MY
EXPERIENCES WITH GIARDIA
1989 We bought
our first two cockatiels, Clyde and
Rosco. They seemed very happy
and healthy.
1991 We bought a
red-bellied parrot, Petie, and a
Meyer's, Tony. They seemed
very happy and healthy.
1992 We took the
two cockatiels in for their first
checkups after learning that that
is a good thing to do (we didn't
know until then). The vet did
not check for Giardia. (At
that point in time I didn't even
know what it was, much less to ask
for a test to be done.)
August 1994 Petie,
red-bellied, began picking her
feathers out all of a sudden. We
took her to the vet, the vet ran
every test she thought necessary,
the tests came back normal, the vet
said it was probably behavioral,
and put Petie on an antidepressant
(Aventyl). Four months passed
as I watched Petie turn into a
perch potato, lose her playfulness,
cheerfulness, and happy
attitude. I even considered
if she would be better off if I had
her put down, as she was clearly
miserable.
December 1994 One
of our cockatiels began acting like
he had fleas, not picking, but
would look at his legs like
something was biting him, sort of
jumping, acting itchy, but not
picking. I took him to the
vet, who looked at him and said he
was fine. A Giardia test was
not run.
January 1995 At
this point I felt something was
wrong. I decided to get a
second opinion. I first took
my cockatiel in, the one who acted
like he had fleas. The vet
said it was classic symptoms of
Giardia. He ran a fecal
trichrome on both of our
cockatiels, Rosco and his cagemate,
Clyde, and they came back
positive. We then ran tests
on Petie and Tony, and they came
back negative. We treated the
four of them anyway, as Petie and
Tony had been around the two
cockattiels, so there was a chance
they could have caught Giardia from
them. The four birds were put
on metronidazole for
10 days. Rosco quit acting like he
had fleas and acting itchy,
but Petie still continued
picking. We put her on
another course of metronidazole
for 10 days. During the
second course of treatment she
began picking to the point of
bleeding, at which time I asked the
vet to do a feather biopsy, which
came back normal. It was only after
completing the second course of metronidazole
that she actually quit picking, and
didn't pick for 4 years. Later on
we realized that our Meyers did in
fact have Giardia even with a
negative fecal trichrome and was
giving it back to Petie.
February 1997 I
rescued a budgie, Danny, who tested
positive for Giardia. We treated
her with metronidazole.
She retested positive. We
retreated with metronidazole.
She remained Giardia-free for the
rest of her life.
January 1999
Petie started picking again all of
a sudden. We had just
recently moved from the suburbs,
which was close to our vet, to the
country, which was close to another
avian vet, and I requested metronidazole
from the new vet. We put her on a
round of metronidazole, only
a weaker version than before. She
still continued to pick. The
vet suggested it could be hormonal,
and it was suggested to place her
on ProFeda, but she continued to
pick.
May 1999 We bought three conures -- White-Eyed, Dusky, and Peach-Front -- and had all three tested for Giardia, two of whom tested positive. We treated all three because all three had been together. They retested negative.
June
1999 Petie was still picking
and I took her back to the vet who
had first diagnosed and treated
her, and he put her on a round of
stronger metronidazole than
she had been on back in January,
which worked, and she hasn't picked
since. During all this time Tony
was not tested for Giardia, since
Petie kept testing negative. I
decided to test her
anyway. Tony no
signs of having Giardia and was
actually the "silent
carrier" and seemingly the key
to Petie's picking.
February 2000 We
bought three budgies and tested all
three for Giardia, two of whom
tested positive. We treated
all three. They went through
treatment and retested negative.
MY
LESSONS LEARNED.
Many birds have Giardia, and many
don't show symptoms. It is
only through proper testing that we
can hope to find out if they have
it. Sometimes birds will test
negative and have Giardia or a
Giardia-like organism. I
believe when a bird has been to a
vet, has been thoroughly tested,
all tests come back normal or
negative, and there are no known
reasons for the bird to be picking
except to explain it as behavioral,
treating the bird with metronidazole
could help. As with any drug,
there are potential side effects.
We suggest discussing this with
your avian vet and deciding if the
possible risks of side effects
outweigh the possible benefits of
treatment. In Petie's case,
the benefits far outweighed the
risks of side effects, Petie is
again the happy bird she once was,
and I would do it again without
hesitation. According to Dr.
Harrison, metronidazole is
contraindicated for use in
finches. Treatment options
should be discussed with your avian
vet.