The Importance Of Worming

When I take in a new bird, I always automatically worm them, and treat for canker. Then they are kept isolated from the others for about a month. Just to make sure that they are healthy. Hopefully, in that amount of time, if they are ill, it will show. My new rescue Aries felt a bit light to me, and his keel is a bit easier to feel than I would like, so the first night, shortly after he arrived he was wormed. I used Ivermectin, down the throat, and the next morning this is what I found. And this wasn't even all of them. There were more.



He will be wormed again in about 10 days, and hopefully will be feeling much better.
The girl that had kept him for 2 weeks said she wondered about worms, because he was eating like a little pig, but not gaining any weight. But then he seemed to slow down on the eating. The thing is that worms will do that. At first they will eat a lot of food, but as the worms multiply and start making the bird sick, they will go off their feed, and can go light. Because they aren't eating much they begin to lose weight. Worms can do an awful lot of damage to a bird if left untreated, they can even migrate to the brain and cause neurological damage that can mimic PMV. Eventually, they can kill the bird. Many people never worm their birds. I worm my birds twice a year, spring and fall, and any new birds immediately upon arrival. I think it's a good idea

Jay...that picture is just horrifying that all those worms were in a little pigeon. The things my nightmares are made of.
Thank goodness you wormed him.

Even sadder is that there were more than this. How do all those fit in a little birds tummy? Can you just imagine what that felt like?

That's incredible, Jay. And probably not all that unusual.
Thanks for the reminder.

Eek, what a sight! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Good warning, NiteOwl, I don't think anyone will neglect worming their birds after seeing that!

OH MY GOODNESS! I can't believe all of those came out of Aries. Wow. Poor baby!
He must be feeling so much better now!

I know. Hard to believe it could get that bad. Doubt that he had ever been wormed. And it's such an easy thing to do.

We follow the same procedure here Jay. Automatically worming twice a year & any new comers to the sanctuary get wormed during quarentine.

Its better to be safe than sorry.

EgypSwiftLady wrote:

We follow the same procedure here Jay. Automatically worming twice a year & any new comers to the sanctuary get wormed during quarentine.

Its better to be safe than sorry.

It sure is!