I highly recomend testing all newly trapped birds for this. I had been having some major problems with my bird. I was brining her weight up for the 2 week shotgun deer season in which we cant hunt during and she was loosing weight. On a quarter crop of meat she would loose 50g a night indoors.
After spendign $120 at the vet it was determined she had Capillaria also know as roundworms. The test is called a fecal float and only cost $20 so I highly recomend it. I had to give her three doses of medication orally which I just injected into her food. Medication only cost $6. She is doing fine now maintainng weight, and killed her first bunnie of the season today.
Post by austringer84 on Jan 21, 2006 15:03:17 GMT -5
I am doin my Degree dissertation (a study) on endoparasite burdens of captive raptors. I have been carrying out faecal flotations for weeks,FUN!not! but the findings maybe useful. If I discover anything special I'll post it. anyone else having problems with endoparasites, especially nematodes Capillaria or Ascardia?
My passage RT had coccidia and whipworms. Training was going good. He was given Ivermectin day of trapping and then 2 weeks later. Apparently it didnt do the trick though and as I was bringing his weight down during training it suddenly started dropping very fast. Thats when he went to the vet and they found the coccidia and whipworm. Since then I have researched doing fecal floats on my own. The day before I took a sample back to the vets for re-test I did my first fecal float myself and found that the whipworms and coccidia were still there. Unhappy that it hadnt cleared up, but happy at the fact I could see them on my own under the microscope. After the initial cost of the microscope and a book I purchased on Amazon called "Veterinary Parasitology: Reference Manual " that has detailed pictures along with symptoms, discriptions, etc the actual cost of doing it yourself is minimal. Im not saying that you can take the place of a trained vet though as identifying the worm eggs and oocysts can get tricky. But I figured with more practice, being able to monitor the birds fecal samples a couple times a month would be beneficial in being another way to monitor the birds health. Initially he was given Panacur and albon once a day for 3 days. Then thats when I did my first float test and seen them still. Along with the sample the vet checked and he confirmed my findings. Now he just finished his second treatment of Panacur and Albon. This time a stronger dosage and once a day for 5 days. The first and second days I could still see the eggs and oocysts but there numbers appeared to be less. Then on the third, fourth, and final day of his medicine I have yet to find anymore eggs or oocysts. But just because I dont see them the vet is still going to confirm he is infact good to go. For anyone interested in doing this on there own I recommend a microscope with a mechanical stage. This makes it easier to scan the whole slide. You can purchase a pre-made float solution or make your own. I have done both and find the homemade not only cheaper but appears to float the heavier worm eggs better then the pre-made. My vet said they also use the homemade solution rather then the purchased one. To make your own solution you add sugar to warm water and keep disolving it, According to the book 454 grams of sugar in 355 ml of water will give you a specified gravity of 1.27. What your doing is making a solution heavier then water that will float the eggs and oocysts while still keeping the heavier fecal debris at the bottom making it easier to sort through it all on the slide. Once you have made the solution take a fecal sample, fresher the better and place it into a test tube. You dont need the urates of the mute, just the actual solid fecal. Fill the test tube half way with the solution. Then stir the contents up to break up the fecal matter. Then slowly add more solution with an eye dropper till it forms a meniscus ( where the fluid is over the top of the test tube but doesnt spill out). Then place a slide cover slip on top of the test tube so it comes in contact with the solution. Let that sit for 20 minutes, the eggs and oocysts will float up and stick to the cover slip. Remove the cover slip lifting stright up, then place down onto a slide. Then start looking around. I have purchased a product called fecalizer. I use this instead of a test tube. Either will work but I like the fecalyzer cause it helps strain out any larger debris that will obstruct your view. Plus it only cost around 20 bucks for 50 of them. Here is a page that has more instructions with pictures, along with the fecalyzer product they use instead of a test tube. www.wisc.edu/ansci_repro/101equinelab/parasites/parasite_methods/parasite_detection.html
Post by austringer84 on Jan 31, 2006 6:11:04 GMT -5
good to see people getting to grips with basic faecal flotation, it is also possible to use dilution factors to estimate the faecal egg count per gram of faeces to determine how severe an infection is, however to gain a positive or negative egg count your process is very good.
Post by austringer84 on Jan 31, 2006 11:37:33 GMT -5
The dilution technique involves taking a known volume of flotation solution, such as concentrated sodium solution or sugar solution, you then aim to use a McMasters counting chamber to count the eggs per 0.3mls and then multiply up.
Such as taking 2grams of faeces and 28ml or grams of flotation solution, then mix solution till of equal consistency, then leave to stand for approx 20 minutes, then remove with a pippette take a small amount of the top concentrated solution and put into the counting chamber...
Then the idea is you count the eggs within the counting chamber and multiply up the oocyte content, and that will give you eggs per gram..,
You need a light microscope to do the viewing of the mcmasters slide content. The eggs per gram content will allow a vet or technician to estimate the burden within.
hope this has been of some help, if im crap at explaining ask more questions...
I had read about the McMasters counting chambers. At the time of just getting into doing this I figured I would keep it simple to see if it ended up being beneficial and I could in fact even see anything under the microscope. Now though I am looking into trying out other techniques. My vet had said they use a centrifuge and finds they get a more accurate count since they started spinning them. I have yet to find anymore eggs now so I am hopeing everythings cleared up. His weight is holding fine now .
Floatations are great, but nobody has mentioned doing a fecal smear either. I have both done first thing with a fresh trapped bird.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Faecal smears are usually done on smaller birds where the amount of faeces is too small to do a faecal flotation ie small passerines, cage birds etc.It's not as effecive as flotation, as it is more difficult to pass light through & view on the microscope.
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