Lynwood Animal Hospital

01/15/2026

Some information on beak and feather disease. Testing for this virus is quite simple and only requires a swab!

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) is a viral infection caused by a member of the circovirus family. This infection can affect birds of any age but nestlings and young adults are at the greatest risk making it of particular concern for aviculturists. The infection has two forms – acute and chronic. In the acute form birds develop bone marrow suppression and liver failure. Parrots with chronic disease develop feather dystrophy and may develop abnormalities to the beak and nails. Chronically affected birds are immunosuppressed and often pass of secondary infections.
PBFD can affect any member of the psittacine family, however, it is most commonly recognized in cockatoos, eclectus, budgerigar, lories, lorikeets, African greys, and lovebirds. Infected parrots transmit the infection through their skin and feather dander, f***s, crop secretions, and potentially through the egg. As circoviruses are very stable in the environment and resistant to many disinfectants, this can present significant long-lasting problems for aviaries that have been exposed.
Unfortunately, only supportive treatment options are available and no commercial vaccines currently exist for PBFD. The best way to handle PBFD in the flock is to keep it out. Test all new birds before adding them to the aviary. If testing the feathers or f***s, be aware of the potential for false positive results from environmental contamination. When it comes to PBFD, taking a proactive approach to avoid infections can help aviculturists prevent larger problems later.

Quick facts
- Lovebirds have a higher rate of asymptomatic infections and can shed the virus despite the lack of clinical signs.
- It can take weeks to years after exposure to the virus for parrots to show clinical signs of the disease.
- The virus that causes PBFD is very stable in the environment and resistant to many disinfectants.

https://www.aav.org/blogpost/1787676/516109/Psittacine-Beak-and-Feather-Disease--An-Illness-Best-Avoided

01/01/2026

Wishing all of our friends a Happy New Year! We hope 2026 is a year of health, love and good memories.

12/25/2025

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas today!
We hope you had a lovely holiday season with your friends and family.

Was your pet on Santa's nice or naughty list this year? Bobby was definitely on the nice list as he is always helping out! Timbit however... might be a little troublemaker! 😉

Let us know in the comments if your pet was on the nice or naughty list this year. Share pictures with their gifts from Santa!

12/24/2025

Merry Christmas Eve!
We have a cute picture to share today. Hans the little hamster went to see Santa! We are sure he asked for some treats, and we know that Hans is on the nice list.

Did your pets visit Santa this season? Share their pictures in the comments!

12/04/2025

Look at Shouto, the cutest little hamster! Do you notice something different?
If you said her eyes, you are correct. She has different coloured eyes, one is black and the other one is red! This is called heterochromia and is caused by a genetic mutation. We think this makes this sweet girl even more special.

11/27/2025

Meet the sweetest boy, Opus. Opus is the happiest boxer there ever was and needs to wiggle his whole body to let us know he is happy.
He came for his neuter and asked to be a little lap dog and be spoiled. We of course could not say no to that cute face.

11/23/2025

December is fast approaching! Take note of our upcoming holiday hours and please ensure you order any food or medication well in advance.

11/21/2025

Have you ever wondered how we are able to obtain a blood sample from our reptile friends?
Our approach will vary depending on what kind of reptile we are trying to obtain a sample from. Besides reptiles having scales, we run into other challenges we need to navigate like having a big protective shell or no legs!
For most of our lizards (and snakes) the collection site will be from their tail vein. We can't actually see the vein, but we work with anatomical landmarks. First we want to make sure the site is clean and we rub some betadine on the scales. We then look for the middle point on the ventral tail portion. For males we have to make sure we don't poke too close to their vent as we don't want to accidentally hit their hemipenes. Once we find out middle point, we go in at a 90 degree angle. We might have to make small adjustments until we see blood filling out syringe.
For most of our patients we can do this with minimal restraint and we don't need sedation. Any reptile species that will drop their tail as a defense would have to be sedated first and the sample collected from a different location. Once we have our sample we apply some pressure and check the site. Easy, right?
Check out the second picture showing what the blood looks like under the microscope. The red blood cells are nucleated and you can see a white blood cell called heterophil as well. The morphology of these white cells can show some variations between all the different species!

We hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the world of reptile blood collection.

11/20/2025

What do you get when you mix a Shih Tzu with a Jack Russel?
You get a Pippa! This sweet girl came for her visit with us after being adopted by her new family. She was happy with all the attention she got during her visit, but her favourite part was all the snacks she got.

11/18/2025

Please join us in celebrating our friend Duck's 4th birthday! You can follow her on Instagram and see all her adventures: https://www.instagram.com/duck_the_boston/