Golden Triangle Parrot Club

Dear GTPC Members,

About 3 weeks ago, my African Grey Parrot, Coco became acutely ill. Dr Taylor has not been able to give a diagnosis even to today. Thoughts ranged from bacterial meningitis, PDD, chlamydia (in the brain) and so on. So far she has responded the best on the antibiotics, so we are leaning towards bacterial meningitis. She has been tested about 5 times now for PDD but it has always back negative. This experience has been an emotional one but Coco is still fighting and is currently stable. Hopefully we can find out why she became ill but most importantly we just hope she continues to stay stable and get better.

• DID you know that there are birds that appear to be perfectly healthy but shed the disease on a regular basis – or even a daily basis? These are the birds we need to find and isolate.They can live happy lives for many years but it is vital that they are kept isolated from non-shedding birds as these other birds may not be lucky enough to survive the disease. This is why is it so important to have the birds tested.
• Aviaries with PDD outbreaks do not typically have each and every single bird die of the disease. It is transmitted through fecal matter. Birds need to be in contact with the fecal matter to contract the disease.

Please take the time to get the facts correct as we have already had misinformation being passed on since our meeting on Sunday. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Suzan or myself and we will be happy to answer your questions.

See you at the October meeting!
Nathalie and Suzan

OCTOBER MEETING

We will be asking individuals to bring in cash to pay for their tests. If you are concerned about your bird being at the meeting, we have a few suggestions:

• keep your bird in the carrier in the room or in your car (we can come out to gather a fecal sample – keeping all doors closed of course!)
• use hand sanitizer before handling your bird
• we will also have disinfectant to clean areas at this meeting

Conference Ticket Raffle….remember we will be having a draw for a weekend pass to our conference at our meeting again this year! We have an amazing line up of guest speakers, so don’t miss out!

NEW CLUB POLICIES:

We would like to continue to mingle with both club members and their feathered friends. We all agree that being able to socialize our birds is important for the well being of our birds. My birds love attending the monthly meetings and we plan to be able to continue to provide them with that experience!

We will be establishing new club policies that will include the following:

• Visitors will have to pay a $5 fee to attend their first meeting. If they decide to join, it will be discounted from their membership fee.
• Students will have a membership fee of $15
• Everyone will have to have their bird tested for PDD before they can attend club meetings. We know that there are other diseases out there but will only make this request at this time.
• Your bird will need to be tested for PDD annually (regular fee is $40/test). We will arrange to have tests available at the October meetings each year at a discounted price.

Canadian Parrot Conference

Don’t forget to register for this year’s conference! We have some amazing guest speakers include Dr Irene Pepperberg, Sally Blanchard, Dr Taylor and more! If you have any good quality items you wish to donate to the raffle, please bring it to the October meeting or on Friday of the conference.

www.canadianparrotconference.ca

December Meeting

Join us for our annual Festival of Parrots! The festival will be an xmas pot luck, gift exchange and bird contest (club will provide drinks). Bring your feathered (and in some cases your “not so feathered”) friends and participate in this year’s Festival of Parrots. If last year was any indication we are definitely going to have a blast! There are lots of “unique” categories so everyone is sure to go home a winner. GTPC Award Ribbons are waiting for your FIDS. We will also have fun activities for owner and parrot alike with prizes for the winners. Don’t miss out on the fun. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the CPC’s Pennies 4 Parrots (www.pennies4parrots.ca) campaign (you can play games / get tickets tickets for as low as $0.01 to participate), so dig into your penny/coin jars and come armed and ready! If you would like to volunteer to be a judge or help out at one the stations, please let us know.

WHEN: Sunday, December 5th, 2010 starting at 1 pm

WHERE: CAW Hall (small school house) located at 611 Silvercreek Parkway in Guelph.