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Orange budgie urine?

clicketty

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This isn't exactly an emergency as far as I believe, as there may be many known reasons for why my two year old male budgie Rin has orangish coloring to his urine and feces. He is currently eating Zupreem colored pellets and occasional millet. Rin only eats the red and orange pellets and refuses the green and yellow pellets. My vet and I believe his feces are red because of this.
He visited the veterinary office last week for an exam and was deemed healthy by the avian specialist, but had given me a new brand of non colored pellet blend, as they couldn't check for blood in his feces because they were dyed red by his current food. Rin is still eating the colored food but we are slowly introducing the non-colored pellets to him.
The avian specialist had told me that his poos were on the dry side a week ago, but now they seems to have an adequate amount of urine, but usually only in the mornings. I often see Rin drinking water at night so the excess urine is likely due to that.

I found these this morning


And these are from yesterday afternoon when he was sitting on my computer. They had dried before I got a picture, but you can see that there is very little liquid.


There seems to be no other signs of sickness (if this is a sign at all). He gets a lot of sleep, likes to sing and fly around, and is a happy little bird. I have never dealt with urine related issues but I believe that it is because of the same reason the poops are red: it's the red and orange pellets. Again, I am working on feeding him the new pellets. If you fear it is something else please tell me, but if you know that this is for the reason I believe, please let me know as well. Thank you!
 

clicketty

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I forgot to add that I check his bum often and there is no discoloration or buildup.

Do you think that I should do a mix of his favorite seed blend and maybe some of the green and yellow pellets and see if his urine and poo change color? I think that would be an easy way to tell if something is off. Again, he went to an avian vet a week ago and (without bloodwork) was declared physically healthy.
 

gibsongrrrl

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When we had boarders at the clinic that are the fruity zupreem it would make their poop look kinda like chili from the dyes in it. Could just be that.
 

gibsongrrrl

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I think that's a good idea to take the red and orange out to see if it changes since he just got a checkup and nothing was found.
 

clicketty

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@gibsongrrrl
Thank you, I assumed it was just that. Put in a new bowl of un-dyed seeds and Nutriberries. Maybe he'll actually try eating them this time instead of throwing them on the ground - He is such a picky little bird! :laughing2:
 

gibsongrrrl

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@gibsongrrrl
Thank you, I assumed it was just that. Put in a new bowl of un-dyed seeds and Nutriberries. Maybe he'll actually try eating them this time instead of throwing them on the ground - He is such a picky little bird! :laughing2:
I am not looking forward to switching my little budgies diet. There is millet seed in his mix but he won't even try it, just goes for the spray pieces:wacky:. Sending your lots of good luck vibes!
 

clicketty

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I am not looking forward to switching my little budgies diet.
Ohhh, forgot that you had to do that :laughing2: Is he still on the standard 90% seed and 10% pellet diet they serve at the petstore? If so, I found that Zupreem has a pellet mix without dyes that you may be able to start him on. I've been feeding my birds Zupreem for years and they've all taken to it very well.

So Rin had a big seed meal today and we seem to be back to normal! I had no idea that the red dyes in the pellets would actually cause his urine to turn colors, that was a bit of a surprise.
I was at the petstore today and was talking to a man who feeds his conure mainly Nutriberries, and I think I recall hearing about other people who do a 80% Nutriberry diet or something like that. What do you guys think of getting Rin on a diet like that? Crushed Nutriberries look a lot similar to his current pellets than the pellets I'm trying to switch him to, so he may take to it better. Anything to lower the amount of dye in his system. :)
 

gibsongrrrl

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Ohhh, forgot that you had to do that :laughing2: Is he still on the standard 90% seed and 10% pellet diet they serve at the petstore? If so, I found that Zupreem has a pellet mix without dyes that you may be able to start him on. I've been feeding my birds Zupreem for years and they've all taken to it very well.

So Rin had a big seed meal today and we seem to be back to normal! I had no idea that the red dyes in the pellets would actually cause his urine to turn colors, that was a bit of a surprise.
I was at the petstore today and was talking to a man who feeds his conure mainly Nutriberries, and I think I recall hearing about other people who do a 80% Nutriberry diet or something like that. What do you guys think of getting Rin on a diet like that? Crushed Nutriberries look a lot similar to his current pellets than the pellets I'm trying to switch him to, so he may take to it better. Anything to lower the amount of dye in his system. :)
I don't know what he was eating there, honestly. I think only millet since the one wasn't letting him go down to where the dishes are. He hasn't touched the seed mix at all and I haven't tried pellets yet. Just eating millet so far. While he isn't well, I'm not going to push it. My vet here says to give him avi cakes instead of pellets, but I'm not sure about that. Going to consult with my east coast vet. I think some pellets are a good idea. We had a flock of budgies there that were all wild and they ate roudybush and harrisons and did great. I want to look into that more because the vet here said pellets burn out their kidneys.
 

Chihuahua

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pellets are more balanced than nutriberries or seed because the bird can pick and choose his favorite pieces. each pellet will have a balanced amount of ingredients.
 

Monica

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I would definitely recommend trying the Zupreem Natural over the dyes!

webchirp feeds a Nutriberry dense diet, along with other Lafeber products to her flock and they do well on it! I have two of my conures eating about 50% Nutriberries (or Pelletberries - whichever I end up buying for them!) for their dry diet, but have been considering trying them out on a larger portion of the Nutriberries!
 
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