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Hello!

Happy Holidays to all!

Well, it turns out that I just love birds. I have my Lovie, Sawyer, and I was at PetCo buying him some more pellets. There was a new Green Cheeked Conure there in need of adoption. He's a year old and he instantly bonded with me. I really want to adopt him, but I don't want to "offend" the bird I have. Sawyer is extremely sweet, never bites, and is on my shoulder and causing mischief outside his cage every chance he gets. Saywer is just over two years old and has always been a single male loverbird. I guess I'm not sure what to do...Sawyer will always come first, but if a sweet bird needs a home, then who am I to deny that too? What does everyone think?

Thanks!

I would caution you against even visiting a PetCo/PetsMart/PetLand, much less bringing home a bird who's been in one of the big bird stores If the little conure has your heart in too tight a grip for your brain to have any chance, rush the new bird to your avian vet for comprehensive bloodwork and disease testing, especially Psittacosis(Chlamydia) and PBFD. Then put the bird into very careful quarantine in your home for 30-90 days, depending on what your vet finds via tests and recommends to you.

Quarantine means no or minimal airflow between him and Sawyer, and wearing different shoes and a cover-up (like a bathrobe) while in the quarantine room to avoid carrying bacteria back to Sawyer. Of course, wash your hands, arms, and face thoroughly after each venture into the quarantine room.

Since you love birds, this might be your first experience with the procedure you should follow whenever you add a bird to your flock. It's no fun AT ALL, but neither would you enjoy the grief of letting a new pal kill Sawyer. The rigors of quarantine are the reason many bird lovers have only one! Birdie birth control of sorts

http://www.oldworldaviaries.com/text/mi ... chols1.htm

http://www.parrotchronicles.com/winter2 ... antine.htm

http://www.quakerparrots.com/qtips/quar ... ptions.htm

http://www.parrotparrot.com/articles/aa093099.htm

Bluesbird Exotics wrote:I would caution you against even visiting a PetCo/PetsMart/PetLand, much less bringing home a bird who's been in one of the big bird stores If the little conure has your heart in too tight a grip for your brain to have any chance, rush the new bird to your avian vet for comprehensive bloodwork and disease testing, especially Psittacosis(Chlamydia) and PBFD. Then put the bird into very careful quarantine in your home for 30-90 days, depending on what your vet finds via tests and recommends to you.

Quarantine means no or minimal airflow between him and Sawyer, and wearing different shoes and a cover-up (like a bathrobe) while in the quarantine room to avoid carrying bacteria back to Sawyer. Of course, wash your hands, arms, and face thoroughly after each venture into the quarantine room.

Since you love birds, this might be your first experience with the procedure you should follow whenever you add a bird to your flock. It's no fun AT ALL, but neither would you enjoy the grief of letting a new pal kill Sawyer. The rigors of quarantine are the reason many bird lovers have only one! Birdie birth control of sorts

http://www.oldworldaviaries.com/text/mi ... chols1.htm

http://www.parrotchronicles.com/winter2 ... antine.htm

http://www.quakerparrots.com/qtips/quar ... ptions.htm

http://www.parrotparrot.com/articles/aa093099.htm

Well there you go again Chicken Little.... "The sky is falling, the sky is falling" Well at least I see you are backing up your doom and gloom predictions with at least some citations now!

You don't have to be so stringent as the poster above referred to. A simple quarantine means that the bird is in another room, with a different air supply, that is correct. But to change out your shoes and go through all those other things are a bit extreme. I quarantine birds for my DVM and she "ONLY" requires that for a positive blood result after testing. Look it is correct to get tests done but I wouldn't go that far. Since the bird is not that expensive, you might consider that the blood work be done by yourself using a kit from many of the places that even the DVM's use like: http://www.avianbiotech.com/

Order the kit and take blood just like they instruct you to do. Send in the kit and ask for the big five test. This will assure you that everything is normal, and for the most part it is! These strains of avian diseases are highly irregular and in the minority not the majority! There was a strain that went through a few pet stores last winter (2007) but that was Petsmart. http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Pet_Birds_in_PetSmart_Stores_Tested_Positive_for_Bacterial_Infection_12344.html

Ok, ok, chicken little don't get your feathers all ruffled

Dutch

I have heard all the stories about PetSmart......but have heard very little with Petco.......it would be a shame if Petco had to pay the price for Petsmart's problems! Also.....not ALL Petco's or Petsmarts are bad! I have a Petco here and have never seen any problem and I actually got my first bird there, my Woody and he is happy and healthy. I also know of a couple of other people who have gotten their birds at this Petco and all are healthy! SOoooooo, I don't feel this way at all when it comes to the Petco here. We don't have a Petsmart locally, so I don't know, but I believe Petsmart was the one who had the problems with their birds and also the one who gets their birds from a bad place. I know where the birds come from at my Petco.....I asked! I also worked for some time with a guy who had a second job at our Petco, and have never heard anything negative about it. ALSO.....Petco gives out 2 dollar coupons with some reciepts randomly.......you have to call a number to activate it and give your opinions and if you see anything negative in their store.....so obviously SOMEone wants to know and make sure all is well!

Oh......one more thing......it may be a gloom and doom prediction.......BUT I believe that this is just someone who worries because they have seen it happen and it's a terrible thing to go through.....I don't know, I haven't experienced this or gone through it, but I would imagine if I did that I might be prone to "gloom and doom" predictions as well!

Well there you go again Chicken Little.... "The sky is falling, the sky is falling" Well at least I see you are backing up your doom and gloom predictions with at least some citations now!

While we don't have to agree with the ideas/suggestions of others, there is no need for flaming or name calling. We are all adults here and we are here because we have the best interests of our birds in common. We all have different methods, and while yours are different, there is no need to belittle someone because they see things differently. You obviously have never lost a bird because you didn't follow strict biosecurity. Those of us who have learned the lesson the hard way.