# Paramyxovirus, Recovery and recurrence



## Teddy (Dec 26, 2013)

I have two feral pigeons that had paramyxovirus and have been recovering inside my house in their own room. They were both pretty bad, and after about 8-10 weeks seemed to fully recover. I was waiting for good weather to release them back into the wild (my barn filled with wild pigeons) but before good weather came, they both laid eggs. To be safe I replaced the eggs with wooden ones and thought I would let them sit on their eggs for 4 weeks and force them outside now that the weather is better. 

However, it has now been about 3 weeks and one of the birds (the one that had PMV worst) started having runny droppings and is now beginning to show some PMV signs again.

My question is: Can I release this bird if it recovers, or will it continue to have problems after being released. (Clearly I'll know more after I see how bad this bout is, but if anyone has experience with recurring PMV I would appreciate any comments.)

Thanks in advance.


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi

Recurring symptoms (usually loss of flight or just ability to direct their flight, and the twisting of the neck) are not uncommon. The fairly typical 'PMV poops' can happen sporadically for an indefinite time even without any other noticeable symptoms.

It is not a recurrence of the viral infection, but solely due to the brain lesions left by the original infection still affecting the nervous system.

Our own take on it, with numerous ex-PMV cases in our rescues aviary, is that we do not release them because of this unknown factor. We have a couple of PMV birds who lost the symptoms over 12 years ago and have never had a recurrence of them. We have others who never completely lost the neurological problems. We have still others who have had a recurrence after anything from a few weeks to several years.

It is possible that stress is a trigger in some cases. Certainly, the breeding process is a stressor for a pigeon. I suspect that egg laying is hard work and, in our experience, the hens are more susceptible to problems.

Various supplements have been used by people to ease these symptoms, but since the root of the problem is an irreversible 'injury' to the brain, rather than just the wiring of the nervous system, I'm not convinced that they do any long-term good. Calcium + Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin B complex and even tiny doses of Valium have been tried amongst others, but they don't really 'fix' the problem to any great extent from my own personal observation.


----------



## Teddy (Dec 26, 2013)

*Paramyxovirus and stress*

Hello John,
Thank you for the information. Stress certainly seems to be the main issue here. We caught the bird and gave it vitamins (Sunshine Factor) and set it down. It flew normally to a tall resting place, but after about 10 minutes was exhibiting severe signs of PMV (head upside down, unable to fly correctly). We put her on the floor and within an hour she seems relatively normal. She may be one that needs to remain indoors. This is unfortunate as she has paired with the other female that had PMV but not as bad that we hope to release shortly. 

The severe PMV bird will be mixed with three other non-releasable pigeons that have never had PMV. Based on what you are saying, this should be safe, correct?

Thanks again.


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi

When they get PMV, the actual infectious stage is over in six weeks, by when it has run its course.


----------



## Teddy (Dec 26, 2013)

*Three week update*

For anyone that viewed this thread that is dealing with PMV, the pigeon that showed a recurrence is still showing the typical PMV signs after three full weeks. It has not been as severe as the first occurrence since she is still able to eat on her own this time, but she has not been able to fly yet and has some head flipping and backward walking problems still. There may be some small improvement since this restarted, but clearly she would not have made it had she been released during a "good period". So she will stay with us and never be released. Time to build an aviary.


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Thanks for the update.

Yes, it is just so unpredictable. 

I will be hosting a pair in my apartment for a couple of weeks who seem blissfully unaware that looking at each other upside-down and walking backwards is not what most pigeons do. But, they are lively and content


----------



## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Hello Teddy!
Thank you so much for caring for these two feral hens. Without your support they wouldn't be alive.

Hope you have monitered HOW MUCH they were eating in those hard days? Are they eating enough now?
Supplements,enzymes and amino acids for digestion are much needed by them when going through pmv+electrolytes and calcium with D3 will help a lot.

A drop or two of Injectable Butaphosphan and Cyanocobalamin given orally will help with muscular strength and twisting. Talk to your vet about it. Also talk to him about a vitality product/injection.
Pmv would run its course for 4-6 weeks. Till then cleaniness,disinfection and hygiene goes without saying because if the birds inhale infected air,dust,water/feed etc,its gonna be hard on their systems to cope up with the virus.
Pigeons may keep showing symptoms even after the pmv viral course is over so please take care of their diet and supplements.

Vaccinate your hens for pmv after they get healthy. For now please vaccinate all your other pigeons for pmv.


----------



## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

Salmonella can also cause symptoms similar to pmv. In your case it seems to be a clear case of pmv. Yet a course of antibiotics against salmonella might be good. You can also test the dropping to identify presence of the bacteria


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

If you have a place they can be tested, do make sure they do the specific tests for Salmonella - it needs 3 or 4 days collected droppings, not just one sample. And, get the samples and await results before giving any treatment.

Personally, I would not see much point anyway, as the bird is a PMV bird and in fact birds with Salmonellosis, though they have the symptom of neck twisting in common with PMV, do not behave in the same way and 'look sick' generally.


----------

