Avian malaria in canaries and finches
Other names: Malaria
Symptoms
- Fluffed-up appearance and sudden weakness
- Difficulty breathing
- Sudden death (high in canaries)
How it spreads
Through mosquito bites.
Diagnosis
A blood smear or necropsy.
Treatment
Treatment is limited; the vet may use antimalarials. Prevention is the basis. [Update 3] Merck: malaria is highly virulent in canaries. Treatment: chloroquine with primaquine orally and then chloroquine on a schedule (primaquine is what acts on the tissue stage), and chloroquine in drinking water has been used in songbirds (grape or orange juice masks the bitterness). Relapse is possible. The source gives no dose in mg/kg. The basis is mosquito prevention (screens, draining standing water, traps). (All under veterinary supervision.)
Prevention
Mosquito netting on the windows and flight cages, and draining standing water.
Season
Summer and autumn with the mosquito season (especially the Delta and humid places)
Treatment and doses are decided by an avian vet after an exam; Zajel does not publish doses.
Other diseases
- Air sac mites (tracheal mites)
- Face and leg mites (scaly face/leg mange)
- Red mites (poultry red mite)
- Feather lice and feather mites
- Coccidiosis (bloody/intestinal diarrhea)
- Atoxoplasmosis (black spot disease / enlarged liver)
- Trichomoniasis (ulcer/canker)
- Cochlosomosis