Two Unusual Diseases

During the first year of the diagnostic service offered to members of the Budgerigar Society and members of the area societies, common diseases, such as pneumonia and megabacteria, were frequently seen. However, two conditions were found which I had not seen before, and which had not been previously reported by other people studying diseases of Budgerigars or other cage birds. Although rare so far, I will discuss these briefly as it should be of interest. Both diseases were seen in the birds of one fancier and both birds also had megabacteria.

Stones in the Crop

The first case was one of stones, which had formed in the crop in much the same way that stones can form in humans in the kidney or gall bladder. The affected budgerigar had two stones in it's crop They were hard, roughly eggshaped and measured 1.1 and 1.2 centimetres in length and were off-white in colour. In this particular bird they were causing no trouble, except that they took up space in the crop so the bird could not eat as much as normal when feeding. In other birds smaller stones could potentially move into the lower part of the gullet leading from the crop to the stomach and become stuck, leading to a rapidly fatal blockage. Stones as large as these could be felt in the crop, could be seen using an endoscope or diagnosed using X-rays; the only treatment would be surgical removal. Why the stones formed is not known.

Internal Damage

The second case was a bird which was losing weight and which had diarrhoea. Megabacteria was diagnosed and treated but the symptoms persisted and the bird eventually died. Post-mortem showed that the internal damage due to the megabacteriosis was quite severe, but that the symptoms, at least in part, were due to the presence of an egg in the abdominal cavity. The egg was collapsed. It was causing a partial obstruction of the intestines so that the bird's weight loss was partly due to interference with digestion. The question arises how a fullsized egg, complete with a thin shell, could get out of the oviduct (where the white and shell are added to the yolk) into the body cavity.

Two Possibilities

There appear to be only two possible routes. First the egg could have passed back up the oviduct and out the top end where there is an opening, so that the yolk can get into the oviduct from the ovary. The argument against this is that the oviduct is relatively narrow at the top, and an egg going back up would be a tight fit. The second possibility is that the oviduct burst and the egg fell out. As the oviduct is relatively free of bacteria this would not immediately cause problems. As the bird was not in laying condition, the oviduct was small and this type of damage could not be detected. This rare condition could only be diagnosed using X-rays or viewing the body cavity with an endoscope. The only treatment would be surgical removal of the egg. As it seems possible that this condition might recur, the oviduct might also need to be removed to prevent this happening again. Such radical surgery would render the Budgerigar sterile. Note that this case is different from so called "internal layers" in which only the yolk goes into the body cavity. The yolks fall from the ovary but miss the opening at the top end of the oviduct.

Original text Copyright 1997, Dr John R Baker.

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