Pictures More poop...

[Rowdy]

After 2-3 weeks of multiple hormone reduction techniques, Missy's hormonal..."activities", shall we say, have finally come to a halt it seems! No more *cough* making love to her perch *cough*, no more huge poops, etc etc.

BUT, I have a new question about her poop from today. This one was from just a few minutes ago, and I'd never seen one like this, so it scared me. :s

Her droppings in the cage I see from during the night look totally normal and are solid. She had done some flying but that was earlier this morning, during her morning lap around the room. It's now 4:30pm. She has had a slight change in diet as I've been adding a small bit of a new seed mix and mixing it in her current mix, as well as starting a slow transition from ZuPreem pellets over to Harrison's.
She did not have any veggies or sprouts this morning or yesterday morning.

This is the dropping from right before the really weird looking one:

This one was after it (seed hull was not a part of it):

 

[Monica]

I'd consider taking her to an avian vet to rule out any medical issues.... I'm seeing bubbles, and that could be an indication of an infection.

 

[Rowdy]

Thank you! I also emailed the photos to her vet - he said the excess amount of urine was most concerning. He won't be available until the end of next week, but he referred me to another avian vet (and friend of his) in town.
She has an appointment tomorrow morning at 10:30am for some bloodwork to check her liver function, kidney function and check for diabetes.

 

[Birdbabe]

Hope its nothing serious.

 

[Rowdy]

Hope its nothing serious.

Thank you! ;v;

- - - - -
Here is a photo of her latest dropping. Ugh more bubbles. DX Her urates look awfully concerning to me as well. :x
I'll be bringing along these photos tomorrow, in case the vet wants to see them.

 

[sunnysmom]

Let us know how the appointment goes. I hope everything is okay!

 

[Rowdy]

Missy finished up at the vet about an hour ago. The vet was very thorough and explained everything he was doing and why. (The only thing I didn't like was he pushes an all-pellet diet, and seed is virtually the enemy of all psittacines.)

Did a physical and he was very impressed with her physical condition. I showed him the photos of all the droppings and he said the bubbles could mean an infection. They took blood and the results should be in tomorrow. But said we're looking at possibly kidney infection. He also mentioned kidney failure. :/

They had to give her a wee bit of gas to draw the blood (he took half from her neck and I believe half from her wing??), so he said she may be a little drowsy and to keep her relaxed for the next 2-3 days.

 

[Rowdy]

Back home a few hours ago <3 We were at the vet for over an hour.

 

[sunnysmom]

Missy is such a pretty girl. I hope everything is okay. Did the vet to a gram stain or just draw blood? In the past Sunny has had bubbles in his droppings and the vet found that Sunny had no good bacteria - which the vet said that the danger of no good bacteria is that it makes the bird more susceptible to getting bad bacteria. He treated Sunny with probiotics for 30 days. Unfortunately several months later, Sunny did get bad bacteria and after a few vomiting bouts we now just keep him on probiotics daily as due to his age, we think, he just can't maintain his good bacteria level. I should know this.. but how old is Missy? (And I completely agree with you on the all pellet thing. Ugh.)

 

[Rowdy]

Missy is such a pretty girl. I hope everything is okay. Did the vet to a gram stain or just draw blood? In the past Sunny has had bubbles in his droppings and the vet found that Sunny had no good bacteria - which the vet said that the danger of no good bacteria is that it makes the bird more susceptible to getting bad bacteria. He treated Sunny with probiotics for 30 days. Unfortunately several months later, Sunny did get bad bacteria and after a few vomiting bouts we now just keep him on probiotics daily as due to his age, we think, he just can't maintain his good bacteria level. I should know this.. but how old is Missy? (And I completely agree with you on the all pellet thing. Ugh.)

Thanks. <3
She's only 9 1/2 years old or so. When I adopted her back in November 2013 the person who surrendered her claimed she was about 8 years old. They only drew blood, but if nothing comes of this, I'll ask about the gram stain as well! With the poor diet she had when she was surrendered to the humane society from where I adopted her (she had been on a wild bird seed mix for finches and the like), I can imagine something like that for 8 years of her life as her only food causing some damage and stress on the inside and maybe "aging" her organs to seem like that of a much older bird, if that's possible.

Thank you so much for your input! I'll definitely be keeping it in mind and asking the vet about the gram stain, if it becomes necessary.

 

[Rowdy]

Also, I'd posted on a cockatiel forum but forgotten to update here with photos early this morning. Her droppings were better formed this morning. They've gone back to being watery, but that could also be from stress from the vet visit. I don't know how I'm going to concentrate at work tomorrow while waiting for the call from the vet with the results of the tests.

Big morning poop:

 

[sunnysmom]

They actually look pretty good to me. Try not to worry. Sunny was on an all seed - low quality seed- diet when we got him. And he's done well. You might want to ask you vet too about giving Missy milk thistle as a supplement.

 

[Rowdy]

They actually look pretty good to me. Try not to worry. Sunny was on an all seed - low quality seed- diet when we got him. And he's done well. You might want to ask you vet too about giving Missy milk thistle as a supplement.

Thanks! Yeah, they looked good then. They're just SO inconsistent right now. :/
Just curious, what is milk thistle usually used for?

UPDATE: Results weren't in today. More than likely, they'll have them by tomorrow.

Her droppings have been so inconsistent today - I'll see some good ones, then really loose watery ones. She also hasn't been pooping as much either. Since 9am (it's now 7pm), she's only pooped 6 times. It seems like she's been napping all day. She /has/ been eating, thankfully! So hoping this is just her recovering from the blood draw!

 

[Monica]

Milk thistle is used to help support the liver, and can actually help with infections, since it is the livers job to cleanse the body of toxins.

 

[sunnysmom]

I hope you hear back from the vet soon.

 

[Rowdy]

Vet just called and said Missy has liver disease and some inflammation.

 

[sunnysmom]

Sorry to hear that but I believe liver disease is treatable... That's why the milk thistle can be good. What did the vet recommend?

 

[Rowdy]

He recommended an antibiotic for the inflammation and denamarin for her liver. Milk Thistle was discussed and he said he could help me with the dosage if that was the route I wanted to go.

 

[sunnysmom]

Keep us posted on everything! Missy is such a sweetie. I know others here have dealt with liver issues but I'm unfortunately drawing a blank right now on who....

@Monica? @Hankmacaw ? @JLcribber ?

 

[Hankmacaw]

I've never used denamarin for liver function support. It has SAMe and silybin (an extract of of silymarin from Milk thistle). I have always avoided SAMe because it has the potential for developing ulcers in human stomachs. Milk Thistle has been used for many thousands of years for liver support - it doesn't cure anything. My Jasper has been on Milk Thistle for 10+ years because the drugs used to cure her Aspergillosis damaged her liver. She is fine as long as she gets her MT, but two to three days without it and her urates start turning yellow.

It is very difficult to overdose with MT and it has no deadly results if overdosed. Because of it's benign nature and affordability I would recommend Milk Thistle. My vet told me to just by Milk Thistle that is pharmaceutical grade and this is the one I've been using for many years; Amazon.com: Nature's Answer Alcohol-Free Milk Thistle Seed, 1-Fluid Ounce: Health & Personal Care

Avitech makes a 50/50 mixture of MT and Dandelion Root - I used it once, but did not like it as well as the pure MT.