Proper Quarantine Practices

M2Mom · **Posted:** Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:57 am

Quarantine should be practiced any where from 30 days up to as much as 90 days depending on the environment the bird is coming from, the bird’s prior vet care history, and the results of the blood work. Discuss the length of quarantine with your vet, however recommended quarantines for birds, is a minimum of 30 days.

Proper Quarantine Practices

The purpose of this document is to explain what quarantine is, why it is important and how to carry it out successfully in a home environment.
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What is quarantine?
Quarantine is a period of strict isolation to prevent the spread of disease. Ideally, quarantine should be practiced in a separate air space with separate supplies (clothing, dishes, cages, toys, food, etc) and no item from the quarantine room should be exposed to any outside area.

Why should you quarantine?
Many avian illnesses can not be tested for. Some birds may carry illnesses and be "sub clinically" infected. That means they will carry and potentially spread the disease without showing symptoms. This phenomenon can also cause false negative results for various testing procedures including PCR DNA testing which is the most reliable form of testing for most diseases.

When stressed due to a change in environment, sub clinical birds may become symptomatic. During this time, they often begin shedding virus particles or bacteria in large numbers, increasing the risk of spread to other birds and/or people. By maintaining new entries in quarantine, this period of stress can be monitored and any symptomatic birds can be tested and treated appropriately. Quarantine helps protect other creatures in your environment from diseases and helps draw out issues that may otherwise be undetectable.
Many avian diseases can be spread quickly and easily within a flock and many are terminal. It is impossible to stress the need for quarantine enough.

How to perform quarantine in a home environment
The Quarantine Room:
Quarantine in a home environment is best practiced in a room or building that is separate from the rest of your house. Good examples are:
• A heated/cooled garage that contains no toxic items
• A climate controlled, separate building (again containing no toxic items)
• An apartment with exterior access doors
• Quarantine may also be carried out successfully in less than perfect spaces when care and good bio-security protocols are followed.

The most common place for quarantine is a spare room. Preferably this spare room should be separated from any other birds by at least 1 door and should have the ability to be heated/ cooled without circulating air through the rest of the house. Creating a separate air space may be achieved by blocking off incoming vents and using a door seal on the room. Heating and air conditioning may be provided by plug in electric oil heaters, window units, etc. Do not use propane, natural gas or other combustion processes to provide heat for birds in quarantine rooms. Birds are very sensitive to vapors and other gasses (such as carbon monoxide) that these units often emit. Please do not use electric "coil" heaters as many of them are coated with PTFE which emits toxic gasses when heated. These units also pose a fire hazard in most home environments.

The Supplies
Your quarantine room should have its own supply of
Food
Dishes
Disinfectants
Hamper
Cage(s)
Toys
Perches
Inexpensive clothing (Including SHOES)
The Protocols
In order to perform a proper quarantine, you must ensure that all supplies in the quarantine room remain in or near the room and do not mingle with supplies for your other birds. For example, quarantine room bowls should be washed separately from other food dishes (preferably in a separate room like a guest bathroom) and all cage papers should be placed in a garbage bag and taken directly to the exterior garbage can. Perches, cages and toys from the quarantine room should not enter the living space of any other bird until quarantine has been successfully completed.

The bird(s) in quarantine should be tended to last, so you should ensure that your other bird(s) have been taken care of before entering the area. After you have finished feeding, cleaning and interacting with the bird(s) in quarantine, you should remove your clothing and place all washable items in a hamper and carry them directly to be washed. Non-washable items (such as shoes) should be placed beside the quarantine room door and sprayed with disinfectant. After disrobing, you should shower with an anti-bacterial, anti-viral soap. Most anti-bacterial soaps are fine as long as they are accompanied by thorough rinsing. It is important that you ensure that your hair and under your fingernails are fully cleansed.

Maintaining Birds in Quarantine
Birds in quarantine are expected to be provided with the same care and treatment as any other birds in the home; however, you are not expected to interact with quarantine birds as much or as frequently as other birds in your home. This is due to the nature of quarantine. Repeated contact requires repeated showers, clothing washed, etc and exposes you more often to potential diseases. The more often quarantine is entered the more likely a breach is to occur.

The use of disinfectants while cleaning quarantine items is also encouraged. It is not necessary for most household situations to continue the use of strong disinfectants on a daily or weekly basis. During quarantine, however, the use of disinfectants may prevent the build up of virus particles, bacteria and other disease causing agents. You are encouraged to follow bowl, perch, cage and toy cleansing with a disinfecting spray and permit the items to air dry. **DO NOT spray any bird with a disinfectant or permit the birds access to wet disinfectant!** You may also cleanse hard surfaces in a room (book shelves, desks, counters, etc) with the disinfectant.

www.SecondChanceBirds.com would like to thank ParrotsR4Ever.org for sharing the proper quarantine practices for home use. .

*Copyrighted by ParrotsR4Ever.org and used with permission

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