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Urgent Stringy and weddy poops? Normal? Pics included

krupali

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Stringy and sticky ish urates? My bird's poops sometimes look kind of stringy/sticky. I'm aware that's not normal but he's already been taken to the vet twice. The ER vet said his poop looked perfect and that he is very healthy. I've already set up an appt with an avian vet but he's only available once a month on weekend. So I have to wait till 2 more weeks. I've showd this to my siblings but they think it's normal. Maybe I'm just worrying to much I will post pics as it's really hard to describe. The stringy/stickiness is coming from the urates, it's not the whole poop that's stringy. I check his droppings mushing them with a stick with a toothpick. It has a web like consistency but the color of the droppings look fine. Is it normal to see some level of stickness? The green part of the poop breaks apart easily, it's just the urate. I've had birds for 10 years and I feel like I should know this by now but I've just been so hyperaware of my bird's health lately and it's causing alot of anxiety.Does anyone have an explanation? I'm going crazy and being hypochondriac doesn't help




I've attached some pics below. I can't find enough information abouy this online. I've read that poops can have mucus and is normal but then I also see alot of conflicting infirmation.

Weight - weighs anywhere from 85 to 87 depending on tiem if the day
His diet consists of seede, roudy bush pellets, sometimes cooked quinoa with peppers, I offer him veggies atleast 2 or more a week. He eats green bell peppers, spinach, bellpeppers, and occasionally broccoli.
 

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krupali

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krupali
Stringy and sticky ish urates? My bird's poops sometimes look kind of stringy/sticky. I'm aware that's not normal but he's already been taken to the vet twice. The ER vet said his poop looked perfect and that he is very healthy. I've already set up an appt with an avian vet but he's only available once a month on weekend. So I have to wait till 2 more weeks. I've showd this to my siblings but they think it's normal. Maybe I'm just worrying to much I will post pics as it's really hard to describe. The stringy/stickiness is coming from the urates, it's not the whole poop that's stringy. I check his droppings mushing them with a stick with a toothpick. It has a web like consistency but the color of the droppings look fine. Is it normal to see some level of stickness? The green part of the poop breaks apart easily, it's just the urate. I've had birds for 10 years and I feel like I should know this by now but I've just been so hyperaware of my bird's health lately and it's causing alot of anxiety.Does anyone have an explanation? I'm going crazy and being hypochondriac doesn't help




I've attached some pics below. I can't find enough information about this online. I've read that poops can have mucus and is normal but then I also read alot of conflicting information.

Weight - weighs anywhere from 85 to 87 depending on tiem if the day
His diet consists of seede, roudy bush pellets, sometimes cooked quinoa with peppers, I offer him veggies atleast 2 or more a week. He eats green bell peppers, spinach, bellpeppers, and occasionally broccoli.
 

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krupali

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Here's a picture of my sweet boy Luka Snapchat-1546480393.jpg
 

krupali

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@sunnysmom any suggestions? He's currently on morning star probiotics that was prescribed by the er vet.
 

Mizzely

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There isn't anything immediately alarming to me. I would keep the vet appointment to double check as I am not an expert by any means, and peace of mind is worth the cost :)
 

krupali

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There isn't anything immediately alarming to me. I would keep the vet appointment to double check as I am not an expert by any means, and peace of mind is worth the cost :)
I'm worried because he was taken to an er vet because he had a seed in his poop and it was stringy and stick to his vent. This only happen once or twice 4-5 days ago. The appt he had in them morning, they did a fecal smear and didn't find anything. I had to hand feed him because he wasn't eating the food that I had been fedding him for a month. So after feeding him, I waited an hour and when he finally pooped it was stringy stuck to his vent with an undigested seed. Couple of poops were like that afterwards. By the time I got to the vet, the poop went back to normal. The vet said because he kept singing, it took her longer to get examinations done lol. She said he was perfectly healthy and that something must have upset his stomach. I think he didn't eat the millet seeds properly that's why it came out like that. Because of this, I've turned in to a helicopter mom. I've been examining each poop for the past week or so. I need to stop *sigh* most of his poops look fine anyways, it's just me being overly cautious.

I've noticed that he keeps drinking more water for sime time. But he also goes to his water bowl and dips his beak to wash out seed hulls. He hates when his beak is dirty. He alsp drinks more water when he is hungry and doesn't like the food. So going back to his old food to see if it helps. About 20-30% of his poops are polyuria. This scares me because my last tiel had kidney or diabetes
 

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Well that background information explains why you are concerned. I would be too.
 

krupali

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Im on my break amd just checked his poop. The fresh Poops are still like that but the old poops he pooped 15-20 mins ago are not as stringy or mucusy, im wondering if it's because they're drier now
 
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sunnysmom

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The droppings you posted don't look abnormal to me. If he has seeds in his droppings, that can be an issue. Are you sure they are in the droppings and not landing on his droppings? When are his droppings watery? My tiels will have watery droppings right after they drink or if they get excited. They should return to normal shortly thereafter. I am dealing with a rescue tiel right now with kidney issues. Watery droppings are definitely a sign but these droppings are really, really watery. Like there will be two, three inches of wetness on the newspapers. I am still working with the vet right now on causation. One thing if it is kidneys is to decrease the amount of pellets and increase the amount of wet foods- chop, etc. How old is he and what is his current diet. And yes, keep the vet appointment just in case. I would take pictures for the vet of any droppings that look abnormal to you.
 

krupali

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There definetly were seeds but it was just one millet in each dropping. He wasn't eating much because I put him on a different food mix. So i had to hand feed this 4 year old brat He really likes millet so I figured I would offer him and along with flax seeds. Big big mistake! Because the next day he had gooey sticky poops with millet. Some of the were normal and some weren't. But i hace feeling he didn't chew properly. It was just that one day and it's been 4 days since it happened. His poops look fine now aside from the "stringiness". It could be the flax seed that didn't sit well with his tummy. I stopped giving him ever since it happened. Maybe I'm worrying to much about it and maybe a tiny amount of stickiness is normal. The colors of his urates look fine though

And yes he has watery poops a couple too when aftee he drinks water and return back to normal. He also has watery poops when he is excited of ready to take a flight, he will poop every 5 minutes, and all would come out is water. But this only happens when he is excited.

He's 4 and his diet consists of seeds, dries veggies, and roudy bush pellets, and sometimes quinoa. I offer him fresh veggies as much as I can such as cilantro, bell peppers, broccoli, spinach and other leafy green veggies. I would like him to eat more veggies but at least he's eating some.
 

krupali

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Not all of his poops are watery. They change alot through out the day but ocassionally he will have runny poops that will not have the white urates, just the glittery sparkly stuff seen indirect lighting. It's only visible when the poop is dry. I asked the vet if that was normal and she said yes but I'm still not 100% sure.

It's really hard to explain but you only notice when you are looking at it very closely.
 

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Sometimes stringy urates can mean bacteria but I’d wait to see what others say or get a second vets opinion
 

krupali

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Sometimes stringy urates can mean bacteria but I’d wait to see what others say or get a second vets opinion
I hope it's not the bad kind that i asked the er vet if it could be AGY and she said it's unlikely because he is 4 and AGY is common in younger birds that share space with other birds. I don't know how true that is but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is not the case.

I don't know what fecal smear can detect but I'm relieved they didn't find anything. I will ask for a fecal smear and gram stain during his next appt.
 

krupali

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Forgot to mention, his old poops that he that are semi wet are not as stringy.
 

sunnysmom

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Some birds don't take to switching food well and have to be added gradually. As for spinach, I only give occasionally because too much iron isn't good. Does he act normally otherwise?
 

krupali

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Some birds don't take to switching food well and have to be added gradually. As for spinach, I only give occasionally because too much iron isn't good. Does he act normally otherwise?
I try to not feed him spinach as much because of that reason. Somestimes I will feed him a leaf but that's about it. Otherwise, he is acting pretty alert. He seems to be hormonal lately his weight is looking better and he is eating more. He's very loud, chirpy, and happy. Meanwhile, I'm here stressing over little things. I'm very worried that it's bacterial infection. I keep thinking of what ifs, maybe something is up. Googling symptoms is making me more anxious
 

sunnysmom

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If it gives you peace of mind, whenever Sunny my tiel had a bacterial infection, he was noticeably sick. Like vomiting sick. That doesn't mean a bird can't still hide symptoms. But a happy active bird usually is a good sign. Get the vet check to be sure but try not to worry too much.
 

krupali

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If it gives you peace of mind, whenever Sunny my tiel had a bacterial infection, he was noticeably sick. Like vomiting sick. That doesn't mean a bird can't still hide symptoms. But a happy active bird usually is a good sign. Get the vet check to be sure but try not to worry too much.
He's going in for a check up today in the afternoon. I called them and they said they can do fecal floatations, fecal smear, and gram stain.
 

krupali

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Update- cancelled yesterday's appt and took him today to an avian vet. They took blood from his nail. I'm surprised they even drew blood but they were super professional. They did fecal smear and floatation, both came out negative. I'm expecting blood test results either this friday or next week on tuesday. He also had a gram stain and I should expect the results tomorrow. I'm just glad they ran these tests atleast if he has something I know sooner and start treatment.
The avian vet said the glittery shiny residue on urine and the slimy stuff is concerning, but his overall he seems to br in good shape.

Praying the test results comecout negative. ❤❤
 

krupali

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Update -so his lab results came back normal no abnormality was found in his wbc, liver enzymes, or kidney. His fecal float, gram stain, fecal smear done twice, and urinalysis all came negative. He said the only explanation for his lack of apetite is his hormones. He said when male cockatiels are in hormonal/nesting stage, they will ignore food.
 
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