Urgent Conure can’t poop

[soleaux]

Hi all. I recently had a huge scare with my conure Basil — she was exposed to cleaning fumes, and she was really weak and in a bad way but she survived. A few days later she started pooping black and the vet confirmed that there was blood. I’ve been giving her 0.05 mL of carafate and baytril daily, and she seems to have gotten better. This was two weeks ago.

She’s eating normally now but wasn’t eating enough, so i’ve been handfeeding her Emeraid Omnivore IC formula to keep her weight up. This evening I noticed that she cannot pass a stool.. she tried 4 times, and nothing. Earlier today she was passing just fine. I’ve been busy today so i haven’t let her out yet, so she couldnt have gotten to anything outside the cage.

No stools stuck to her vent. Trying to run a warm bath for her right now in hopes it’ll help.

I’ll be at the vet tomorrow but what should i do in the mean time?

 

[Hankmacaw]

If you can feed her by syringe, give her some pumpkin. Get the canned pumpkin that is pumpkin and water only. Then give her a bunch of water by syringe. This should loosen her up enough to poop. Also a warm behind bath should help.

Get hold of your vet immediately in the morning.

 

[soleaux]

I also forgot to mention her poops have been small. Earlier this evening she seemed interested in her food (walking to the food bowl and looking into it) but not actually eating.

 

[soleaux]

Okay she just passed after I soaked her in the warm bath!!

Thank you @Hankmacaw, you are a wealth of information. I gave her some water and will buy some pumpkin tonight.

 

[webchirp]

Are you weighing her? How much Emeraid are you able to get her to take?

 

[soleaux]

Yes, i weigh her twice a day. This morning she was 63-64, and in the afternoons she’s usually 67-69. Before this whole scare her morning weight was 67.

When she initially lost weight to 63 two weeks ago, her keel felt really sharp. But for some reason now even though she weighs the same, her keel feels much better?? Not sure how that works

She’s always really eager for emeraid (head bobs it down like she’s being regurged to and everything) but gets antsy once I hit 4mL. She eats pretty much all the veggies i offer (3/4 of a small bell pepper, 1/5 of a baby carrot, a teaspoon of corn, 1 small blackberry/raspberry/blueberry each) but only takes a few mouthfuls of pellets every day.

This morning her stools were the most normal I’ve seen since the incident and she passed a stool right when I walked up to her cage, but I noticed she did have some poop dangling like a string from her cloaca. I had to pull it “out”.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Has she been chewing on rope or any other soft material that could have become stuck in her?

 

[rocky'smom]

I would still contact your avian vet.

 

[soleaux]

Has she been chewing on rope or any other soft material that could have become stuck in her?

She’s not a rope chewer so I don’t think she has. I haven’t seen any frayed bits on her rope perches but it’s possible.

@rocky'smom I called this morning but unfortunately my vet is away and won’t be back until next Friday. soonest appointment I could get from the surrounding clinics was Monday, will keep a really close eye on her in the mean time.

I’m super nervous because I suspect she might have the beginnings of bumblefoot too. I’ve been rubbing SSD on her feet twice a day and replaced some old rope perches for good measure / vet wrapped some natural perches, but I have no idea how it could have happened since she only has a variety of rope perches and natural wood perches in her cage that are wiped down every day... never had a health issue before this and now it seems like so many things hitting at once

 

[Peachfaced]

Did she ever have one of those happy hut things?

 

[soleaux]

Nope, I don’t have anything dangerous that could fray and thread besides her rope perches, and I haven’t seen any loose ends on them. She did seem fine today, no straining or poop around her vent. Hopefully this keeps up til Monday!

 

[enigma731]

Is it possible she was just dehydrated?

 

[soleaux]

Beginning to suspect that may be the case. Phew!!!