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Whats wrong with his poop?

Scorpi0

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So about 2 days ago I noticed my male budgie’s droppings didnt look normal. I was thinking its because he had eaten too much romaine lettuce. So I didnt feed him any lettuce or greens since yesterday to see if if would go back to normal but I checked again today and its still the same. His diet has always been a mix of seeds and pellets. Hes very active and eats, flies around the house, and chirps as usual. Can you guys tell whats going on from how his droppings look?
The first picture are all his droppings overnight where he slept.(disregard the normal poop, thats not his).
The second picture is a fresh dropping he just left on my hand.

AEE0CF05-22C5-4052-99CE-EA5A5B04C39F.jpeg
0A60B5CC-5E5F-4700-B874-B21E7E3F68EC.png
 

Shezbug

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Does your bird have access to cuttlefish bone?
 

Ripshod

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All I can say at this time is I agree. Remove the Cuttlefish bone and any mineral blocks. You should see a change within 24 hours. Other than any illness the poop colour and texture can reflect what they're eating.
 

Scorpi0

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Ok. Thanks for the help guys! I’ll remove their cuttlebone and mineral blocks and hopefully it improves. It does look like theyve been going pretty crazy on the cuttlebone lately. I’ll update with any results.
 

Scorpi0

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Alright, so its been 2 full days without any cuttlebone or mineral block for him and I cant say I see any improvement in his droppings. This is from last night: A1E8312E-71ED-45D5-87B7-78BB492B4CF9.png

I did notice something though. I have a camera set up so I can watch their cage at all times. The camera has night vision and throughout the whole night I can see Chirpie’s eyes constantly open every few minutes as if he is nervous. He is the only one from all my birds which decides to sleep outside of the cage. Can it be possible he is always on alert from hearing random sounds at night and that is stressing him out??

Tonight I plan on having him sleep inside the cage and hoping that I see an improvement in his sleeping behavior and droppings.

What do you guys think?? Also, will the rest of the birds be fine going a few days without their cuttlebone and mineral block?
 
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Scorpi0

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Vet visit is scheduled for the 26th! Im gonna call a few other places and see if I can get an earlier appointment though.

Also, today I noticed that my bird drank a lot of water before nap time. He just stood over the bowl for a whole minute and took about 10 sips. Maybe hes just drinking excessive amounts of water? I did notice his droppings from last night were mostly watery but had a few solid ones in there.
 

Mizzely

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I'm glad you have a vet visit scheduled!

As to the mineral blocks and cuttlebone, they are not required for most birds that are eating a pelleted diet. They were a cheap way to fill in calcium deficiency in birds eating an all seed diet. They can be fun for them to chew but not necessary most of the time :) Dark leafy greens, some nuts and seeds have better forms of calcium anyways!

The excessive drinking could actually be another symptom of an illness, so it's hard to say.
 

Scorpi0

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So the vet checked him out and said he looks fine but wasnt sure why his droppings are watery. She gave me a bottle of probiotic powder to sprinkle over their food everyday. And she sent out a sample of the poop to the lab to get tested. Im supposed to hear back from her sometime this week with the results.
Chirpie is still super active like he always is. If it werent for his droppings, you would never know something isnt right. Also, it looks like whatever he had has been passed on to 2 of my other birds. Their droppings seem to be a little watery too now, but not as bad as Chirpie’s. They dont have any change in behavior either, so at least thats good.
Im hoping those lab results come back quick.

His pals trying to rescue him after I locked him up:
D1761062-6513-436E-B9F9-6C81F32A481D.png
 
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Scorpi0

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So the vet called back and said the poop samples were free of parasites. She is advising me to switch their diet to all pellets but I told her I dont think this has to do with their diet since it basically happened almost overnight. And I also said I dont wanna make any changes until we figure this issue out first. I have put the mineral blocks back in the cage alomg with the cuttlebone since those arent the cause. And today I also started giving them lettuce again….they were happy to see that lol.

I dont understand why the lab didnt test for everything else since they already had a poop sample. The vet said I can take Chirpie back in so they can swab his little butt and send that to a lab again to test for fungus and bacteria. So I will probably take him in tomorrow just to rule everything out.
 

Olliebirb

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Hope everything goes well!
 

Scorpi0

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Just an update:

About 3 days ago I checked and his poop was back to being watery again. The vet called me back the next day and said his poop sample had an overabundance of bacteria in it: Lactobacillus and Corynebacterium.

So hes gonna be on antibiotics for 10 days and hopefully it all goes back to normal.
 

S.A.S.K.

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Hoping for the best! Good luck!
 

Shezbug

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Hope he feels 100% asap.
 

Scorpi0

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Just an update:

Chirpie’s poop is still the same. Its been a week since I finished giving him his antibiotics and theres still no change. The good news is that he is still super active and seems perfectly healthy and normal.
But just to be on the safe side, I have scheduled another appointment with a different vet who specializes more in birds. Appointment date is Friday, lets see what he will have to say.
 

Pixiebeak

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I'm wishing you luck with your new veterinarian.

The only time my budgies poop have been abnormal is when I accepted an escape budgie who's owner wasn't found. That brought chlamydia into my flock and all my birds got sick( some life-threatening)

Their poops looked a little like yours , but did have the classic bright green urine if chlamydia. It took 45 days of doxy , then a relapse and 45 more dsys of doxycycline to clear.

It could be chlamydia is a possibility with yours. Other antibiotics can temporarily make it seem better if it is this. But to cure them takes the extended doxycycline. We ended up going the added to water route for the budgies. And its important to treat the whole flock. And extensive cleaning, my vet had me spray dilute bleach before cleaning to minimize aerosol .

Anyway I hope answers are found .I will watch your thread
 
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