Re: Canary with periocular dermatitis

alison silvester — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:13:20 GMT

Many thanks for that, I am not sure if there is a cause at the "bird sitters" house, especially as it seems not to have settled even though it has been back in its usual environment for a while now. He doesnt ever see her rubbing her face etc so I think the inflammed skin is primary rather than secondary and in this bout I think the eye itself looks normal it is more the skin around the eye affected. She has a tiny spot of redness on the very back of her head but otherwise her feathers/skin look normal.

I will quiz her owner further and ask about her diet.

Thanks again for your input,

Kind regards,

Alison

Re: Canary with periocular dermatitis

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 20:41:34 GMT

Hi,

how confident are you in the owner's assertion that recrudescence is linked to staying somewhere else? Is the somewhere else always the same place? Any smokers/aerosols/chemicals there?

What is it fed on? Chronic hypovitaminosis A is common on seed rations and will suppress normal immune response and prevent normal tissue recovery and tear film production. What is the rest of the skin/feathering like? Any reproductive activity? Behaviour changes? Any other symptoms? Any evidence of feather impingement on the cornea with magnification?

Simplest diagnosis is sensitivity to an environmental irritant which should resolve with time (longer if self-trauma leads to secondary infection/exacerbates tissue damage and nutritional deficiencies impede healing). However, this doesn't seem to fit with the waxing/waning nature back in the home environment you're seeing now.

So, there may be an underlying low grade infectious/immune-controlled problem that is exacerbated when the bird is stressed (moved somewhere unfamiliar). Mycoplasmosis, Chlamydia, chronic gram-negative sinusitis issues are not unusual. Mycoplasma is best isolated using a conjunctival swab submitted for PCR as culture is often poorly sensitive due to fastidious and fragile nature of bacteria. Chlamydophila can be screened for by conjunctival swab PCR or pooled faecal collection over 4-5d (can be from both birds as likely both infected so no need to separate) - NB this is zoonotic but not as common in passerines as psittacines. Other bacteria can be screened for by either sinus flush (preferable but fiddly), sinus aspirate (definitely a GA job in a canary) or combined conjunctival and choanal swab (easy but will be more likely to be contaminated by non involved bacteria). Sinusitis will generally have some degree of periocular swelling but when mild and bilateral can be difficult to detect.

Other considerations are mycobacteriosis (M. avium complex or M. genavense and low zoonotic potential) which can cause granulomatous conjunctivitis in birds, or neoplasia (usually lymphosarcoma, adenocarcinoma or SCC) so biopsy would be next step if non-invasive testing doesn't provide an answer or response to directed treatment is incomplete.

Marie