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Post by ffiscool on Feb 19, 2022 23:08:34 GMT
I’m wondering how long any viruses can live on soft furnishings. I don’t know, but would they not die off?
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Post by criswell on Feb 19, 2022 23:31:30 GMT
PBFD is a very persistent complex virus. It needs a much stronger concentration of F10 to kill it than other viruses. I was just reading something from an Australian vet website that says no new birds should be acquired in an aviary for 18 months after an infected bird has died, because the virus can live for 18 months in organic matter including feather dust. I will certainly do my best to vacuum, wash, and disinfect everything in the lounge. It certainly can't multiply without a host but it seems like it can persist for a long time.
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Post by Loz on Feb 20, 2022 0:35:05 GMT
Best of luck to you and Dexter, criswellThat is one nasty bug.
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Post by criswell on Feb 20, 2022 1:12:33 GMT
Thank you loz. It really is a nasty virus.
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Post by Hezz on Feb 20, 2022 1:37:12 GMT
PBFD is a very persistent complex virus. It needs a much stronger concentration of F10 to kill it than other viruses. I was just reading something from an Australian vet website that says no new birds should be acquired in an aviary for 18 months after an infected bird has died, because the virus can live for 18 months in organic matter including feather dust. I will certainly do my best to vacuum, wash, and disinfect everything in the lounge. It certainly can't multiply without a host but it seems like it can persist for a long time. This is exactly my understanding, as well, the only difference being that my vet advised me that cleaning the aviary and all aviary furniture down with the correct concentration of F10, or bleach would work as well, and leave the aviary free for two months. The bird that I had put in there was only there for a couple of days. Since the vets do deal with PBFD on a regular basis and do also run an exotics surgery, most being birds, then they would know their sh*t when it comes to cleaning between patients. I did both the bleach and then the F10.
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Post by criswell on Feb 20, 2022 17:49:52 GMT
Thanks Hezz I'm sure your vets know exactly what they are doing, and I shall take their advice. The site I was reading didn't even mention cleaning and disinfection.
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Post by criswell on Feb 20, 2022 23:45:27 GMT
What bird with PBFD did you have in the aviary Hezz? Was it a wild one?
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Post by Hezz on Feb 21, 2022 1:00:59 GMT
Thanks Hezz I'm sure your vets know exactly what they are doing, and I shall take their advice. The site I was reading didn't even mention cleaning and disinfection. Ah, that makes sense then. I guess not everyone would be able to empty out and clean down an aviary completely. What bird with PBFD did you have in the aviary Hezz? Was it a wild one? It was, criswell. A young cockatoo who didn’t hold, or grow, his flight feathers. He was being targeted by some butcherbirds low down to the ground with the parents high in the trees calling, calling. At first they were trying to fight off the butcher birds but there were too many, I think. They are aggressive, and being smaller didn’t matter. I heard the commotion and raced out to do what I could, caught he and popped him in the aviary for safety. At the time I didn’t know what the problem was. I think it might have been over a weekend, so he had been there a few days by the time I got him to the vet to be checked out. She said then that PBFD was a possibility but would give him a proper checkup when she had a break between patients and time to give him an anaesthetic to check for breaks. She put him to sleep as soon as she was sure of the diagnosis. Sad, but the right thing to do.
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Post by criswell on Feb 21, 2022 18:18:57 GMT
Well done for helping the little guy, and definitely the kindest thing for the vet to do.
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Post by criswell on May 12, 2022 16:47:13 GMT
It's time for me to properly say goodbye to my lovely little Dean Stockwell. Dean Stockwell came to us in June 2019. He was found as a stray on a busy road in Cardiff and handed in to the local vets. They passed him on to our friends who run a rescue and we offered him a home. The first thing I noticed about him was how tiny he was. By far the smallest budgies I've seen. He still had a few baby bars on his forhead, his cere was bright blue but he didn't have iris rings so we guessed he was a 3 or 4 months old. Dean Stockwell spent his quarantine in the guest room and spent a lot of him time on top of the curtains or the top of the cage. He wasn't particular tame but would put himself back in the cage when he was ready. He had quite a temper and would shout the place down if I didn't let him out, so it was a relief to both of us when qurantine was over. During quarantine On the day he came down to the lounge, Randolph Carter was very pleased to see him. He'd been feeling a bit neglected because Dexter liked to spend lots of time with his toy peacock. Dean Stockwell and Randolph Carter quickly became friends and nap buddies, and Dexter decided to spend more time with them and less time with the peacock as he didn't want to be left out. First meeing with Randolph Carter Playing with his pals Dean Stockwell was very bossy, despite his tiny size. He would challenge Randolph Carter who would just ignore him. Dexter wasn't so keen on Dean Stockwell's attention though and used to get a bit stressed by Dean Stockwell chasing him about. In the first few months they shared a cage Dean Stockwell often got popped in the spare cage for a time out in 'budgie prison'. Very occasionally Dexter and Dean Stockwell would have a scuffle. Little and Large. I didn't ever manage to get a picture of them napping together. By the autumn it became clear that Dean Stockwell had feather trouble. He moulted his tail feathers but they didn't regrow. He also lost the downy feathers under his wings. He didn't let it bother him though and still liked to come out to play on top of the cage. We took him for a check up in March 2020 and the vet thought it was most likely PBFD which made me so sad for him as I knew it would shorten his life, but it didn't get Dean Stockwell down and he continued to be a lovely little pest. Every night he would get off his swing and go and squiggle at Randolph Carter who didn't budge of his own swing. One cause of friction in the cage was Dean Stocwell's obsession with a bell on the end of an olympic rings toy, so I moved the bell to the outside of the cage above a platform where Dean Stockwell could sit and play with his bell. He liked to nap with the bell on his head which was very cute. Over the next 2 years Dean Stockwell continued to lose his feathers but he didn't lose his spark and continued to enjoy life. He became an expert climber and would get around the cage by jumping from perch to perch or climbing along the side of the cage. And he was so fearless, and could often been seen hanging upside down from the roof of the cage, or he'd climb up the outside of the cage to play on the roof, and then he'd climb back down again to get back in the cage. I had pillows and duvets surrounding the cage so he would have a soft landing if he fell. I know it was risky letting him out of the cage but there was so much shouting and squabbling if the cage doors were shut that it seemed the safest option and thankfully he never hurt himself. When Randolph Carter died, Dean Stockwell missed his nap buddy but he became better friends with Dexter, and it was nice to see them playing togeter. They never took naps at the same time but Dean Stockwell was content to nap with his bell. I wish we could have done more for Dean Stockwell and that he'd had a longer life. We gave him supplements to boost his immune system and occaisionally he grew a few feathers, but they didn't last long. He was with us for 2 years 8 months and he was over 3 years old when he died. I'm so proud of how well he coped with his troubles. It made me sad seeing the progression of his feather loss when I was looking through my photos. When he died he had very few feathers left but he was still my beautiful boy.
Dean Stockwell was such a funny, scruffy, bossy little guy, with a personality that was so much bigger than he was. He was always up. He was so lucky that someone found him out in the street and I'm glad we were able to give him a home and some friends. He spent much more time with his friends than he did with me, but most nights when I was changing the paper on the bottom of the cage he'd come over to the side of the cage and he'd sit on a perch closest to my face and he's watch what I was doing. It was really sweet. I really miss him.
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,776
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Post by Marianne Marlow on May 12, 2022 16:55:57 GMT
A lovely tribute, he was a beautiful boy. I love that he had a temper
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Post by ffiscool on May 12, 2022 17:16:39 GMT
What a lovely tribute. He was a very lucky boy that he came to live with you
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Post by Ira on May 12, 2022 17:25:27 GMT
Beautiful tribute, criswell. What a little character to have been blessed to share the life of. 💙
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Post by Loz on May 12, 2022 17:38:47 GMT
That was a beautiful, moving tribute, criswell. So descriptive, I feel in a small way like I knew Dean Stockwell. I can feel something of your loss. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings about a very dear little boy.
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Post by jellybean on May 12, 2022 18:12:37 GMT
A beautiful tribute criswell to your beautiful boy 💙
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