THE DISEASES OF GAGE BIRDS 



419 



Inflammation 

 of the 

 Bowels. 



The causes most likely to produce it are over- 

 eating, especially of too stimulating food, or 

 partaking of green food which 

 is in a state of decomposition. 

 Again, if the water for drink- 

 ing, which ought to be fresh 

 every morning, is left for days, or if it has not 

 been very fresh when placed in the drinking- 

 glass, and afterwards receives the addition of 

 particles of green food, etc., it becomes next 

 thing to an irritant poison, and is very likely 

 to cause inflammation. A chill will also 

 produce the disease. The symptoms are those 

 of much suffering and acute pain in the regions 

 affected. The bird is dull and drooping, cares 

 little to move about, has no note, and often 

 lies on the belly on his perch ; there is loss of 

 appetite and urgent thirst, the bowels are usually 

 very costive ; but at times this may be the 

 reverse, and diarrhoea, with frequent straining 

 at stool is present. An additional occasional 

 symptom is frequent vomiting of the offen- 

 sive products of inflanmialion, or of bile and 

 mucus. ^Manual examination, which must be 

 conducted very gently, will reveal a swollen 

 and distended condition of the lower part of 

 the abdomen, with some change of colour, 

 varying, according to the stage of the disorder, 

 from pale to dark red, amounting in very danger- 

 ous cases to an almost black hue. 



If taken at once, inflammation of the bowels 

 may be cured, but the treatment must be 

 decided. As we advised in diarrhoea, let the 

 bird be put in a clean dry cage and hung in a 

 warm, well-ventilated room, and the food 

 changed. The latter must be entirely non- 

 stimulating, but at the same time nourishing ; 

 bread soaked in scalding new milk to which 

 may be added a little moist sugar should be 

 the sole food for a day or two. The bread 

 should be placed in the milk in a solid piece, 

 and lifted out when cold. The bowels — if con- 

 stipation be present, and if the case has been 

 seen at the commencement — should be opened 

 with two drops of best castor oil ; but if much 

 inflammation has taken place, purgatives should 

 not be employed. The bread-and-milk has 

 slight laxative properties. Counter-irritation 

 will do much good, and it cannot be applied 

 by a better plan than that of painting the lower 

 part of the abdomen, by means of a camel's- 

 hair pencil, with warm turpentine ; the pencil 

 must be merely damped, and the bird's skin 

 barely touched. The process makes the part 

 tingle for a moment, but it soon passes off, 

 and gives relief. 



Opium is of great service in the treatment 

 of this complaint. Place therefore every morn- 

 ing, in a wineglassful of fresh water, 20 drops 

 of ipecacuanha wine, and 5 of laudanum, along 



with a bit of gum-arabic, and 2 or 3 grains of 

 nitrate of potash. Continue the milk diet, 

 and a little plain canary seed ; a quarter of a tea- 

 spoonful of maw seed will also be beneficial. 



If the bird exhibits a tendency to sink or 

 collapse, there will be little chance of saving 

 him, but a little brandy may be added to the 

 other mixture as a last resource. If it gets 

 better, tonics are required, and one small dose 

 of castor oil (2 drops) ; this latter often acts 

 like a charm, after the inflannnation has been 

 subdued. The best tonic is the infusion of 

 calumjja, a teaspoonful to the water, with a 

 few drops of tincture of iron. Give at the same 

 time a little egg with the food, and before the 

 ordinary diet is resumed scald a little German 

 rape for a time or two. 



We have reason to believe that many more 

 birds die of inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) 

 than people are aware of. 



Inflammation 

 of the Liver. 



It is a very dangerous ill- 

 ness, and often proves 

 speedily fatal. Prevention is far more easy 

 than its cure when established. It is caused 

 by keeping the bird in too hot a room or 

 position, by giving him too little fresh air, 

 and feeding on too nutritious and stimulating 

 a diet, such as hemp-seed, dainties, etc. The 

 symptoms of the chronic form are somewhat 

 obscure, but after death dissection reveals an 

 abnormally large liver. In the acute form of 

 the disease there are the usual signs of in- 

 flammation. The Ijird is in evident distress 

 and pain, nervous, thirsty, hot, and restless ; 

 while there is the absence of cough on the one 

 hand that would indicate lung mischief, and 

 the absence on the other of the dark redness 

 always present more or less in inflammation of 

 the bowels. This, with a knowledge of previous 

 feeding and treatment, and a complete history 

 of the case, makes diagnosis comparatively easy. 

 We believe in supporting the little patient 

 from the beginning, giving aperients to relieve 

 the circulation through the liver, and opium 

 to remove the pain and restlessness. Half a 

 teaspoonful of fluid magnesia may be placed 

 in the water, but we reconnnend a dose of 2 

 drops of castor oil to commence with. When 

 the bowels have been well acted on put in the 

 water daily 5 drops of tincture of opium, and 

 half a teaspoonful of dandelion juice, ^^^len 

 the pain has subsided, the laudanum may be 

 omitted, and the juice continued for some little 

 time. The diet during the illness should be 

 light and nourishing, such as the bread and 

 milk prepared as previously explained, with 

 plain canary seed only in the hopper. Towards 

 convalescence a little egg food occasionally, on 

 other days a little sponge cake slightly moistened 

 with a few drops of good sherry, may be given. 



