Ron Hines DVM PhD 4/25/06

I need to start with a caveat. The damage already done by gout in birds, like kidney failure in man, can not be cured. Bird kidneys are composed of glomeruli (filtering apparatus'). The fact that birds develop high blood uric acid levels is a sign that much of the kidney's filtering ability has been irriversably lost. Treatments for gout in birds may extend the bird's life, but they will not reverse the damage that has already occured.

Gout is an accumulation of uric acid crystals within the body. If internal organs are coated with these crystals, the condition is known as visceral gout. When joints are primarily affected, the term is articular gout. It is most often seen in older budgies, cockatiels and parrots that have been fed an unbalanced diet (protein levels above 20-25%). Also contributing to this condition are diets too high in calcium, vitamin D-3 or too low in vitamin A. Mammals excrete the waste products of protein metabolism as urea. Birds however secrete these products as uric acid (the crystals of gout). This material is the prime constituent of the white portion of the stool. Birds with the visceral form of gout do not live long. Those that develop the whitish plaques surrounding their joints may live many years. Sometimes, the kidneys of affected birds are seen to be mineralized in X-rays. All these birds have high blood uric acid levels (over 10miligrams/decileter). Gout also occurs when the kidneys have been damage for any reason. One fairly common cause of kidney damage is the use of antibiotics that belong to the aminoglycoside group. A common one is gentamycin

Diet For Birds With Gout
Birds that suffer from gout should be fed a diet no higher than 15% crude protein. A diet of this protein level can be produced by cutting an avian pelleted diet with approximately one third Quaker oatmeal. These birds also benefit from the judicious use of a vitamin supplement. Feeding the diet moist is also a good idea since copious water intake helps flush waste products through the kidneys.

Medicine

All tablets contain binders. These are primarily starch and talc. When tablets are disolved in water, this is the residue that remains. If you are still in doubt that the medication has fully disolved, have it prepared by a compounding pharmacy.

Allopurinol (Zyloprim) is used to treat gout in birds and humans. This drug inhibits purine catabolism, which prevents the production of uric acid. A 100 mg tablet is crushed in 10 ml of water. Add up to 1ml of this diluted suspension to 30ml of drinking water. Change the water twice a day. This will hopefully lower the concentration of uric acid within the bird’s body and help prevent more crystals from forming. Try to keep the bird lean and not fat. Excess weight puts added strain on inflamed tendons and joints. Blood Uric acid levels need to be monitored periodically to determine if theallopurinol is working. If allopurinol is not effective, two other medications called Colchicine and Probenecid can be tried. The effective and the safe doses of all three medications are still in question. A technique called allometric scaling, developed by Dr. Sedgwick, can be used to approximate the dose.

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