Living Through the PDD Nightmare

by Shauna Roberts
December 2001

Niles, a 9-year-old umbrella cockatoo was home and safe. Normal quarantine time was past but I had not put him in with the other birds. Why? I was extremely nervous about doing so.

During the course of bringing him home, Niles had been exposed to a flock suffering with PDD. As a precaution during his initial veterinary examination I requested a baseline radiograph. Five months had passed and another bird from the flock he had been briefly exposed to died, so I took him in for another x-ray.  There it was, an enlarged proventriculus. The nightmare had begun.

Fortunately I had kept Niles in a separate airspace area, away from the rest of my flock but the slight chance of exposure still lingered. I was panicked, to say the least. I would wake up in terrible pain from cramps after having nightmares of losing my beloved flock. I began my desperate search to help Niles overcome and win in the PDD battle. I knew that birds could be exposed and live, never showing symptoms. So I was determined that since PDD is suspected to be a virus that it could somehow be overcome.  

I contacted anyone I could think of, that might offer some help. Niles avian veterinarian was Dr. Ritchie’s assistant, but conventional medicine offered no hope or mention of any new advances. I was offered antibiotics but refused, thinking they could only weaken his immunity and destroy beneficial bacteria.

My veterinarian offered advice about quarantine, but there were no guarantees that the rest of my flock would be safeguarded. Since there is not enough known about PDD or how it is spread, I took measures to the best of my ability. Niles was kept in a separate air space. I changed clothes each time before entering his room, and also wore a shower cap and foot covers. Then after leaving I washed up. His bowls were also kept separate and washed with bleach, never entering the main house. 

I immediately turned to holistic help and contacted a local vet who was an avian acupuncturist. I had been told that he had been treating a moluccan cockatoo for over 3 yrs. Although the cockatoo was not able to keep food down or weight on, it had reacted favorable to acupuncture treatments. These treatments were given on a weekly basis to stimulate muscles needed for digestion. After which, the bird gained weight and happily continued on with life.

During our conversation the veterinarian let me know that acupuncture would not be of any help, unless Niles came to the point where he could no longer hold his food down. We briefly discussed diet and his recommendation was to continue feeding the fresh organic diet I was, but to slightly lessen the amount of legumes, keeping grains as they were and be heavy handed with the greens. He also told me not to feed raw sprouts, simply stating that they were not a food that moved down the proventriculus quick enough with this disease. This went along with Chinese healing philosophy that sprouts will weaken a frail individual and also a weak digestive system. It is therefore recommended that sprouts be cooked. So again, no cure was offered, just a treatment of symptoms should they appear. 

I immediately contacted nutritional consultant and avian holistic practitioner, Alicia McWatters PhD, CNC who had successfully helped me treat birds before. She was my savior, offering hope and a shoulder to cry on. Most of all she insisted that I keep a positive attitude and Niles would be ok.

Staying positive was to be part of Niles total holistic care and perhaps the hardest part for me. I would go into his room and smile and laugh, thinking only happy thoughts and leave the room to cry. PDD is truly a monster that I felt totally helpless going up against, but even so I was determined, that Niles would win his battle.

Along with a positive attitude I made sure he had fresh air and at least 20 minutes of real sunshine every day when it was not raining or too cold outside. I offered bottled water and Alicia McWatter’s basic mash diet. I also took the advice of the avian acupuncturist into consideration. Niles was given plenty of toys, a small color TV to watch and challenges to keep his mind and body active.

I was told to continue the diet he was on, offering a variety of fresh foods. He received the mash for breakfast. Natren brand probiotics were added to it every other day. A calcium/magnesium supplement was added daily along with the recommended enzyme dosage and natural supplements such as alfalfa. Organic seed/nut mixture that I made fresh from the health food store was offered in the afternoon.  This was mixed with cod liver oil or flaxseed oil, sprinkled with enzymes and fed on alternating days. In the evening, a combination of 4 different organic baby foods at night that was again, sprinkled with enzymes. Each meal he had, even a snack was sprinkled with the recommended amount of enzymes. Niles also has a very small liver, so for the first 3 months he was given a liver enzyme formula. The enzymes he received also contained some herbs to further help and stimulate his digestion: artichoke leaf, peppermint leaf, fennel seed, gentian root, ginger root and capsicum fruit. 

The herbal therapy for Niles was Echinacea mixed with Saint John’s Wort and given 3 times a day, every day for 9 months; each dose was a total of 14 drops. During the first few months it was critical to give him his medicine everyday, so I cancelled going away in order to medicate him.  

Three months had passed and it was time for a barium x-ray check up. The barium passed in adequate normal time but had slowed considerably from the radiograph 3 months previous. So I contacted Dr. McWatters and was instructed to increase the probiotic dosage to everyday to make transit time through the proventriculus faster. His appetite had also increased slightly and his weight had dropped slightly for a few weeks during this time but not enough to cause major concern.

Three more months passed, it was now time for his 6-month barium radiograph, and the transit time was much improved, back to what the barium radiograph had been timed at 6 months previously. His appetite had evened out and weight was holding well.  

The entire time of treatment the size of Niles proventriculus never enlarged anymore than it was in the initial suspicious radiograph. Another 3 months passed and he was again rechecked. He was still happy, eating well, and holding on to his weight. His veterinarian could not believe it and pronounced him normal, after 9 months of treatment, almost 15 months of quarantine. Her words were that birds with PDD do not live, he must not have it. The x-rays were sent to an avian radiologist who also felt he was ok.  

When I heard PDD, my only thought was for Niles recovery. When a crop biopsy was recommended I opted not to put Niles through that stress. My thoughts were that if he had PDD, then he needed all of the strength that he had, to fight it and stress was not going to help him do this. The crop biopsy for PDD is also inconclusive if the results are negative. Too much depends on whether or not the tissue samples removed from the crop will actually contain PDD lesions or not. Niles although he did not have a confirmed diagnosis of PDD, had a presumed diagnosis of PDD based on clinical signs and previous exposure.

I think it is very important to note and remember that even though this therapy might have worked for Niles, each case should be treated individually, with individual consultations if a bird is to have the best possible chance of survival. The main herbs used in Niles case were echinacea and Saint John’s Wort. SJW is most often thought of as an anti-depressant but it has many other properties such as an anti-viral. It is also good for healing damaged nerves. It fights viruses by interfering with a virus’s ability to replicate. It is being researched for possible use to combat the HIV virus in humans, showing promising results. It is a useful anti-viral medication for human illnesses such as Epstein Barr, mononucleosis, and common flu, viral based health problems, and retroviruses.  

Echinacea is perhaps most often thought of as being an immunostimulant but it is also an antibacterial, a cell normalizer and an anti-inflammatory. To survive any disease it is important to support the immune system but with the recent information about the role of anti-inflammatories in the recovery of PDD birds, I suddenly find this property of echinacea to be very interesting. 

While Niles was receiving his treatment I did what I could for the rest of my flock. They received the same diet, although their seed mixture was tossed with flaxseed oil, no cod liver oil. I also sprinkled enzymes on every food I offered to them. Their formula not only contained digestive enzymes but also yellow dock root, St. John’s Wort, Astralagalus Root, Shitake mushroom (another anti-viral), and echinacea augustifolia and purpurea.  

It has already been almost 2 1/2 years since Niles suspected diagnosis of PDD. He looks to be the picture of health, as well as the rest of my flock. All members have had baseline radiographs in case comparisons are needed in the future….. I pray they will never be needed.