New knowledge, along with new instrumentation and surgical techniques, diagnostic methods and drugs have brought avian medicine a long way. Most colds in people get better in time without major complications and thus are not considered to be too serious. This is misleading because respiratory symptoms in birds are not colds at all, but frequently bacterial or chlamydial infections that can be quite serious if untreated. Allergic disease has also been implicated in some respiratory conditions. Regardless of the cause, these animals require veterinary attention and, when appropriate, properly selected antibiotic therapy.
Some conditions can be life-threatening.
Most of them are based on a kaolin pectin combination, similar to those sold for use in humans. There are several problems with this. First, diarrhea in pet birds is rarely the self limiting, uncomplicated condition that is experienced in humans. Most of the time the problem is actually a condition called ''polyuria, which is an overproduction of urine and urates from the kidneys. This is easily confused by an inexperienced bird owner.