(A continuation of this thread change in zebra finch song? -- his status changed later that day.)
Heads up-- there are some graphic images included in this post!
I brought Zeebo into the vet this morning because literally 3 hours after I'd made the above post, the appearance of his droppings started changing. At first there was just a tad more urine than usual, and I'd attributed it to the fact that I'd given him some watery foods (boiled pumpkin, cucumber)... but, it persisted-- and later into the evening, it worsened. His feces became runny and pretty diminished in quantity, and he had a movement where only urine (cloudy with urates) was passed, which I've never seen a bird do. I freaked, but given these urine-only movements happened twice at most and his behavior was otherwise normal, I decided to keep a close eye on him later that night and through yesterday.
As the day went on yesterday, all of this seemed to resolve. I fed him his normal diet of pellets and seeds, no new foods. His feces became formed again and the polyuria was occasional. I figured we were in the clear... and then it started again, around the same time of day it had the first time. It seemed worse: the instances where he produced only urine were more frequent, at one point happening 3 times in the span of two minutes. He seemed a little more tired than usual, and he would often go to start singing but stop suddenly. Given that this issue lasted beyond 24 hours, I called and got an appointment for this morning.
Today's physical exam was apparently excellent. Stool samples for ova/parasites are pending, but what really worried me this morning was the color of a few of the droppings he'd passed this morning. I have attached images of these to this post. The first also shows that cloudy urine he'd been producing intermittently. Of course... now things appear almost normal again. The vet wants me to monitor closely for 48-72 hours and thinks it may just be stress from change in the environment, given we only got him a little less than two weeks ago.
It would be helpful to get some input on the color of the pictured droppings, though. Should I be concerned for his liver or kidneys? Stool samples for detecting ova and parasites are not going to show his liver or renal function.
Images of droppings below:
Heads up-- there are some graphic images included in this post!
I brought Zeebo into the vet this morning because literally 3 hours after I'd made the above post, the appearance of his droppings started changing. At first there was just a tad more urine than usual, and I'd attributed it to the fact that I'd given him some watery foods (boiled pumpkin, cucumber)... but, it persisted-- and later into the evening, it worsened. His feces became runny and pretty diminished in quantity, and he had a movement where only urine (cloudy with urates) was passed, which I've never seen a bird do. I freaked, but given these urine-only movements happened twice at most and his behavior was otherwise normal, I decided to keep a close eye on him later that night and through yesterday.
As the day went on yesterday, all of this seemed to resolve. I fed him his normal diet of pellets and seeds, no new foods. His feces became formed again and the polyuria was occasional. I figured we were in the clear... and then it started again, around the same time of day it had the first time. It seemed worse: the instances where he produced only urine were more frequent, at one point happening 3 times in the span of two minutes. He seemed a little more tired than usual, and he would often go to start singing but stop suddenly. Given that this issue lasted beyond 24 hours, I called and got an appointment for this morning.
Today's physical exam was apparently excellent. Stool samples for ova/parasites are pending, but what really worried me this morning was the color of a few of the droppings he'd passed this morning. I have attached images of these to this post. The first also shows that cloudy urine he'd been producing intermittently. Of course... now things appear almost normal again. The vet wants me to monitor closely for 48-72 hours and thinks it may just be stress from change in the environment, given we only got him a little less than two weeks ago.
It would be helpful to get some input on the color of the pictured droppings, though. Should I be concerned for his liver or kidneys? Stool samples for detecting ova and parasites are not going to show his liver or renal function.
Images of droppings below:
