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http://www.avianbiotech.com/Diseases/Polyoma.htm

Yankee has not been vacinated, because Tammy at DJ Aviary said that her vet did not recommend it. I would be interested to know if most of the caique owners on this site, keep their caique vacinated yearly?

Cathy wrote:Yankee has not been vacinated, because Tammy at DJ Aviary said that her vet did not recommend it. I would be interested to know if most of the caique owners on this site, keep their caique vacinated yearly?

Good question to all here!! How necessary is it to have the bird vaccinated if your bird won't be in contact with any other birds?? Thanks for all your input on our questions......

Most vets don't recommend it. I think the reason was that babies are most likely to catch it but adults aren't. If the new baby has been tested and it's fine, there is no reason to do it.


Kate

I did a bunch of reading about this when we first got Sparky. I highly recomend googling 'polyoma' and 'caique'. What I found was:

1) in most species polyoma is only a problem in baby birds. Caiques are an exception. They seem to be suseptible for their whole life! I have found several avian vets who do not know this and assume it is only a baby bird problem for all species.
2) Polyoma virus is present (but I have no idea how common) in the environment and the wild bird population, so you can bring it into the house with you, your bird need not interact directly with infected birds.
3) except for a possible small irritation at the injection site, there aren't any side effects to having the vaccination or annual booster.

We got both Sparky and Mika vaccinated as soon as we got them (8mo for Sparky and about 4mo for Mika) and have and will continue to get annual boosters unless I find something that conclusively contradicts what I have found thus far. Please let me know if anybody finds out differently. I know the shot is uncomfortable and I sure wouldn't do it if I didn't feel I had to.

It's unnecessary to have annual injections for Polyoma virus. It's primarily a baby bird issue.

Here is a good summarry with links to a number of articles on polyoma and the vaccine.

http://www.caiquecapersandmews.com/polyoma.html

Many of the articles by avian vets I've run across here and elsewhere recomend annual boosters. And a fair number indicate that Caiques have more problems with polyoma than other species: more likely to contract and deadlier when they do, even in adult birds.

Sandy, if you're still researching this, I just want to ensure that you know you've got two excellent avian vets near you to ask: Dr Donald Zantop near Baltimore and Dr Scott Stahl in Vienna, VA. I feel certain both could settle this question for you.

Tammy Kramer of DJ Feathers used the same vet I did; she's now retired. When the first polyoma vaccines became available in '97, one of my babies reacted with alarming restlessness to the first shot and died within seconds of the second The vet was almost as devastated as I was It may well have influenced her longterm opinion of the vaccine, as it did mine.

Actually Scott Stahl is our vet. After we asked about the particular suseptibility of caiques to polyoma, he agreed to give the annual boosters. I am sorry to hear that your bird had problems with the early vaccine. It is my impression that there were a lot of problems with the vaccine for polyoma at first but that the vaccine used now is safer. I think you are right that those initial problems left a lasting impression which still influences most vets and owners. For my part, niether of our birds had a bad reaction to the vaccine and given what I've read, I will continue to get the boosters. I will continue to read, too. There just isn't much data so everybody, including the vets, are making their best guess, mostly from anecdotal accounts.

sandy wrote:Actually Scott Stahl is our vet. ... those initial problems left a lasting impression which still influences most vets and owners. ...

He's great, isn't he?! I feel certain Branson Ritchie improved the vaccine quickly, but those fears are hard to shake. I've added only one baby to my flock since -- one of Tammy's tiels -- and, after testing negative, he wasn't vaccinated.