I have never seen or tested my horses or birdies worms but I deworm anyhow. With the horses I practice switch worming as they can build up resistance to preparations.

Thanks both of you - very informative.


Angie - have you ever had a problem? Does one or more of your birds get them at other times?

How & what do you do to keep this threat down normally?

Jac, I have never had a problem any loss of condition or any suggestion by the vet I should test. I deworm because it is possible for them to get worms, as a precaution. It is only recommended to deworm twice a year. Deworming medicine carries it own risk if used too frequently.

A cage bird is unlikely to get worms since has no access to the floor, no flies to lay eggs etc.

Never heard of birds having worms. My vet does fecal tests on Ruby though. I guess that would catch them. Lucky (my boxer) is a worm bag! ha! The vet said it was common in puppies and that they get them from their mom. Oh joy! ICK!

I hadn't thought of it either - nor the poor person who's Budgie got them after a quarantine. Just bad luck the carriers didn't show any signs.

So poor living conditions are probably the cause &/or exposure to wild birds? With rehomes you often don't know the history of the bird.

I got my Laker from a shelter & they said he'd been Vet checked. For a Budgie it could have been anything & I was too new to birds to ask the right questions. Rio came from an indoor aviary - easier to do for Budgies.

I always dewormed the kittens when I took them in to socialise them for rehoming. They were barn cats & had lots of opportunities to get wormy.

All animals can get intestinal parasites, humans too. They are not very common in pet birds because they are kept indoors and hardly ever have contact with other birds but outdoor aviaries and breeders regularly give their birds parasiticides. I've never approved of it because, like Angie says, poison is poison and regardless of how careful you are, it will be cleaned out of the bird's system by the liver and one DOES NOT want to overwork a bird's liver. Many canary breeders do it as a matter of fact every year before breeding season but I've never had a need. I always used to treat the new canary with Ivermectin when I first got him, repeat the dosage at three weeks and that was the end of that, once the bird is clean and kept in an environment where there are no parasites, there is no risk of infection.