# 2 week old baby twisting neck!!



## rockyroads (Oct 26, 2007)

i have recentley adopted a 2 week old baby wild pigeon. i have had him for a week. He seemed very healthy and happy and then yesterday he kept twisting his neck. I think he has the PMV virus, but i cant be sure.
my questions:


1. Is the PMV virus in south australia? and how common is it in wild pigeons?

2. is there anything else that could cause his neck to twist?

3.If he does have PMV, is it contagious to other birds, such as budgies, quails and rainbow lorrikeets, as they have all been around him?

4. If he does have PMV, is there any way to treat it?(i have not got much money right now)

5. would the PMV, at least the twisting of the neck ever go away?

6. If there is no possible way to cure it, what should i do with the baby pigeon?

7. if the other birds could get it, what can i do to ensure they wont?

please help! no. 3 and 7 are the most urgent ones as i have a very and expensive type of rainbow lorrikeet.

Ps. its not that i dont adore little rocky, trust me the little peeper has really grown on me, but if PMV or whatever hes got is contagious, im willling to do anything to keep my other birds healthy



Please help, im desperate.....


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

How did you come by this youngster?

It could be PMV, but it could also be Paratyphoid or something else. If it is PMV there is no real treatment for it, just alot of good supporitve care. If it is Paratyphoid it can be treated with Baytril. Any other symptoms?

PMV can be prevented with the PMV innoculations. Isolate this youngster from all other birds, if you haven't done so.

Here is a thread on PMV:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=12248

...and one on paratyphoid:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9505


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## rockyroads (Oct 26, 2007)

Thin broken solid droppings in a pool of liquid
Fine tremor of eyes or head
Twisting neck, head upside down (torticollis, star gazing) - see photo.
Paralysis of legs or wings
turning in circles
Having fits
thankyou so much. heres a list of rockys symptoms, so with the right care, hell get over it?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi.

Main thing is to isolate him until he has stopped actually shedding the virus.

Quiet, not too bright a light source. Ensure he gets his food and liquid intake.

We isolate PMV pigeons for 6 weeks *minimum*. Others may say longer, but we have never had a pigeon trannsfer the virus to another after isolation. 

Does not mean all the symptoms will go away and stay gone, but will mean a pigeon is not contagious. Over the past two years or so we have had a couple with still very noticeable neurological signs even now, one that got her flight back and one with some signs (mainly, suddenly zonking out and napping), but all are otherwise OK.

Don't know if it can be transferred to your other species - it is frequently called P(igeon)PMV 1 virus and far as I know species-specific, but really never read anything about it in psittacine birds.

John


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Didn't see a photo--are you sure he's two weeks old?

Anyhow, here's a thread about one that might have been PMV but they're leaning more towards Paratyphoid. You can compare to some extent:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=23342

Pidgey


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Pidgey, 



Just a side-bar -


Would it be worth trying, to treat some of my Twisty-Neck ones for Paratyphoid? Since I had assumed PMV, but who knows, they might have had both for all I know?


Whatchatnink?



Rockyroads...do post some pictures..!


Phil
l v


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## rockyroads (Oct 26, 2007)

*thankyou*

i have been trying to post some picures of rocky, ive got them on the comp. but i cant seem to attach them to this post. sorry! im not certain how old rocky really is, 2 weeks is just an estimate. when i got him he had no feathers, just yellow "hair" and since ive had him hes put on lots of weight and grown little feathers on about half of his body. when i got him he had a leg which stuck out, and still does constantly, but he can move it a bit, so i guess its not parralized. also, a couple of days ago, he started loosing weight, and now he is a lot thinner than he was. he still has bright and alert eyes though and doesnt appear very sickly, ie. still chirps for food. the only bad symptoms is him loosing weight, his leg, his twisted neck,and fits.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi rockyroads, 



You should consider to address his Leg issue, which is certainly 'Splay Leg', and easily treated by various simple means...and others here who have done it can explain or refer you to info for favored methods.

Treating it now is ever so much better than waiting.


On the twisty-neck stuff...far as I know, PMV can occur pretty well anywhere.

However, this might not be PMV, but may be an expression of Paratyphoid, which also can occur anywhere.


Images might help to narrow some of this down.


To post an image - 

Make the image and have it at some low DPI

Have the image in your Computer, in an easy to access file, such as 'My Documents' or as may be.


When you are posting a text message here, click on the button which is below the posting window, which says 'Manage Attatchments'...

It then lets you 'brouse' to locate the image, and, to upload it to the site, and to preview it, and to post it.



Good luck..!


Phil
Las Vegas


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## rockyroads (Oct 26, 2007)

thankyou so much phil, i will do that as soon as i get home as i am at my sisters house for a couple of hours. i will go try find some posts now on how to treat splayed legs. My mum has rung just now and said her work friend has found a baby black bird, so i guess rocky will have some company when he gets better, i hope they will get along well.
if any one knows any simple treatments for splayed legs i would greatly appreciate it. Thankyou!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Here's some info on fixing the leg. 


http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=159495&postcount=1


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Rockyroads,

If the symptoms that you listed are the symptoms that your baby has then it is pretty certain that it has PMV and not paratyphoid. There are some symptoms that the two illnesses share, the main one is the neck twisting, but the symptoms of both conditions are not identical. The thin poops in a puddle of water are a classic symptom of PMV. There is a good picture of PMV poops at the Chevita site: http://www.chevita.com/en/pigeons/treatment-plan/specificinfections-paramyxovirosis.php 

Chevita quote a 30% spontaneous recovery rate, but the pigeons we have treated havd had a much higher rate of recovery. A word of warning, though...in the UK it is a notifiable disease (because of its possible effect on the poultry industry) and sanctuaries are advised to destroy pigeons with PMV.

Paratyphoid is also known as salmonellosis and there is a link at the bottom to the Chevita PMV page to a page on salmonellosis, which also has a poops picture.

There are different strains of PMV that affect different species. Budgies and Rainbow Lories can get PMV5 whereas pigeons get PPMV1 (pigeon PMV 1) and rarely PMV7. It is always important to isolate new birds from resident ones, however healthy the new arrivals may appear to be. 

Are you in the UK? If so you will find that the small white Boots self adhesive support bandage is great for correcting splay legs because it is soft but strong.

Cynthia


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Do you, by any chance, see any little cheesy-looking buttons inside the bird's beak and throat? Look as far down as you can? Unfortunately, there are more things that can cause those symptoms some of which would require medications and the PMV for which they're contraindicated.

Pidgey


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

South Australia.

Pidgey


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> South Australia.



Ah, that explains the reference to "Mum" rather than "Mom". I didn't think they had PMV in Australia...it was one of the few places that it hadn't reached. But having checked the Internet there were Avian PMV outbreaks in 1998 - 2000, so maybe things have changed. There is also reference to PMV5 being isolated from free ranging budgies and Rainbow Lories in Australia.

Cynthia


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I couldn't imagine there being any way of keeping PMV from going worldwide.

Pidgey


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> I couldn't imagine there being any way of keeping PMV from going worldwide.


Well, Australia certainly kept it away for a long time.

Cynthia


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

You know, you'd kinda' think that anyone who imported a racer from Belgium or any of those blood-serious racer places could easily bring the virus over by accident.

Pidgey


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Their importing restrictions are (or were) so strict that even pigeons that had been vaccinated agaibst PMV were refused entry because they had PMV antibodies in their blood.

Cynthia


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

cyro51 said:


> Their importing restrictions are (or were) so strict that even pigeons that had been vaccinated agaibst PMV were refused entry because they had PMV antibodies in their blood.
> 
> Cynthia


Does that make them a possible threat to un-vaccinated birds? I had been wondering about that.


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## rockyroads (Oct 26, 2007)

sorry for not answering quickly, i was very busy. the i have just noticed rockys face is swollen, especialy around the eye. it looks very red and sore. his face is swollen on the side hes leaning on the floor, could this be why,?


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

It's possible, of course. However, it might also mean that he's got something else. Swelling of the periorbital tissue (the flesh immediately around the eye) is often due to conjunctivitis. That can be caused by a range of things that would require one antibiotic or another. Is there a nasal discharge?

Pidgey


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

rockyroads said:


> sorry for not answering quickly, i was very busy. the i have just noticed rockys face is swollen, especialy around the eye. it looks very red and sore. his face is swollen on the side hes leaning on the floor, could this be why,?




Hi rockyroads, 


If in his twisting and head position, he is rubbing the side of his Head on the floor...he will irritate and effect that side of his head from frictions and debris, and it ill loose Feathers, become 'red' or sollen, or get an Eye infection also.


Try and keep him on soft, clean cloths...and use an antibiotic Eye Ointment if he seems to be getting his Eye inflamed or irritated.


Good luck..!



Phil
l v


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

HI Rockyroads,

Phil said:



> If in his twisting and head position, he is rubbing the side of his Head on the floor...he will irritate and effect that side of his head from frictions and debris, and it ill loose Feathers, become 'red' or sollen, or get an Eye infection also.



I have two pigeons ( actually a wood pigeon and a collared dove) that fall over on their backs and injure their eyes as they try ineffectively to right themselves. On a couple of occasions I thought that they had dameged their eyes beyond repair, but flushing the eyes with colloidal silver, which I learned about through Trees Gray, worked miracles.

Cynthia


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