Weird droppings again

[CGrillo]

Last time I talked about Luke’s droppings on here he got off of his antibiotic treatment and that I no longer go to the vet I brought him to for his infection.
His poops went back to normal and were normal for weeks. He has been on his probiotic and everything was good and I didn’t change anything about what I was doing. As of 2 days ago his poops have been mushy and have mucus on them. If I would poke at it with a stick it would not stay firm and the feces have a coating of mucus. Nothing has changed about his diet or activity. His diet is the same bag of seeds and the same bag of pellets we have been using and he hasn’t had anything besides some spinach.
A few hours ago I noticed that a single dropping had something that looked like fresh blood. This happened one other time in early October and I asked the vet about it but he wasn’t worried about it. There are no other vets that are available in the area due to Covid and luke really doesn’t like to be handled. I’m afraid he would collapse from stress because it makes him so nervous. Also I might have been exposed to Covid so I really shouldn’t be leaving the house either. I am waiting to speak to a virtual avian certified vet Service that I paid for to see if they can help us out.

In the meantime I’m just really stressed and sick to my stomach worried. I feel so helpless I can’t sleep.


I Attached pictures Of his poop paper from today, the weird bloody looking poop and one with mucus for visual

 

[ParrotNuts]

Is that blood in the first pic? Then he may be bleeding internally, beyond that I do not know, hope that he heals up fast . @Hankmacaw

 

[Kassiani]

I do see the red in the dropping, but the dropping itself doesn’t look that odd to me. Nor do the droppings on the paper (I can’t get the 3rd photo to load). Hopefully others with more experience will be along soon! Can you send these photos to the vet and ask him/her about it?

 

[Ripshod]

What pellets is he eating? Are they coloured? Does he have any red toys?
The poops themselves don't look too bad, the softer ones are likely either poops he held for a while (like morning poops) or from the spinach. Can you get him eating other greens like kale rather than the spinach? Too much spinach can be bad for him.

 

[CGrillo]

Is that blood in the first pic? Then he may be bleeding internally, beyond that I do not know, hope that he heals up fast . @Hankmacaw

I’m not too sure it’s strange because he just had one dropping like that

 

[CGrillo]

I do see the red in the dropping, but the dropping itself doesn’t look that odd to me. Nor do the droppings on the paper (I can’t get the 3rd photo to load). Hopefully others with more experience will be along soon! Can you send these photos to the vet and ask him/her about it?

They have been super mushy in texture and not well formed. I’m hoping to hear back from the virtual vet soon. His night poops he just had were very watery

 

[CGrillo]

What pellets is he eating? Are they coloured? Does he have any red toys?
The poops themselves don't look too bad, the softer ones are likely either poops he held for a while (like morning poops) or from the spinach. Can you get him eating other greens like kale rather than the spinach? Too much spinach can be bad for him.

he takes a mix of the zupreem pellets And the healthy select seed has some pellets in it sometimes he will have some of those. which are colored but those are not red. No red toys or anything red coloring. The softer ones are pretty much every dropping. His last morning poop pile was extremely wet. I can try to find other greens, why exactly could spinach be bad? How often do i give it?

 

[Ripshod]

I believe spinach can interfere with the uptake of calcium (someone correct me if I'm wrong please).

but those are not red. No red toys or anything red coloring.

Then I think you should consult with the vet again, even just a phone call can help. This looks and sounds like some kind of lower intestine irritation (disclaimer: not a diagnosis)

 

[CGrillo]

I believe spinach can interfere with the uptake of calcium (someone correct me if I'm wrong please).


Then I think you should consult with the vet again.

Oh yes. I did hear that. I try to limit it to at most 2 leaves a week. He has a white cuttle bone too!
I’m waiting on the virtual vet, hopefully I’ll hear from them soon

 

[Ripshod]

Oh yes. I did hear that. I try to limit it to at most 2 leaves a week. He has a white cuttle bone too!
I’m waiting on the virtual vet, hopefully I’ll hear from them soon

 

[Ripshod]

Remove the cuttlefish bone for a couple of days, see what happens. It's quite possible he could be eating too much and the rough 'sand' from it is causing the irritation.
Anything from the virtual vet yet?

 

[CGrillo]

Remove the cuttlefish bone for a couple of days, see what happens. It's quite possible he could be eating too much and the rough 'sand' from it is causing the irritation.
Anything from the virtual vet yet?

Ok! It’s frustrating because I paid for this service and they can’t prescribe anything and it’s obviously difficult to diagnose over the phone. I’m calling vets in the area again but not having any luck.

 

[Ripshod]

I think this could be linked to the cuttlefish bone so see what happens when it's not there. I had a tiel who saw it as a food source and went nuts on it. I never noticed until his poops turned pure white. There was still a lot of white for the few days after with an occasional spot of blood from the sand scraping his intestines. I was lucky I caught it before it impacted and could cause a host of other more serious problems.
If it does turn out to be the bone you can put it back in hard side upwards so he can't eat it but he can still groom his beak with it.

 

[CGrillo]

Wow that’s crazy! I have been so nervous unable to sleep over this. I’ve called 3 vets but I FOUND AN AVAIN VET. it’s an hour away and they said the earliest time they can do is Tuesday night. I hope he holds up. Not too sure if it is the cuttlebone or not But he has been drinking his water which is good so he doesn’t get dehydrated. Anything I could do to help him not get worse in the meantime? I’m attaching A picture of his morning poop paper with some poops he did today. Just so you can see.

 

[Ripshod]

Wow that’s crazy! I have been so nervous unable to sleep over this. I’ve called 3 vets but I FOUND AN AVAIN VET. it’s an hour away and they said the earliest time they can do is Tuesday night. I hope he holds up. Not too sure if it is the cuttlebone or not But he has been drinking his water which is good so he doesn’t get dehydrated. Anything I could do to help him not get worse in the meantime? I’m attaching A picture of his morning poop paper with some poops he did today. Just so you can see.

Not knowing what is actually happening all I can advise is just to watch him and his poops and keep everyone updated. Let him eat just seed, I think everyone will agree a few days of seed alone isn't going to hurt.
That last photo of his poops doesn't look too bad to be honest. My concern over the bone is from the third photo in your first post, it just looks so similar to what I experienced.
I'm 'watching' this thread now so if anything concerns you let us know here.

 

[CGrillo]

Not knowing what is actually happening all I can advise is just to watch him and his poops and keep everyone updated. Let him eat just seed, I think everyone will agree a few days of seed alone isn't going to hurt.
That last photo of his poops doesn't look too bad to be honest. My concern over the bone is from the third photo in your first post, it just looks so similar to what I experienced.
I'm 'watching' this thread now so if anything concerns you let us know here.

Thank you it means so much
He seems to have that “whiteish” coating almost like slimy on top of his feces. Like a mucus type of thing. I asked the online vet and he said mucus is usually caused by inflammation of the intestines so that seems like a possible issue With the cuttle bone but the online vet said that giardiasis comes to mind. I don’t know too much about this disease but does this look like giardiasis to you? (If you know what that looks like) Not too sure what that looks like myself. I’m just nervous to bring him to the vet because he hates being handled and I can’t bare the thought of seeing him cry and try to escape the vet from grabbing him.

 

[CGrillo]

Thank you it means so much
He seems to have that “whiteish” coating almost like slimy on top of his feces. Like a mucus type of thing. I asked the online vet and he said mucus is usually caused by inflammation of the intestines so that seems like a possible issue With the cuttle bone but the online vet said that giardiasis comes to mind. I don’t know too much about this disease but does this look like giardiasis to you? (If you know what that looks like) Not too sure what that looks like myself. I’m just nervous to bring him to the vet because he hates being handled and I can’t bare the thought of seeing him cry and try to escape the vet from grabbing him.

Also I do kiss my bird...a lot wouldn’t I have picked something up from him? Pretty sure that’s contagious

 

[Ripshod]

Also I do kiss my bird...a lot wouldn’t I have picked something up from him? Pretty sure that’s contagious

Yes that can cross species. You'd know about it soon enough, just watch for stomach pain and diarrhea. Or if you've had it yourself already you could have passed it to Luke.
Stick to just seed and water only for now. Watch him closely, it can get bad really quickly. If he shows any signs of getting worse or any weakness you'll need to contact that vet's again to find out if thley have an ER clinic or know of one.
However, the good news is it's the occasional soft poop not constant diarrhea, so it's either only a very mild infestation or it's not giardiasis.

 

[CGrillo]

Yes that can cross species. You'd know about it soon enough, just watch for stomach pain and diarrhea. Or if you've had it yourself already you could have passed it to Luke.
Stick to just seed and water only for now. Watch him closely, it can get bad really quickly. If he shows any signs of getting worse or any weakness you'll need to contact that vet's again to find out if they have an ER clinic or know of one.

sounds good. I’ve been pretty healthy thank goodness. this all started when after he ate a batch of dr Harvey’s seeds months back. I’m afraid he got it from that batch, which has been thrown out. I bought it thinking it was the best I could give him. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him as I normally do. I work from home so I’m with him pretty much 24/7

 

[Ripshod]

I've know the parasite can survive quite a while outside of a body in the dry air, but never long enough to survive in a bag of seed.
Giardia are mostly water-bourne. They are not killed by chlorine or any of the other processing tap water goes through. The only way to be sure of killing them is to boil the water.