We have lovebirds in a large cage in a shady spot in the garden. We have had them for about a year. Yesterday, we found three of them dead. This morning, another one dead and yet another looking poorly.

My first thought was bird flu. I had this whole mental image of my garden being ground zero in Phuket for the bird flu! Decided to get hold of the vet and take my kids and myself for immediate vaccinations.

We got to the Phuket Intl Hospital and luckily I bumped into a doctor I know who advised me that the flu vaccine does not protect against bird flu and so wasn't worth doing. I had another long chat with a pediatrician who agreed but told me to monitor the family for flu like symptoms for two weeks and come in for a test if there was anything. They have tamiflu for treatment.

Got home and my vet had contacted the agricultural dept. The govt vet came, gave me masks and gloves to keep as well as medicine and vitamins for my remaining birds. He took the dead one away for tests but said it was definitely not bird flu. Thank Goodness!! He was brilliant. He sprayed the cage with disinfectant and told me how to treat the lovebirds. To top it off, there was no charge.

This evening, I feel very relieved that it is not the dreaded avian influenza and that I got such positive responses from both the doctors at the hospital and the govt vet. Sometimes we tend to moan a lot so I decided to make this positive post as a hats off to the fantastic people who helped me today.

just curious but what DID they have...

Don't know. He took the dead one away and said they would check it out. He seemed to think it was something quite common. I doubt I will hear from him.