by Dr Phil Sacks BVSc Hons MACVs( Avian Health) - Bird vet Burwood

A significant percentage of well-cared for pets, will ultimately die of cancer. The reason being is that they are living longer and cancer occurs more frequently in older birds. Some of the reasons for the longevity include: Protection from the dangers of climatic extremes and predation, approppiate diets, regular health checks, preventative and prophylactic treatments . Pet birds are living average life spans many times more than their wild counterparts and are often living about twice as long as pet birds a decade ago. This contrasts significantly with "wild" free roaming birds that have significantly shorter lifespans. As an example we saw 2 cockatiels over 20 years old and a budgerigar over 15 years old last week.

Why do our pets get cancer?

Almost every diagnosis of cancer at our bird clinic is followed by the same question by the owner ... why?. There are many reasons and we don't understand them all. We and our companion pets were created with an "immune surveillance" mechanism whereby damaged cells anywhere in the body are recognized by the body's blood cells as foreign and destroyed. During our lives single "cancer" cells are often formed, from toxins, UV radiation etc - but they are removed before they can multiply and establish. If the cancer cells can evade the immune system cancer may develop.

What is cancer in birds?

Cancer is an accumulation of cells derived from a single transformed cell, whose growth and replication occurs out of control. Cancer cells usually continue to grow after the stimulus that caused them is removed. Benign is a term used to define slow growing cancers whose cell types are not far removed from the original cell type, and the mass remains in the site of origin. Malignant cancers grow rapidly and extend beyond their site of origin. The fact that we are cancer free most of our life is a wonder in it self.

Some of the most common cancers that we see in domesticated birds in everyday Melbourne veterinary avain practice are spindle cell tumours of the connective tissues , carcinomas of the kidneys and reproductive systems, lipomas - in fat birds; and lymphoid tumours in pet chickens . As there are a growing number of the clientele we see are bonded to their birds, the birds presented at our clinic are often still at an early stage of disease and can be treated.

A typical case seen in October 2005 at Bird Vet Melbourne . - Billie is an 18 year old Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, with a lump on his elbow extending towards the shoulder. The lump is firm and growing rapidly. We start of with less painful non invasive diagnostic procedures.

Step 1: The Fine Needle Aspirate involves putting a very thin insulin needle into the lump and getting a few cells that we can examine under the microscope. This is done in house and the results are availibe within a few minutes. The result in Billie's case : malignant spindle cells, with no infection present.

Step 2: We took Radiographs of the wing and at the same time the whole bird to determine the extent and spread of the tumour.

The Cockatoo tumour mass can be seen in the middle of the radiograph as a large circular mass just above the elbow and not extending to the shoulder.(Bird vet)

Step 3: Under general anaesthesia with preoperative pain relief, and drip fluids we surgically remove the wing. Care is taken to keep the patient warm, keep the bird anaesthetic time short, and to minimize blood loss.

Sterile surgery - note the see through sterile avian drapes, the patient connected to the bird anaesthetic via an avian endotracheal tube, there is very little blood loss, the wing to be amputated is wrapped in a sterile bandage.

Treatment involved amputation of the wing at the shoulder as we knew that the tumour was malignant. Billie had not being flying anyway due to the growth damaging the wing. Pet birds appear to cope well with wing amputations and the recovery is rapid. They seem to manage well afterwards even though they cannot fly.

Step 4: We Sent the affected mass to a pathologist that has an interest in birds. The lump was analysed so that we know the type of tumour and the likelihood of it reoccurring and also if the lump completely removed.

This is a picture from our pathologist: Dr Jardine at Vetpath At 400X magnification . The tumour can be seen (by the trained eye) invading the birds muscle tissue.

Dr Jardine reported the type of tumour and how malignant it appeared and importantly if it was completely removed.
This tumor was a fibrosarcoma occurring in older birds in the cockatoo group. The pathologist commented that spread to other organs was unlikely but that it may return near the original surgical site. Other treatment to consider are radiation therapy and cancer drugs injected into the tumour; some of these tumours can be treated without surgery.

To treat or not to treat - that is the question? Our Advice to clients is generally that we aim for "quality life!"

The goal outcome for cancer treatment in birds is different from that expected in man. We aim for complete cure but balance the therapy with Quality of life post treatment, minimal side effects. Rapid recovery from cancer treatment is important in the veterinary perspective. As oppposed in man, with a much longer life expectancy, the goal is often complete cure and people often experience the "side effects" and relatively toxic levels of drugs hoping for a complete cure.