Vets, biologists & finch experts pls tell me what you see...

[Stephanie]

Hi

Who's good at finch poo microscopy? Please could you take a look at this faecal smear and tell me what you see?

http://youtu.be/3Y-tBfn55qk

Thank you

[cindy]

This is a guide for reading fecal smears
http://www.finchaviary.com/Maintenance/FecalSmear.htm

[debbie276]

Vonda also has a yahoo group where you can talk to others that use microscopes.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/avianmicroscopy/

You could probably also email the video to Vonda and ask for assistance.
good luck

[finchmix22]

Here's a link about doing your own fecal smears with pics and video examples. I am still learning this process and don't consider myself able to interpret these well enough yet, but my first impulse was the moving organism is likely a protozoa, but what type I don't know. The typical treatment for protozoa is Ronex 12 %, so that covers most types.

[Apex Aviary]

I don't see any parasites or offensive bacteria that I recognize.
I'm a tech in a vet clinic and have extensive experience in reading fecals, however 95% of that experience is cats/dogs so my bird fecal knowledge may not be as good as others here.
Are these birds sick in any way or is this just precautionary?

[debbie276]

The first thing I did when I got my microscope was look at ALL of the things I fed and offered. Doing that helps you recognize what should be there.

[Stephanie]

Hi finchmix22 ... I think the link is not showing up. Could you please post again? Thank you .

Hi Apex ... No the birds are not displaying overt signs of sickness. They appear in good shape, but I was surprised to see so much movement in the latter part of the video. I am assuming those are some kind of flagellate protozoa?

There are also a large number of 'inclusions' in the same area. Are those urate crystals, or perhaps coccidia oocysts, or something else?

(I love studying these things myself, so thanks for all the links. I am also hoping for a head start from someone with a more experienced eye than mine, because my microscope is very new .)

[Zebrafincher]

Not sure myself. Big poopy, goopy messes which all birds like to do! My canary has a habit of pooping on my hand, if I annoy him. He just lifts the tail, and SPLAT!



Zebrafincher
Proud owner of:
“Kevin the King”, groutchy canary – 12 years
Beaky the Zebbie – 6 months
Merlin “Merl” the Starfinch – 2 years

[cindy]

Would you mind if I showed the video to my avian vet to get her take on it?

[Stephanie]

Not in the slightest. Please do!

Thank you.

[Apex Aviary]

What I see for movement is a lot of cocci bacteria. The microscope is focused on a poor plane too so it is hard to see what is floating around in the background. For the most part all the "stuff" near the end of the video just looks like fecal material.
Can you take a screen shot and point to what you are calling inclusions?

[cindy]

Stephanie,, I have not forgotten.... I asked our daughter to show this to our avian vet...she will not be back until Friday....the holidays. I will have her look at it then.

[Stephanie]

Cindy that's great, thank you.

[finchmix22]

http://www.finchaviary.com/Maintenance/FecalSmear.htm

Try the link or type the information into the browser.