Síndrome do comportamento destrutivo de penas em psitacídeos

Abstract

Feather destructive behavior is a common condition in captive birds from the Order Psittaciformes and its occurrence in veterinary practice if frequent. Hence, this study aimed to review the main causes and treatments for this disease in psittacine maintained in captivity. Several factors may cause feather destructive behavior, such as heredity, brain dysfunction, peripheral sensitive nerve damage, environmental factors, inadequate nutrition, infections and behavioral disorders. This syndrome may be diagnosed based on detailed anamnesis, physical and laboratorial examinations. Once the cause is identified, treatment can be determined and several approaches may be used, such as behavior conditioning, environmental enrichment and diet corrections to attend the nutritional minimum requirements. In addition, the environment should be free of inadequate humidity, stress and conditions that may favor allergies. Furthermore, drugs have been used in the treatment of this disease, such as antidepressants tricyclic and antihistamines, antidepressants, hormonal therapy, antipsychotics and benzodiazepine drugs. All of these medications have diverse side effects and their use alone may not treat definitely the disease. As a multifactorial syndrome, this study demonstrated that multiple treatments should be associated to provide better results. Hence, adequate environment, balanced nutrition, reconditioning of behaviors and therapeutic use of drugs are equally important and necessary for the treatment of destructive feather behavior. However, despite all of the improvements in quality of life that these therapeutic options provide, the individual rarely cease this type of altered behavior.