying on him from a corner, we see the bird become lethargic and fluffed when he is not threatened.

Other clues accompany sick-bird syndrome as signs of illness. Usually, the bird is not eating. It is a good idea to check the food daily for cracked seed, crumbled pellets, or chewed fruit. Sometimes, because of our hectic schedules, we glance into the cage and see food in the dish without really looking at it. If the seed is not cracked or pellets crumbled, then the bird is probably off food. When you have the flu, you don't feel like eating either. Check the water for soiling. Almost all birds will carry food particles into their water. Finally, examine the stool. If it is scant and bright green, the bird may not be eating.

If the bird is housed with other birds, he may be attacked by his cagemates. They can detect abnormal behavior long before we can. We all know about the pecking order in chickens. Other flocking birds are no different. And if the appropriate social cues are not responded to in the correct fashion, the bird is tagged as abnormal and often ostracized by the flock. The reasoning behind this is that a sick bird draws the attention of predators to the flock, and the sick bird may infect others in the flock.

Upon physical examination, we often find that the bird has a sharp keel. That is, the pectoral or breast muscles have atrophied, which is a sure sign that the bird is loosing weight. Emphatically, you cannot assess a bird's weight by viewing on the perch regardless of what any expert tells you. You must actually feel the pectoral mass, which can be a challenge with our more aggressive patients. The pectoral mass should be rounded and domed for normal weight. If the keel bone which divides the pectoral muscle mass is prominent and sharp, the bird is anorexic. If the bird has dimpling around the keel, the bird is obese.

By the time sick-bird syndrome is evident, medical intervention is critical. With our smaller patients, such as canaries and finches, we may have only hours to a half day. With larger birds such as macaws and Amazons, we may have 1 to 3 days. The time depends on the initial condition of the bird, the age, the species, the time span of the illness, and the exact type of illness the bird has. Often, if the bird reaches this advanced stage of illness, he may be too weak to handle safely, so even medical intervention can be hazardous.

In summary, almost all birds possessing a variety of illnesses will display the same signs, sick-bird syndrome. We must be vigilant as aviculturists and pet owners to detect any subtle clues of illness. We are the bird's flock and hopefully the dominant member. So it is our responsibility to monitor for illness, not the bird's responsibility to readily display the signs.