First Aid For Birds: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet [Hardcover]

Julie Rach Mancini (Author), Gary A. Gallerstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 1998

At last, a book for pet owners that focuses on administering first aid to birds. You'll not only learn step-by-step information on emergency situations bird owners might encounter, you'll also learn how to quickly save your bird's life by taking action, and how to prevent emergencies by feeding your bird a balanced diet, regularly trimming his wings and nails and bird-proofing your home. First Aid for Birds is written by an expert and includes instructions on monitoring your bird's health by regular veterinary visits and observing your bird daily for signs of illness. Best of all, the book is filled with color photos, info-packed sidebars and fun facts to make caring for your pet bird easy and enjoyable.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

At last, a book for pet owners that focuses on administering first aid to birds. You'll not only learn step-by-step information on emergency situations bird owners might encounter, you'll also learn how to quickly save your bird's life by taking action, and how to prevent emergencies by feeding your bird a balanced diet, regularly trimming his wings and nails and bird-proofing your home. First Aid for Birds is written by an expert and includes instructions on monitoring your bird's health by regular veterinary visits and observing your bird daily for signs of illness. Best of all, the book is filled with color photos, info-packed sidebars and fun facts to make caring for your pet bird easy and enjoyable.

About the Author

JULIE RACH is the author of several titles in Howell's Happy Healthy Pet Series, including The Cockatiel and The Budgie, and was an editor of BirdTalk magazine. She resides in California with her African Grey, Sindbad. GARY A. GALLERSTEIN, DVM specializes in veterinary care for birds. He is the author of The Complete Bird Owner's Handbook (Howell Book House, 1994).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Howell Book House; 1 edition (November 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876055315
• ISBN-13: 978-0876055311
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly accurate information for treating a sick or hurt bird, January 7, 2004

By 

sonia luisa - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Aid For Birds: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

Most of the information in this book was right on for treating avian injuries. It had good suggestions for preparing an emergency kit and for acquainting a pet lover of what situations may arise when their bird is injured.

However, one piece of information was very very wrong and it upset me to read it in an otherwise fine piece of avian literature. On page 112 it advocates packing a blood feather with styptic powder which is painful for the bird because styptic powder should NEVER be applied to live tissue. This worries me because there might be other errors in the text that may ultimately be painful, dangerous, or even deadly to a pet bird.

This book is OK for reading through to familiarize yourself with bird injuries and how to treat them, but because it lacks a detailed index and a scant chapter listing, it may not be helpful in an emergency unless you have dog-eared the book for your bird's most frequent health issues. It is also a poor reference for this reason.

However, compared to relying on unreliable websites, this book is arguably a better option.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Simplified overview......, December 31, 2004

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: First Aid For Birds: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

Two weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I found blood all over one of my Cockatiels. I now know that he had pecked at a feather abscess which had burst and splattered its contents everywhere. THE COMPLETE BIRD OWNER'S HANDBOOK by Gallerstein provided me with the information I needed so that I could determine if the bleeding was life-threatening (such as a broken blood feather), and whether I could treat it. This information allowed me to wait until the following Monday to have my bird seen by a bird vet who performed surgery on the cyst and ran several tests (biopsy, etc. to make sure it was not something that would kill my other birds) -- thus a $300+ vet bill instead of something much worse in at emergency service. I bought FIRST AID FOR BOOKS after this incident thinking it would provide me with additional insight into bird health situations, but it does not. Though more accessible, FIRST AID is a synopsis of some of the more common crises discussed in the larger book by Gallerstein.

In FIRST AID FOR BIRDS, Julie Rach and Gary Gallerstein explain that their book addressed the immediate steps to take in selected health crises (no feather abscesses here). Each topic covered is divided into several parts: the crises (for example fracture), the signs (leg hanging at a funny angle), home treatment (confine bird....), Veterinary treatment. (The book will help the bird owner figure out some steps to take in a selected crises, but the owner should read the larger Gallerstein book before a crises arises.

FIRST AID deals with some of the more common upsets covered in any good bird book, so I did not find any information I did not already have on hand, except a list of possible sources of lead poisoning including items like curtain weights - and believe me I am not going to try to figure out what poisoned my bird if he or she acts as if poison is at work, I am going to seek medical help immediately.

FIRST AID (the book) is mostly about prevention - how to follow a proper diet and eschew household hazards. As I already had a good deal of this information on hand in other sources, I found this book disappointing. It would have been more useful if it had provided me with "triage" information to address various crises, i.e. what do you look for in a bleeding bird, i.e., what signs help you determine if bleeding is the result of a broken blood feather, an abscess (I had never seen a feather abscess), or something else, and what to do in each case.

HOLISTIC CARE FOR BIRDS by McCluggage and Higdon addresses home remedies as well as preventative measures and is thus acts as a complentary book with much greater detail on the home remedies offered in FIRST AID. Gallerstein's larger book includes photographs of pus filled abscesses and other groovy stuff, so you will want to buy all three books if you can, but FIRST AID FOR BIRDS will get you started.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent general reference!, January 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: First Aid For Birds: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book. It gives first-aid kit suggestions, discusses normal bird health, and gives a list of symptoms with suggested treatments and when to call the vet. Our local library has this book and I found it very helpful. It is in a series of pet books, all of which are pretty good. A great addition to any bird-owner or bird-lover's library!