UK daily newspaper, the Daily Mail, has reported that a market research group, “The Best Organisation”, has accused UK vets of overcharging for pet medicine products that are available on the high street at up to 500% less!

Products included:

• flea (and mite?) treatments
• worming treatments
• anti-stress treatments
• eye drops
• nutritional supplements

In one specific example, a veterinary practice in North London charged £59.50 for Optimmune eye ointment – which is available on-line for £23.86.

Andrew Evans, of on-line veterinary pharmacy, Vet-Medic, said:

This research offers huge insight into the pricing structures of pet medication.

When we commissioned the research to help us keep our own pricing competitive, we made the assumption that on-line shopping should come out cheaper – but were staggered by how much.

Harvey Locke, President–Elect of the British Veterinary Association, described the accusations of price inflation as “unfair”.

He said:

Veterinary practices will mark up the cost of the medicines they supply in order to cover the costs of keeping and dispensing them.

PLEASE NOTE: It must be noted that the accusations above are not directed at prescription items essential for animal and bird treatments as far as is known (Gerald Binks).

Second Birdroom Fails To Perform

The story was highly significant as the reader will quickly understand. It concerned a completely baffled fancier who had built a second birdroom alongside his highly successful existing structure.

The earlier birdroom had 16 cages and was breeding winners which were in high demand – hence the need to expand. The breeder decided to duplicate matters. The new structure also faced in the same direction. Some birds, upon completion of aviary number two, were transferred to the new room with a great deal of optimism.

After a few weeks it became obvious that breeding was poor and the question was “Why?”. The old birdroom was breeding at the same time and producing good numbers of chicks as usual. In the new room, infertility abounded and what chicks there were, were not being fed properly. Dead tiny chicks appeared regularly.

Possible Solutions

The situation was baffling. Heaps of thought went into determining the cause of the problem. Feeding was identical as were the night lights, heating and so on. There was also plenty of budgerigar noise so attention turned to the fitness of the stock in both birdrooms, but could a virus be affecting matters? Thoughts turned to a discussion with an Avian Veterinary Surgeon.

The vet pointed out that a new room would possess a colony of bacteria and viruses that would build up naturally after the “new” stock was transferred. However, it was feasible that a group of “bugs” had intervened and it was this factor that was the underlying cause of infertility and hatchability.

“Perhaps the aviary needs fumigating?”, was his suggestion.

It was at this point that I was approached. Our intrepid fancier called me. He went through the whole matter in great depth, with me, as I always do, making notes throughout.

He was thinking in terms of using a sulphur fumigation process, but I know this turns everything in sight a dirty yellow, as well as killing off most bacteria and fungi. (You cannot kill a virus!!)

I knew also, from experience, that because you are so committed to your problem, there will be blind spots that you miss, so you need to come at the problem from a different angle.

I rang down and thought about it for a few days. Everything was duplicated and I could not work it out which annoyed me.

We Saw The Light!

I rang him back.

We went through it all again, with me looking for a new clue in his chat with me. I then asked about his night lighting. His answer was fine – it wasn’t the night lighting.

Then he said, “the new birdroom main lights are on from 07.45 hours until 22.00 hours, non stop”. Suddenly I saw it. “Why are they on so long?” I asked. “Oh, it’s because the new room is in a darker area under some trees” was the reply. “And the old aviary lighting hours, what are they?”, I asked. “They are different because that aviary is unaffected by trees, so the lights come on at at 07.45 hours, off again at 10.30 hours until 16.00 hours, when they come on again until 22.00 hours and off for the night.”

There was his problem. His birds in the new birdroom were not getting any rest at all in daylight hours. They were hyperactive, but this did not mean that they were sufficiently rested to effect good breeding results.

All breeders of experience know that approaching midday, any aviary in standard timed lighting conditions as this breeder’s old aviary was timed, have a good two to four hours rest.

The aviary goes quiet for this period. Then once rested and the 16.00 hours lighting returns, the birds are active again. The hens come out of the boxes and excrete and are mated immediately.

Lessons Learned

There was the problem and in about 8 weeks both aviaries were churning out chicks as a result of this fancier’s good husbandry which was only spoilt by a small error.

Both of us had learned something in the process. It just illustrates how something small and innocent affects good breeding results.

Obviously I cannot guarantee this applies to sunnier climates – compared to those that we have in the UK, but the fact that birds have a requirement for rest periods should not be lost.

Zoology was however to prove a very useful source of knowledge in understanding the basics of animal and human anatomy. I could see that having started breeding budgerigars at the age of 12, that this subject could prove useful but I did not realise, and still do not, how difficult the external diagnosis of disease in our birds was going to be.

Avian Veterinary Surgeons

As I grew older, I naturally lost birds from time to time and I quickly found out that the veterinary profession was sadly lacking in advice and help when I needed it. Subsequently, I was advised that the veterinary colleges only spend about a week on all birds in a five to six year course. Perhaps I am being cynical, but I think many students must have taken leave during that week because so many vets that I have tried over the years, struggle to help you. One actually said, “You obviously know more than I do so what drugs do you want?” Hardly comforting, so I quickly dropped him.

Today, I know that there are specialist avian vets upon whom to get some help but usually they are at a distance and getting a bird to them is near impossible to be of use. Unfortunately such credible vets are rare and you need a vet who has the vital laboratory equipment backing him / her. I worked in laboratories for BP for many years so I fully understand what is required and there is a great deal of expense involved in acquiring essential back up equipment. This will reflect in charges that are levied in addition to the avian expert’s knowledge. When I left BP to start BW Magazine in 1982, my charge out rate for work carried out for other companies was, even then, £170 per hour. What it is today I can only guess at, but the moral is that you only get what you pay for.

All of us need to understand that following the death of a bird(s), a carcase starts to degrade and deteriorate rapidly. I will give you an example later. So sending a bird via the postal services however speedy is useless and I quote David Jones (former Chief Veterinary Officer at London Zoo and later Director of London and Whipsnade Zoos):

“It is far better to get two ailing birds that can be euthanized and the body tissues examined immediately if you want accuracy and correct diagnosis to be the order of the day”.

Many UK and European fanciers will remember the late Mick Mapston who was not only one of our finest judges, but who also possessed a great sense of humour. Years ago the UK Budgerigar Society used a veterinary service for its members (no longer) and pretty well every diagnostic report that the member would receive about his dead bird contained the assertion that “Cranial Haemorrhage” was a cause.

Mick said:

“I know the answer to that. When you take the bird to the post office addressed to your vet, it’s the woman behind the counter who bangs the package with the post office stamp!”

Mick’s humour is sadly missed.

Primary Cause Of Death

I referred earlier to the immediate changes that start to occur in a carcase after death. The proof of this, to give one example, was that in 1970 I was approached by a lady fancier of note to help her solve a major problem with her stock. Unfortunately these sick birds exhibited the same symptoms as 15 other diseases we know about. Fortunately they also were noticed to be creating “dust” in their seed bowls and were constantly eating by grinding up the grain into tiny particles to get a few grains down into their crops. Fungal treatment was not effective, so what was the primary cause?

Various vets had been tried before I was approached, but all failed without an accurate diagnosis. I decided to write a full report to my vet which ran into six pages. That was sent up to London Zoo Veterinary Dept. and then I was asked to obtain several live birds that were suffering and take them up to David Jones himself. He passed these birds to a young and very able qualified vet called Gordon Henderson. Henderson euthanized the birds and quickly established that the problem was caused by two different protozoa called giardia and trichomonas.

Where the former vets had gone wrong was not realising that these protozoa either disappeared or died within 10 minutes of the death of the birds. Also the gut contained fungi which lined the oesophagus and was destroying the linings of the gizzards which were confirmed as ulcerated.

In due course Henderson found that the real primary cause was ingested trichomonads probably from wild birds and especially pigeons via open flights. Note: Avian Flu could be contracted easily without covered flights. These “bugs” then swim in the gut and change the PH (acid/alkali levels) with the result that the fungi were getting a firm hold and reducing the diameter of the oesophagus and other internal damage. Now you know why posted carcases can be a wasted exercise.

Place New Birds in Quarantine

Some time ago, a very nice and dedicated fancier (Mr A), who had developed a high quality stud of light greens and grey greens, started to lose all his hens and eventually all died and he was devastated. The damage was done before I heard about it.

His cocks still looked fit so these were passed to a friend (Mr B). Later Mr B called me saying he was very worried as his birds were now suffering and informed me that Mr A had bought in a bird(s) from a fancier in Yorkshire but had not quarantined them after purchase as they “looked” perfectly fit. The trouble started soon after.

I advised Mr B to now do the sensible thing and take two birds to a known avian specialist vet. However he was not keen to do so saying, “But he will charge £300 to check everything.” I felt that was folly and I have heard nothing since.

The fact is that we all have to understand that any new purchase from an aviary that exhibits poor management with uncovered outside flights, can be supplying birds that are, even unknowingly, “carriers” of disease.

It has to be in all our interests to confine new introductions well away from the main bird room under quarantine conditions for 30 days and run them through a course of antibiotic, an antiprotozoal drug and a de-wormer, in that period. Immediately following, put them through a course of a multi-vitamin solution (such as abidec) to restore their metabolism back to normal.

None of this is difficult to do but how many of us actually do it? Not many is the answer, but the penalties are a disaster if you do not.

Real Solutions

I have to confess that even with the quality aviary and facilities that I have here, I still find there is great difficulty in wondering why I lose the odd hen when she is breeding for no apparent reason and why with clean surroundings you get the odd sick bird appearing – often just ill but without any external symptoms so that you don’t know exactly which drug could be the answer.

So often in such circumstances the bird is lost even with great attention to its welfare with being kept warm with a heat source and treatment. Taking such a bird away from the heat source to a vet can accelerate matters as well, as so often a vet will not offer a drug without seeing the bird. That is understandable, but with vets being inexperienced with birds you are mostly on your own with the odd infected bird.

Only when there is a major infection across the stud are you forced, if you are sensible, to pay out for a real avian expert. Frustrating? You bet it is, because none of us likes to lose birds unnecessarily and of course “It’s always a good one that is the cause for worry”.

Have I any real solutions? Frankly, no. As one famous fancier said to me some years ago, “After 65 years in this hobby I feel I know nothing about budgerigars.” I couldn’t agree more!