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Possibly sick?

music2music

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My parakeet has been having poop stuck to his vent for almost a week. It started off as diharrea, which was a one night only thing. He started to lose more feathers since yesterday (2/7) and I have to bribe him with millet now to get on my hand, which never happened when I initially got him. My dad has touched his tail that was sticking out of the cage not knowing any better, and I tried to rub his face a few times- he didn't appreciate either. Normally, he's good at forgiving, so I'm not sure what happened. I need answers. :(
 

music2music

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Update: he has been preening a good bit tonight. When I went back downstairs to put his cover on, he was preening again and has more poop on the feathers near his vent. They're solid poops of what I can see- they just keep getting stuck. This hasn't happened before...
 

music2music

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Forgot to mention:
I have been giving him a sprinkle of millet food to see if it will help his digestive system out of curiosity. This is possibly why he's losing feathers.
 

Lady Jane

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It sounds like your little guy should b checked over by anvian vet. Birds like budgies go downhill fast. Their droppings are usually not soft enough to stick to feathers. What foods is he eating?
 

vanyasmom

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I hope your little parakeet is going to be okay. Praying that he will be.
 

iamwhoiam

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Hope that your budgie will be OK. Agree with Dianne, best thing to do is bring him to the vet.
 

PoukieBear

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You'll need to take him to a vet for a checkup.

After full vet check, you can start adding ACV (Apple Cider Vinigar) to your birds water dish. It will have to be pure organic and with "The Mother". (Braggs is a great brand that even my vet uses)
There are several ways of adding this to your birds diet. My vet recommends adding it every day for 2 weeks, then just pure water for another two weeks. Then ACV for two weeks, so on and so forth.
Some people prefer to add it in every 2 or 3 days on an ongoing basis.

Speak to your vet and see what is recommended for you. :)

Adding ACV helps to balance the digestive track, but is not a cure if your bird is already sick.
 

music2music

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He eats a seed-pellet blend. I didn't give him his molting food today and he only lost one of his down feathers since I changed his food a few hours ago. His vent seems to just be dirty now. He seems to be going back to normal- he did the slides he does on the side of his cage when he's tired and I haven't seen him do that in a while. My mom suggested that it may just be a case of cleaning his vent myself. Is it possible he just had the equivalent to a human cold?
 

iamwhoiam

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There are medical issues which can cause dirty vents.
 

music2music

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He did have diharrea about a week ago, but it hasn't returned. He has been pooping normally ever since. Could this just be residue left over from the diharrea incident?
 

Jas

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When I first got my budgies they had pasty butt. Snow who is white, his vent was bright green and got worse the next day. Vet said it was an mild infection induced by stress, I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for his discoloured vent, physical symptoms that can't be hidden are good indicators of illness.
 

music2music

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It seems to be looking up for Twiggy though. He's scratching at his vent with his foot less after every bath he gets. He has been starting to get back on my hand and stepping up.His feathers are now falling out at a normal rate instead of a lot. Maybe it's just hygiene at this point or can it still indicate something bad?
 

iamwhoiam

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If you have cleaned the vent area and it is dirty again then something is going on and best thing to do is to have the vet check this out and determine if it is a medical/health issue or if he is just not cleaning himself properly.
 

PoukieBear

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I don't want to come off as being a mean terrible person, but please take your bird to the vet! You came here for some helpful advise, and you've been given helpful advise a half dozen times already, advising to take your bird for a vet check. Clearly something is not well with him, and since birds hide illnesses well and you may think he's getting better, he may in fact not be.

This community is full of knowledgeable people, ranging from newbies to experts, but at the end of the day, none of us are equipped to diagnose your bird (or any bird!) from the other side of a computer screen. Only a trained avian vet is able to do that.
 

music2music

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I'm not able to take my bird to the vet right now and I can't drive to take him anywhere. I'm only in high school and the nearest avian vet is 26 minutes away on a good day.
 

Jas

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Bus transport?
 

Jas

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Or a friend/other family member
 
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