Bird Toxin

Day 5 of the AAVAC-UPAV Conference, and the last day!

This is the last update for this week, but ill dig out some gems from the conference in future weeks to keep you Exotics Vets informed!

Today is a short and snappy friday post – which is things birds shouldn’t eat!

The green delicious avocado is toxic to birds! There is a fat soluble fungicidal toxin in all parts of the avocado plant called Persin, which in birds can have adverse effects in as little as 15 minutes, or delayed up to 96 hours.

Clinical signs include:

In canaries the LD50 is as little as 100 g/per bird, and in cockatiels the LD 50 20-30 g/per bird.

Keep your birds away from avocado, keep it on your toast.

Big chunks of onion, and as little of a quarter clove of garlic can  be lethal to companion birds. So avoid them at all costs!

Onion and garlic are both Allium spp plants, which have sulfoxide components which cause oxidative damage to red blood cells, which can result in:

So avoid giving your birds onion and garlic!

Chocolate is great for us, but bad for dogs, cats and our bird friends. Chocolate has a trio of toxic methylxanthine components –

You can see CNS signs including – seizures, hypertension, cardiavascular failure, diarrhoea and respiratory failure.

The best thing to do is provide attentive supportive care and TLC.

Fly to it!

References: 

Powers. L. Bird Toxins, AAVAC-UPAV Conference. 2018.