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Bird 1st aid and CPR

thefiradragon Oct 01, 2005 09:39 AM

usualy im in the kingsnake forums but being as i have a cockatiel i do have some questions.

as a sort of civil service i have become a First Responder. meaningthat i have training used to help save lives (not only that im required by law to stop at all accidents).
hough as of yet i have not had to stop, ive been learing all i can on animal CPR and first aid. i did take an animal first aid and CPR class but, the instructor wasnt at all helpfull outside of dog and cat. so here are my questions...

how is CPR done on birds? how many compressions and how deep for various sized birds. also how many breaths per set of compressions?

when looking for Shock what are the tell tell signs i should be looking for?

is there anything else you guys think i should know?

thanks for putting up with my questions
ashley

Replies (1)

PHIggysbirds Oct 01, 2005 04:58 PM

Well lets see shock would probably show if the bird acts depressed, weak or lethargic, very rapid or shallow breathing These would be signs of stress, shock or sickness. Birds usually don't show many signs of sickness or shock though until they are at the stage they need immediate veterinary attention.

As far as CPR I could not even begin to guess. I believe any compressions of a birds chest would rupture it's lung (or air sac). Since the lung and air sac are not protected by ribs as a mammal's lungs are I think this would be impossible. Even picking up a bird by putting too much pressure on the chest area can result in death. Also as far as the breaths for a bird, a human mouth has so many toxins in it that are dangerous to a bird that it seems it would be more dangerous than doing nothing. If you are using a bag breather I am afraid it would be too powerful for even a larger bird and would again rupture. The best thing to do would be to use a steam vaporizer close enough to blow steam over the birds face but not so close it actually causes burn from the steam.

With a birds physical make up by the time it actually quits breathing it is probably too far gone for any real help. A vet might be able to open up the bird and massage the lung or inflate the air sac (not sure how likely or doable that is to be though) but only if it was in the vet office at the time it went into respiratory distress.

The only helpful hints I could give is that if you haven't already, study bird anatomy. This will show you better the positioning of the lung and air sacs. A birds lung is considered to be nonexpandable which again goes with the no real CPR for birds. I guess if the bird was in complete respiratory distress the very slight, gentle massage of the lung area with no pressure might start it to breathe again.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help nice to hear of your interest.

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