Budgie ate pleather. What should I do?

[budgie2021]

My budgie has a tiny tabletop play gym in addition to his big one. He was playing on this while I was doing my homework and was stooping down with his back faced toward me to eat his oats (so I thought). I got up and saw that he was stooping over to chew on a pleather mat we put under the family computer. There were some chewed pieces near the mat but didn't look equal to the pieces he chewed out, so I can only assume he ingested it, He's acting normal right now, thank goodness. My mom's at work so I can't drive to the vet. What should I do? I'm pretty worried right now. Should I give him some activated charcoal?

 

[Sunni Tiel]

Bump!

 

[Shilpa]

 

[MR. Mango]

@Zara @Shezbug

 

[Shezbug]

I would not give the activated charcoal- the plastic leather? is not a liquid (or item that is likely to dissolve in the gut) that can be absorbed by the charcoal.
I’d be guessing if he has actually ingested bits it that you’d best giving peanut butter (just double check it’s all safe ingredients first).
I’d personally call the vet before doing anything to ask their advice.

@Hankmacaw might be able to confirm if the peanut butter will be helpful in this particular scenario. I believe it’s advised to feed it to help gather foreign items in the digestive tract when birds are thought to have consumed metal.

Again.... I’d be calling the vet to have a quick chat and see what they recommend

 

[Destiny]

I agree that activated charcoal would not help. Activated charcoal helps neutralize toxins by binding them to prevent your body from absorbing the harmful chemicals. Pleather is a fairly inert substance. I doubt there is much for charcoal to neutralize, since fake leather is mostly solid plastic and fibers.

The main danger would probably be from impaction, if pieces get stuck and block up the bird's GI tract. Watch for persistent vomiting and weight loss. These are signs of impaction. This can happen from the bird eating any kind of indigestible matter, such as plastic, fiber or even stones. Cotton from rope perches and small rocks from insoluble grit are a few examples.

With any luck, the eaten pieces will be small enough to pass without issue. A call to the vet is a great idea, both to confirm that there is nothing else you should be doing and to give you some peace of mind while you wait.

 

[Hankmacaw]

@Shezbug is correct - Almond butter, metamucil or pumpkin (right out of the can ) will help with moving undigestible items through their digestive system. Almond butter has far less fats than regular peanut butter.
Watch him for unusually small poops, not eating, not drinking and keep the feeding of one of the above items up for a week - once a day. If he didn't ingest an awful lot he should be able to eliminate the stuff on his own.

 

[budgie2021]

Hi, thanks everyone. I just saw these posts. He has been pooping normally and been acting normally. I just stayed up to watch him last night. Tired, but it was worth it. He's all good so far. Should I still give him peanut butter or did it pass out of his system by now?

 

[budgie2021]

Update:

He's flying around and playing like usual but his poop looks unusual this morning. Light green and watery.

 

[budgie2021]

Update:

He's flying around and playing like usual but his poop looks unusual this morning. Light green and watery.

I'm assuming though the pleather would have passed through his system by now, no? What would the droppings indicate?

 

[Destiny]

I'm assuming though the pleather would have passed through his system by now, no? What would the droppings indicate?

Well, that depends. If the pieces were small and light enough to pass through without getting stuck anywhere, then you should be in the clear. He is pooping and that is a very good sign.

However, when dealing with impaction, it can happen either fast or slow. If the foreign object gets stuck and completely or almost completely blocks the GI tract, symptoms will develop immediately. But if it is something soft and stringy, like fiber or flexible plastic, it can get stuck and stop moving through the digestive tract without forming a hard blockage. Digestible food can still pass by, but the foreign matter isn't moving and it isn't digestible, so it just kind of hangs out in there until it eventually gets knocked loose ... or accumulates enough other junk to cause a partial or complete blockage. In a bird, this usually occurs in the crop. With chronic impaction, you might notice that your bird is losing weight and appears malnourished. In some cases, a partial blockage will resolve on its own, but sometimes it will be necessary to go in and remove the blockage surgically, especially if symptoms of acute blockage develop.

I had a bassethound years ago who used to eat rocks. We lived on a gravel bar and the soil in our backyard was full of round river rocks, some as big as your head, most about the size of golf balls or smaller. Perfect size for my weird dog to eat and end up at the vet for emergency surgery ... on five separate occasions.

When Wally would eat the wrong rock, it would block him up immediately. He would stop eating, throw up until he couldn't throw up anymore, and his belly was very tight and bloated. Surgery was necessary to retrieve the rock. We ended up with a jar full of them, despite our best efforts at "rock-proofing" our house and yard. There was one time when he looked a little off, but not as bad as usual, so we fed him apple-flavored Metamucil biscuits until he started feeling better. I suspect he had a partial blockage that time.

Here is an article discussing acute and chronic impaction:

https://instruction.cvhs.okstate.edu/kocan/ostrich/ostbk2e4.htm#:~:text=Acute%20impactions%20are%20generally%20those,much%20unusable%20material%20vary%20rapidly.&text=These%20birds%20do%20not%20gain,and%20often%20appear%20malnourished

.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Chronic impaction will almost always cause an infection. Both of my birds got impacted at about the same time. Hank from eating gravel and Jasper from eating a whiffle ball - both got infected crops. Along with the antibiotics for two weeks, the Dr. had me give them the Metamucil and peanut butter for 5 weeks - until I could dig through their poop and not find any foreign objects. Jasper later in her life developed a mild case of PICA and could not have anything made of wood or soft plastic.

 

[budgie2021]

Update:
Thank you guys. I really hope he doesn't have an infection . He's been acting normally all today and his poops have been pretty normal, a little bit of a lighter green color but nothing drastic. They dry like his other poops. He did at corn for the first time yesterday, maybe that's what caused the watery poops this morning??? Nothing in his latest poop, just a little bit of the casing on a corn kernel (don't know if casing is the correct word, but hopefully you know what I'm talking about). What are other symptoms of a crop or gi impaction should I be looking out for?

 

[Ripshod]

I don't advise giving corn to a small bird like a budgie. As you've seen the case (great word for now) is indigestible and can cause problems if it gets stuck anywhere. Of course you can spend a few minutes removing it, with fresh or cooked corn it only takes a squeeze.
Are you squishing his poops to see if there's any bits of the pleather coming through? If some was ingested you'll be seeing signs by now.
Don't worry if you don't see any, probably never actually ingested it.

 

[budgie2021]

I don't advise giving corn to a small bird like a budgie. As you've seen the case (great word for now) is indigestible and can cause problems if it gets stuck anywhere. Of course you can spend a few minutes removing it, with fresh or cooked corn it only takes a squeeze.
Are you squishing his poops to see if there's any bits of the pleather coming through? If some was ingested you'll be seeing signs by now.
Don't worry if you don't see any, probably never actually ingested it.

Yeah, I've been examining his poops. Hes been okay, thank God. Thank you guys!