Petey is a female Patagonian Conure who lived with my flock for about four years. Every summer, she would seem to get an upper respiratory infection that I would treat her with antibiotics for. Since it happened every summer, and the antibiotics didn't seem to help all that much but it would clear up again once the weather started to get cool, the vets seemed to think that maybe she had an allergy.
In the summer of 2008, Petey's upper respiratory infection was much worse than in other summers. She was having trouble flying without wheezing and I started to see tail bobbing and other breathing issues, a possible sign of Aspergillios. After thousands of dollars of tests and still no answer, I was going to let the vets biopsy Petey's lungs and air sacs to see if we could get a sample of whatever it was we were seeing on her radiographs. A friend, Barb, convinced me to let her take Petey to her home for a week to see if she did better in an environment that wasn't as dusty as mine. I was convinced that Petey has Asper but I let Barb take her and Petey immediately started showing signs of improvement over the week.
Barb and I talked and I decided it was in Petey's best interest to stay with Barb and Barb was more than willing to take Petey. She has absolutely flourished in Barb's care and no longer even wants to have anything to do with me, which saddens me to some point, but I'm so thrilled that she's so happy with Barb and that everything worked out. Barb takes Petey out for daily walks and fresh air and this has helped the situation greatly but she still shows small signs of distress in the winter now.
So, what was it that caused Petey's problems? Simply put, it was dust. Dust from my Timneh grey and my Docorps' Cockatoo and then dust from the red tailed grey I brought home in the spring of 2008. Clancy CAG is as dusty, if not more so than Reggie D2 and this is what made Petey's "allergies" act even worse that final summer with me.
There is a disease called Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome, seen mostly in Macaws, especially in Blue and Golds, and is an extreme sensitivity to dust and irritants in the air. While Petey was not a Macaw, Conures are closely related to Macaws. The dust from my three dusty birds was literally killing Petey as we searched for other diseases. Her lungs and air sacs are now permanently damaged due to what she went through in my home but at least we caught it in time to save her life. You can read more about PHS here or do a search on it for more information.
In the summer of 2008, Petey's upper respiratory infection was much worse than in other summers. She was having trouble flying without wheezing and I started to see tail bobbing and other breathing issues, a possible sign of Aspergillios. After thousands of dollars of tests and still no answer, I was going to let the vets biopsy Petey's lungs and air sacs to see if we could get a sample of whatever it was we were seeing on her radiographs. A friend, Barb, convinced me to let her take Petey to her home for a week to see if she did better in an environment that wasn't as dusty as mine. I was convinced that Petey has Asper but I let Barb take her and Petey immediately started showing signs of improvement over the week. Barb and I talked and I decided it was in Petey's best interest to stay with Barb and Barb was more than willing to take Petey. She has absolutely flourished in Barb's care and no longer even wants to have anything to do with me, which saddens me to some point, but I'm so thrilled that she's so happy with Barb and that everything worked out. Barb takes Petey out for daily walks and fresh air and this has helped the situation greatly but she still shows small signs of distress in the winter now. So, what was it that caused Petey's problems? Simply put, it was dust. Dust from my Timneh grey and my Docorps' Cockatoo and then dust from the red tailed grey I brought home in the spring of 2008. Clancy CAG is as dusty, if not more so than Reggie D2 and this is what made Petey's "allergies" act even worse that final summer with me. There is a disease called Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome, seen mostly in Macaws, especially in Blue and Golds, and is an extreme sensitivity to dust and irritants in the air. While Petey was not a Macaw, Conures are closely related to Macaws. The dust from my three dusty birds was literally killing Petey as we searched for other diseases. Her lungs and air sacs are now permanently damaged due to what she went through in my home but at least we caught it in time to save her life. You can read more about PHS here or do a search on it for more information.
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