Common Diseases of Michigan Gamebirds: A Retrospective Study

SUMMARY Michigan has abundant resources for outdoor activity including upland gamebird hunting in the wild and on licensed hunting preserves. Due to the popularity of hunting, Michigan had a thriving gamebird industry prior to the economic downturn of 2008/2009. After the economic downturn, the number of gamebird preserves decreased. In order to understand the health issues faced by captive gamebird raisers while the industry was thriving, a 25-year retrospective study of gamebird submissions to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from 1983 through 2008 was undertaken. Although pheasants, quail, partridges, grouse and mallard ducks were raised, pheasants were the predominant species submitted followed by quail. Causes for submission included parasitic, bacterial, viral and miscellaneous causes. Pheasant submissions greatly outnumbered all other gamebird species followed by quail. Parasitic diseases were predominant with coccidiosis being the leading diagnosis in pheasants and partridges and Capillaria sp. infestation of the crop prevailing in quail. Bacterial diseases were the next most predominant with clostridial enteritis, both necrotic and ulcerative, in quail while a variety of bacterial diseases were found in pheasants and partridges. Rotaviral enteritis and adenovirus were the most prevalent viral diseases in pheasants, adenovirus being the predominant viral disease in quail and paramyxovirus the most prevalent in partridges. From these findings, gamebird submissions should be closely screened for parasitic diseases and the diagnosis confirmed at necropsy through scraping and examination of affected tissues.