What are the most common Pigeons illnesses where you are?

Since we are truely a collection of interntional I am very interested in finding out the Pigeons illnesses the rest of you experience most with your own Pigeons or with rescues.
Here, if someone brings me a sick Pigeon it nearly always is down with the dreaded three...canker, coccidia and worms. Often the bird will have salmonella as well.
The worms or worm eggs don't show up in every fecal sample and often repeated sampling is needed to identify the worms...often there is more than one variety.

When I was taking in birds, the most common ailment was canker.

South Africa - Johannesburg area

1. Canker - 50%
2. PMV - 30%
3. Mycoplasma infection - 10%
4. Salmonella - 10 %

90% of the birds have parasites and
40% additionally coccidiosis or secondary infection
30% of PMV birds have injuries

Percentages may slightly vary for different seasons but these are global trends.

I've had the experience of treating one thing, such as canker and then another will emerge, treating that and then something else and so on.

Once bird's immune system is compromised all hidden problems emerge. It is not uncommon combination of problems to coexist. That is one of the main reasons why I use safest (as possible) and fast acting drugs. Once clear where (not always what) is the problem I use combination of drugs to medicate bird.
With lacking laboratory equipment and analysis, one can roughly group causes in:
- GI diseases (bacteria)
- Respiratory problems (bacteria)
- Protozoan infections
- Viral diseases
- Ectoparasites and worms infestation
- Wounds, bruises, broken bones (at least easy to notice by visual examination)
It simplifies treatment even if you are not sure exactly what you treating for, or what other underlying problem may exist.
One of my big mistakes I used to make in the beginning was that I tried to determine exact cause of illness in my patients. I was going through their symptoms, analyzing, selecting medicine, treating and wondering why is that bird getting worse.
Presently I treat every bird for canker, cocci, parasites and then think what to do.
Every sick bird gets syringe feeding for couple of days until clear that it eats alone and eats enough. No matter what is the condition/weight of the sick bird usually will not be able to compete for food with healthy birds and bit of fuel does no harm. Every rule has exemption of course and in this case it is crop stasis.
When this happens I know that it is either canker nodule or YBD and bird goes on diet. Although Candida also creates sour crop, I never had it in ferals before AB treatment.

Most birds I've taken in from the balcony or immediate area have been PMV, probably because they've not been difficult to catch.

Otherwise, it's been weak and undernourished 'winter squeakers' who've just lain down and given up and were scooped up with no fight left in them.

plamenh wrote:

Once bird's immune system is compromised all hidden problems emerge. It is not uncommon combination of problems to coexist. That is one of the main reasons why I use safest (as possible) and fast acting drugs. Once clear where (not always what) is the problem I use combination of drugs to medicate bird.
With lacking laboratory equipment and analysis, one can roughly group causes in:
- GI diseases (bacteria)
- Respiratory problems (bacteria)
- Protozoan infections
- Viral diseases
- Ectoparasites and worms infestation
- Wounds, bruises, broken bones (at least easy to notice by visual examination)
It simplifies treatment even if you are not sure exactly what you treating for, or what other underlying problem may exist.
One of my big mistakes I used to make in the beginning was that I tried to determine exact cause of illness in my patients. I was going through their symptoms, analyzing, selecting medicine, treating and wondering why is that bird getting worse.
Presently I treat every bird for canker, cocci, parasites and then think what to do.
Every sick bird gets syringe feeding for couple of days until clear that it eats alone and eats enough. No matter what is the condition/weight of the sick bird usually will not be able to compete for food with healthy birds and bit of fuel does no harm. Every rule has exemption of course and in this case it is crop stasis.
When this happens I know that it is either canker nodule or YBD and bird goes on diet. Although Candida also creates sour crop, I never had it in ferals before AB treatment.

I have learned to do that too. I watch for a bit to see if the bird is able to eat on his/her own and how many ppops the bird makes before I hand feed.
I have found it very helpful to just watch the bird.

Capuccino wrote:

Most birds I've taken in from the balcony or immediate area have been PMV, probably because they've not been difficult to catch.

Otherwise, it's been weak and undernourished 'winter squeakers' who've just lain down and given up and were scooped up with no fight left in them.

Squeakers are my speciality - I love to make them fat with shiny plumage.
One may compare me with a witch from Hensel and Gretel story. LOL

Quote :

I have found it very helpful to just watch the bird.

That's the main trick. With a bit of practice one can spot easily problems.

Capuccino wrote:

Most birds I've taken in from the balcony or immediate area have been PMV, probably because they've not been difficult to catch.

Otherwise, it's been weak and undernourished 'winter squeakers' who've just lain down and given up and were scooped up with no fight left in them.

I know that PMV birds are very common in the Bay area of California too.

plamenh wrote:

Capuccino wrote:

Most birds I've taken in from the balcony or immediate area have been PMV, probably because they've not been difficult to catch.

Otherwise, it's been weak and undernourished 'winter squeakers' who've just lain down and given up and were scooped up with no fight left in them.

Squeakers are my speciality - I love to make them fat with shiny plumage.
One may compare me with a witch from Hensel and Gretel story. LOL

There is nothing in this world as charming and precious as a squeaker.

The most common in this part of Portugal is a combination of Salmonellosis and Canker.
Some years, in mid-summer there are sudden outbreaks of YBS, and the onset is so sudden and so serious I've never managed to save one yet.
Pigeon racers complain of having frequent cases of Coccidiosis, so that must be one of the components of YBS, but I've only treated one bird for Cocci so far: Poppet, a PMV survivor.
PMV is relatively uncommon. Sammy is, effectively, my first PMV patient.
I've never tested my rescuees for worms, but they always get Ivermectin as soon as they are out of immediate danger.

This is just a guideline, as there are so many victims of predators (humans, cats, dogs and possibly rats) and traffic, and in many cases it is disease that makes them vulnerable to attack, but it's difficult to know which one. (Piper and Noel both had Salmonella lesions on their wing joints when they were caught and injured, respectively by a dog and a boy.

Quote :

Some years, in mid-summer there are sudden outbreaks of YBS, and the onset is so sudden and so serious I've never managed to save one yet.

This is a cocktail of diseases and I found that Adenosan from Chevita and Medimmune from Medpet work well, beside recular treatment for canker, cossi, parasites and secondary infections.

plamenh wrote:

Quote :

Some years, in mid-summer there are sudden outbreaks of YBS, and the onset is so sudden and so serious I've never managed to save one yet.

This is a cocktail of diseases and I found that Adenosan from Chevita and Medimmune from Medpet work well, beside recular treatment for canker, cossi, parasites and secondary infections.

I agree with you palmenh that YBD is a combination of diseases.
I suspect that by the time Teresa finds them, they can't pretend anymore and are already close to death.
I've never used Chevita products, which others have you used with sucess?

plamenh wrote:

Quote :

I have found it very helpful to just watch the bird.

That's the main trick. With a bit of practice one can spot easily problems.

So far I used:
Chlor-tetracycline+ in the past then I switched to Doxycicline.
Chloramphenicol-N is really good for Salmonella and GI infections.
Glucose with vitamins for recovery.
Ampicilin-T as general antibiotic
Aviosan - respiratory infections
and Livimun as immunity booster
There is a company that stocks all their products here in SA and although not cheap, their products are good.
I prefer to use tablet form of medications so some of these I switched to equivalents from other manufacturers.

plamenh wrote:

Quote :

Some years, in mid-summer there are sudden outbreaks of YBS, and the onset is so sudden and so serious I've never managed to save one yet.

This is a cocktail of diseases and I found that Adenosan from Chevita and Medimmune from Medpet work well, beside recular treatment for canker, cossi, parasites and secondary infections.

Is it a case of using one or the other, or do you use them both together?
I hope if that dreadful condition strikes again in the near future I'll have the means to fight it, but what was realy heartbreaking about the last outbreak was that in most cases the birds only lived a few minutes after I picked them up. There was not even a chance to medicate.

I used Adenosan separately and together with Medimune. First I discovered Adenosan when I had big problems with YBD. I was loosing birds daily and when started using it from 100% mortality rate dropped to 40%. With Medimune together with Adenosan I had even better results as mortality dropped to 10%.
I use Medimune for PMV birds good results and for every bird I treat in general. This is one of the best immune boosters I came across.

I work in an animal hospital and we get in pigeons from all over central Long Island. I'd say the most common problem I see that found domestic pigeons suffer from is starvation and dehydration. After a day or two of warmth, water and food they are usually looking 100% better. They where lost for whatever reason and couldn't find enough food and water resulting in weakness and debilitation. Which makes sense since they where raised in a loft and don't have the survival skills feral birds have. The most common problem for the ferals I get are injuries. Wounds, fractures, etc.

Worms and coccidia are seen fairly often in both domestic and feral. I haven't had any pigeons with canker or pox. I have had a few mourning doves with bad canker. PMV is seen but not very often. Overall, the feral flocks I see are quite healthy.

Jenaka wrote:

I work in an animal hospital and we get in pigeons from all over central Long Island. I'd say the most common problem I see that found domestic pigeons suffer from is starvation and dehydration. After a day or two of warmth, water and food they are usually looking 100% better. They where lost for whatever reason and couldn't find enough food and water resulting in weakness and debilitation. Which makes sense since they where raised in a loft and don't have the survival skills feral birds have. The most common problem for the ferals I get are injuries. Wounds, fractures, etc.

Worms and coccidia are seen fairly often in both domestic and feral. I haven't had any pigeons with canker or pox. I have had a few mourning doves with bad canker.

PMV is seen but not very often. Overall, the feral flocks I see are quite healthy.

When I first became involved in pigeons we had a run of them (12 to be exact) in a two week period that were found flipping about in our back yard.
It was suggested to me that they probably had PMV. At the time I had no idea what PMV was, so one by one, as I found them, I would take them to a local rehabber.

Between that time and now, what I have learned out about PMV symptoms being similar to other illnesses, I wonder if those birds really did have PMV.

Again, thinking back, it seems odd (certainly not impossible) that 12 PMV birds found their way to our backyard within a two week span.