Endoparasites (enternal parasites) These include tapeworms, threadworms, and roundworms.  Symptoms include lack of energy, ruffled feathers, and slimey fecal material. Death can also occur due to an obstruction in the intestines.  Your avain vet can treat this with medications.  To prevent parasites, always keep your bird's cage and play areas clean.

Feather plucking  This is a big problem for many parrots. Symptoms include constantly pulling out their feathers and  bald spots anywhere on your parrots body within reach of it's beak. Extreme cases of mutilation are also common, in which the parrot has chewed on it's skin, muscles, and surrounding tissue.  Causes include lack of sleep, not enough exercise, not bathing/showering enough, cage too small, inadequate diet, skin irritations, lack of mate, lack of favorite person, lack of attention, and many other causes. Treatment is difficult. Taking your parrot to the vet to rule out skin, diet, and other health concerns are top priority. If all is fine healthwise, then the real detective work begins. With hundreds of things that could bother your bird, it's trial by error.  A bird behavioralist isn't a bad idea, either.

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) This disease causes the beak to soften, halts feather growth, compromises the immune system, and can lead to death.  Symptoms include bald patches and loss of powder down on the feathers. There is no cure for this disease.  Treating the symptoms and building up the bird's immune system are the only options.

Psittacosis, or Parrot Fever, is a serious disease for birds and humans.  Symptoms include inflammation of eye membranes, weight loss, lethargy, and diarrhea.  Human symptoms include high fever, cold/flu-like symptoms, and lung infections.  This disease is often fatal in humans.  Treatment includes antibiotics.

Accidents happen despite our best care! Parrots just weren't designed to live in our homes. Having a first aid kit handy at all times is very important and could be a matter of life and death.  You could buy a parrot first aid kit, or you can make one yourself.  Sterile gauze, betadine, tweezers, styptic powder, and a heating pad are a few items you may need.  I  buy the small hand heaters from sports supply stores.  They are portable, can keep the parrot warm for hours, and do not need to be plugged in.  They are perfect for the drive to the avain vet. 

There are a few things you need to know to help the parrot get the best medical care: What happened to the bird?  Was he burned? Is he bleeding? etc... Keeping your parrot warm is of extreme importance.  Birds' body temperature can drop rapidly. Also, keep the number of poison control close by.  And getting your bird to the avain vet as soon as possible.  Common sense and a cool head will make all the difference.