Male: Hey everybody, it is time for Avian First Aid, Episode 14. This episode is about prolapse.
Female: Prolapse, what prolapse means is that the tissue is sticking out of where it should be usually in a bird. We are talking about the cloaca or the uterus or intestinal prolapse. It is usually in the back end and it is usually secondary to some other problem because they are usually pushing too much and that is what makes the prolapse happen. So peritonitis wherein there is inflammation in the abdomen can do it, chronic egg length can get them too fatigue and dilated, it can do it, if they have hernia, anything that makes them strained. Diarrhea, tumors, papillomas, and all those things make them strained and they are constantly strained we can push the tissues out that should stay in.
A cloacal prolapse is far less serious than uterus or intestines. The cloaca is the little structure that sits just inside the abdomen that holds the fecal material and the urine until the ready to go to the bathroom. Then it just everts and goes back and then -- So, that structure does not hang down really low and is not as likely to be super painful as if sometimes the whole uterus hangs out or intestines hang out. Those are particularly bad because they are prone to getting self mutilation by the bird. They can chew them or they do not have to be very long and they get too dry and the tissue dies.
So, what you want to do, if you see that is you want to keep the area moist in KY jelly. It works real well because it sticks in it and it moistens for a longer period of time and you want to prevent further traumas. So, if it is a bird with an intestine hanging out, you probably want to hold it. It is just climbing around, the cage, the nails can rip out as they can hang down like that far. And if they ripped it or if the tissue dies then you probably do not get birds. So, it is really important to maintain that and that would be something that you would want to get it organized and get it somewhere where it can be replaced.
What we do when those arise, is assessment over the tissues and then put them back where they belong. Basically, if it is a cloaca, that is very easy, you can usually do it with thermometer with KY jelly on because it just sits out and you put it back in. Now, what happened if it is out for a while is that the muscles around the vent are so flabby that you put it in, the bird stands up, it comes again.
So, what we do and knows is we put two little sutures on each side of the vent where you could insert the thermometer so that it can still poo for about 10 days to allow the muscles to come back to normal. If it is a uterine prolapse those are quite a bit more involved to get back in because you have to get it in the cloaca and then has to find it this little duct and go back up where it belongs. Some of those, if the tissue is too bad, you might end up slaying them because if you put that tissue inside of her that is not useful and an intestinal prolapse to be honest with you, I have never saved one. Usually they are too difficult to get in and when you are trying to replace the tissues of -- they would just tail, does not mean you would try, but that is quite bad because the intestines is --.
So, what you would do to try and prevent that is prevent the secondary problems that made it happen in the first place, right. So, if you noticed your bird doing a lot of straining, get it looked into if they have parasites, or papilloma, or something. Try and get back, deal with it before it progresses to prolapse. Cloacal prolapses are not difficult to deal with, but sometimes it starts at the cloaca and then it becomes something else. So, if you can address what unfriendly cause is and get that under control or prevent it in the first place, that is better.
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