How to Look After Your Parrots if You've Been Diagnosed With Psittacosis

If you've been feeling unwell for a while, then you'll have got to the stage where you visit your GP for advice. After running tests, your doctor asks if you keep or work with birds because they think you have an infection called psittacosis.

You tell your GP that you keep parrots as pets, at which stage your doctor prescribes a course of antibiotics. They also tell you that your birds may need some help. What should you do with your parrots now?

Take Them to the Vet

Birds can pass psittacosis on to humans. While this happens rarely, contact with feather dust and droppings could be the root of your problem.

While you'll usually recover quickly once your antibiotic treatment kicks in, you should be worried about your parrots. Even if they seem fine, there is a chance that they also have the infection. They probably gave it to you.

If your birds do have psittacosis, then they also need treatment. They may need a long course of specialist antibiotics. Bear in mind that this disease can be fatal for birds, so the sooner they start treatment the better.

So, take your birds to your local veterinary service and explain what has happened. If your birds are ill, tell your vet about their symptoms. Your vet will run tests on your parrots to check for infection and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Disinfect Their Cages

If you and your birds do have psittacosis, then you will need to do some work on their cages. This protects you and your pets.

Psittacosis can stay in the environment for long periods. So, even if you have your parrots treated, you need to eradicate it from their living quarters. If you don't, they could pick it up again once their treatment is over.

Typically, you should start by completely clearing out your cage or cages and disinfecting them. Your vet can advise you on how to make your cages sterile without harming your birds. If your parrots can stay at home at this stage, you may need somewhere else for them to live until you're done.

From this point, you may need to up your cleaning game. Your vet will give you advice on how to keep the environment sterile on a day to day basis. Typically, you'll need to ensure that your cages are kept clean and free from droppings or dust as much as possible.

To find out more about psittacosis and how to manage your parrots and their care, talk to your vet.

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