How long to clear something form their digestive track?

[M&M Ninja]

We just returned from our 2-week vacation. Due to petsitter inexperience and increased activity for our conure, our petsitter wasn't feeding her enough. Our first night back, she was dehydrated, very underweight, and her poop was an odd pink color.

We got her eating right away and gave her plenty of juicy fruits (and water, obviously). Coordination, motor control, energy, mood, VOLUME - all are back to basically normal. She is eating and drinking well, and her weight is 5% away from being back to normal.

We suspect the following:

• Our petsitter stayed at the house and had her out of her cage A LOT more than we ever do.
• She wasn't getting enough to eat to meet her energy needs.
• She started eating her pink perch. (Polly's edible bee pollen)
• She ate so much calcium that it impacted her digestive track in some way (e.g. altered pH or coated the lining) and she stopped extracting nutrients from the food she was getting.
• More hunger, more perch eating -> Problem became more serious

As mentioned above, she has recovered well in the 60 hours we have been home. We removed the pink perch from her cage yesterday morning (~ 24 hours ago). Her poop, however, is still not quite right. When she has had a lot to eat, it begins to look almost normal. But then one of her early poops today was the pink color of the perch. And I just went into her room to visit and there's another not-quite-right poop on the newspaper.

There is nothing else wrong in her cage. There is nothing else she could be eating. She hasn't had any berries since 2 days before we returned.

Any thoughts on digestive clearance time for this situation?

 

[MommyBird]

I think it is about 2 hours based on some conversations with my vet.
Also, when I give my Amazon some cactus pear, which makes poop shockingly bright red, it takes about 2 hours till it clears, although it might be another hour more. But never 24 hours.
Maybe since the perch is probably non-water-soluble some is slower to move.

 

[M&M Ninja]

Maybe since the perch is probably non-water-soluble some is slower to move.

That makes sense. Thank you for replying!

 

[Parront]

Calcium can take 1-3 days to leave the body. If she is doing better with eating and drinking she should get rid of all of it soon. Good Luck!

 

[M&M Ninja]

Calcium can take 1-3 days to leave the body. If she is doing better with eating and drinking she should get rid of all of it soon. Good Luck!

Thank you!

 

[Macawnutz]

Our experience is 4 hours. Anything more and the vet should be contacted.

 

[~Drini~]

I would not just assume that her physical state is due to the care she received while you were away. Your vacation could be coinciding with something else going on with her. The pink poop might not be connected to the pink perch. Glad she is gaining weight, but you might just want to have a vet check her out.

 

[Parront]

How is she doing?

 

[M&M Ninja]

I am happy to report Cord is entirely back to normal. She had a normal morning poop yesterday, and all poops during the day were good. This morning, her weight was perfect. So @Parront was correct: 1-3 days for calcium to clear.

 

[Parront]

So glad Cord is back to normal!