Joined
·
11,168 Posts
I posted a bit of this article in another thread so I thought I'd post the whole thing. (there is TWO parts)
AS A BIRD OWNER, you change poopy papers every day. Probably the last thing you want to do is inspect their contents. All you want to do is dispose of that well-used sports page, lay down another one, and get out the door. But hold on a sec. Did you know that getting better acquainted with your bird's droppings could help save his life? Knowing what normal droppings should look like is as crucial to maintaining bird health as watching for physical injuries, providing a good diet and making sure the room is not too hot or too cold.
Droppings that change in quantity, color, consistency or smell are one of the easiest ways to tell your bird is ill, yet many pet owners overlook this simple diagnostic tool. If detected early enough, many illnesses and health problems that birds otherwise mask can be treated or cured. So grab a pen and notepad, pull up a chair beside the cage, and let's get you started with some basic information about droppings. Welcome to Poopology 101!
What's normal, what's not:
Unlike cats and dogs, who often send clear signals they're not feeling well (usually on your favorite rug), birds drop subtler hints, literally. Although not his most attractive aspect, the poop your bird leaves on the bottom of the cage is a hint you should not ignore.
Droppings reveal a great deal about a parrot's general well-being. By observing droppings every day, you can be your bird's proactive health guardian. You needn't spend hours poring over each masterpiece, but you should study your bird's poop enough to know what a normal one looks like. Once you know, a glance once in the morning and again in the evening will help keep your bird in the pink.
To make detecting changes easy, use plain newsprint, paper towels or clear wax paper in the bottom of the cage. Once you've graduated from Poopology 101, you can switch to regular print newspaper. Never use commercially sold cage bottom materials such as walnut shavings, corn cob shavings, or pellets. They make it impossible to monitor droppings - and they can harbor mold and bacteria that can make your bird sick, no matter what the manufacturers claim.
As a part of your poop patrol, you'll want to also keep an eye on your bird's vent area and the cloaca, the sphincter muscle that controls elimination. The vent area should always be clean and dry and the cloaca should remain fairly tightly closed, with no odd growths. Moisture, matted stools or extra tissue in the area warrant closer inspection by a vet.
What makes a dropping:
Droppings actually consist of three recognizable parts: feces, clear urine and a white urine called urates. You'll want to get a good idea of what each part looks like normally for your bird and monitor all three daily so you can report any serious changes to your vet.
Generally, the feces part of the dropping should be green or brown. It should be solid and coiled like a snake, segmented or in pieces. The urine portion of the stool should be clear and watery. Urates should be an opaque white-beige crystalline material. Sometimes the urine and urates are mixed, creating a cloudy-looking material, but usually they are separate.
Not all changes in droppings indicate a health problem. For instance, different types of food can change the color of your bird's poop. Birds that favor pellets of a certain color may release feces that have taken on the same tinge. (The feces of birds who eat ordinary pellets are usually rust colored.) Strawberries may introduce a slight reddish color and blueberries, cherries and cranberries can turn fecal matter black.
Watery foods can make your bird's droppings appear looser than usual. Sometimes droppings may even be all liquid. However, as long as any fecal matter remains solid, watery droppings are not diarrhea. They are perfectly normal instances of polyuria, an increase in urine. In fact, long-time bird owners who feed a healthy varied diet including not only pellets but moist foods such as fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, pastas and cooked grains know that extra-wet droppings are the norm - they mean the bird is well-hydrated.
You can expect to see an increase in urine also if your bird receives a scare or experiences stress, such as during a veterinary exam.
Birds on a seed-only diet pass dry and sticky or pasty-looking greenish-black feces, a reflection of malnourishment that eventually can lead to disease. Some species of parrots simply have odd-looking poop. For example, some healthy cockatiels have feces tinged a light green.
Poops can naturally vary in amount, too. Most birds hold their poop overnight until the next morning, when they release a larger-than-average dropping that may smell a bit, too.
The exception to this rule are small birds with higher metabolisms such as cockatiels, who poop throughout the night and will have a pile of droppings beneath their sleeping perch the next morning. Laying females have different bowel habits, too. They drink more water than usual and spend more time in the nest box, where they will hold their droppings. When they leave the box, they expel large, smelly droppings. Baby birds still on weaning formulas have large droppings, too, with urine composing a large portion.
Changes in feces:
One possibly serious change is diarrhea, which appears as loosely formed feces that are not coiled or solid but watery. Some folks think that the extra-wet droppings that come after a bird eats greens or watery fruits is diarrhea, but it's not. Remember, an increase in urine because of diet or nerves is normal.
With diarrhea, the feces themselves are watery. Diarrhea is rare in birds and usually indicates a problem in the digestive tract. Sometimes it's caused by introducing new foods too quickly. Other times the bird has eaten spoiled food, a foreign object, or a toxin such as lead. Antibiotics also can cause diarrhea.
So can a bacterial or fungal intestinal infection, parasites such as giardia or roundworm, hernias, eggbinding, or disease. A bird with diarrhea often will have a "pasty vent," with fecal matter sticking to its behind.
If you think your bird may have diarrhea, or if you're just not sure, contact your veterinarian right away. Birds with diarrhea can become dehydrated and die within a very short period of time. Even in the absence of diarrhea, you should always be on the lookout for worms such as roundworm or hookworm in your bird's droppings.
So as you can see, there are lots of reasons for changes in droppings that you don't have to be concerned about. Now let's discuss some changes that could mean health problems, starting with the feces, which is the dark, solid part of a dropping.
Color changes:
If your bird's red, gray or black feces can't be explained by a diet change, consult your avian veterinarian because these discolorations can mean something serious.
Blood found throughout the stool usually means the bird is bleeding from the lower intestinal tract. It can be a symptom of intestinal infections, poisoning, warts, tumors, ingestion of foreign objects such as parts of toys, parasites, problems with egg laying. Fresh black feces are a symptom of bleeding in the upper digestive tract.
If you suspect your bird is bleeding internally, never wait to see if it gets better. If you wait until the bird shows signs of weakness, it may be too late to save it.
Here are some other feces abnormalities you should speak with your vet about:
AS A BIRD OWNER, you change poopy papers every day. Probably the last thing you want to do is inspect their contents. All you want to do is dispose of that well-used sports page, lay down another one, and get out the door. But hold on a sec. Did you know that getting better acquainted with your bird's droppings could help save his life? Knowing what normal droppings should look like is as crucial to maintaining bird health as watching for physical injuries, providing a good diet and making sure the room is not too hot or too cold.
Droppings that change in quantity, color, consistency or smell are one of the easiest ways to tell your bird is ill, yet many pet owners overlook this simple diagnostic tool. If detected early enough, many illnesses and health problems that birds otherwise mask can be treated or cured. So grab a pen and notepad, pull up a chair beside the cage, and let's get you started with some basic information about droppings. Welcome to Poopology 101!
What's normal, what's not:
Unlike cats and dogs, who often send clear signals they're not feeling well (usually on your favorite rug), birds drop subtler hints, literally. Although not his most attractive aspect, the poop your bird leaves on the bottom of the cage is a hint you should not ignore.
Droppings reveal a great deal about a parrot's general well-being. By observing droppings every day, you can be your bird's proactive health guardian. You needn't spend hours poring over each masterpiece, but you should study your bird's poop enough to know what a normal one looks like. Once you know, a glance once in the morning and again in the evening will help keep your bird in the pink.
To make detecting changes easy, use plain newsprint, paper towels or clear wax paper in the bottom of the cage. Once you've graduated from Poopology 101, you can switch to regular print newspaper. Never use commercially sold cage bottom materials such as walnut shavings, corn cob shavings, or pellets. They make it impossible to monitor droppings - and they can harbor mold and bacteria that can make your bird sick, no matter what the manufacturers claim.
As a part of your poop patrol, you'll want to also keep an eye on your bird's vent area and the cloaca, the sphincter muscle that controls elimination. The vent area should always be clean and dry and the cloaca should remain fairly tightly closed, with no odd growths. Moisture, matted stools or extra tissue in the area warrant closer inspection by a vet.
What makes a dropping:
Droppings actually consist of three recognizable parts: feces, clear urine and a white urine called urates. You'll want to get a good idea of what each part looks like normally for your bird and monitor all three daily so you can report any serious changes to your vet.
Generally, the feces part of the dropping should be green or brown. It should be solid and coiled like a snake, segmented or in pieces. The urine portion of the stool should be clear and watery. Urates should be an opaque white-beige crystalline material. Sometimes the urine and urates are mixed, creating a cloudy-looking material, but usually they are separate.
Not all changes in droppings indicate a health problem. For instance, different types of food can change the color of your bird's poop. Birds that favor pellets of a certain color may release feces that have taken on the same tinge. (The feces of birds who eat ordinary pellets are usually rust colored.) Strawberries may introduce a slight reddish color and blueberries, cherries and cranberries can turn fecal matter black.
Watery foods can make your bird's droppings appear looser than usual. Sometimes droppings may even be all liquid. However, as long as any fecal matter remains solid, watery droppings are not diarrhea. They are perfectly normal instances of polyuria, an increase in urine. In fact, long-time bird owners who feed a healthy varied diet including not only pellets but moist foods such as fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, pastas and cooked grains know that extra-wet droppings are the norm - they mean the bird is well-hydrated.
You can expect to see an increase in urine also if your bird receives a scare or experiences stress, such as during a veterinary exam.
Birds on a seed-only diet pass dry and sticky or pasty-looking greenish-black feces, a reflection of malnourishment that eventually can lead to disease. Some species of parrots simply have odd-looking poop. For example, some healthy cockatiels have feces tinged a light green.
Poops can naturally vary in amount, too. Most birds hold their poop overnight until the next morning, when they release a larger-than-average dropping that may smell a bit, too.
The exception to this rule are small birds with higher metabolisms such as cockatiels, who poop throughout the night and will have a pile of droppings beneath their sleeping perch the next morning. Laying females have different bowel habits, too. They drink more water than usual and spend more time in the nest box, where they will hold their droppings. When they leave the box, they expel large, smelly droppings. Baby birds still on weaning formulas have large droppings, too, with urine composing a large portion.
Changes in feces:
One possibly serious change is diarrhea, which appears as loosely formed feces that are not coiled or solid but watery. Some folks think that the extra-wet droppings that come after a bird eats greens or watery fruits is diarrhea, but it's not. Remember, an increase in urine because of diet or nerves is normal.
With diarrhea, the feces themselves are watery. Diarrhea is rare in birds and usually indicates a problem in the digestive tract. Sometimes it's caused by introducing new foods too quickly. Other times the bird has eaten spoiled food, a foreign object, or a toxin such as lead. Antibiotics also can cause diarrhea.
So can a bacterial or fungal intestinal infection, parasites such as giardia or roundworm, hernias, eggbinding, or disease. A bird with diarrhea often will have a "pasty vent," with fecal matter sticking to its behind.
If you think your bird may have diarrhea, or if you're just not sure, contact your veterinarian right away. Birds with diarrhea can become dehydrated and die within a very short period of time. Even in the absence of diarrhea, you should always be on the lookout for worms such as roundworm or hookworm in your bird's droppings.
So as you can see, there are lots of reasons for changes in droppings that you don't have to be concerned about. Now let's discuss some changes that could mean health problems, starting with the feces, which is the dark, solid part of a dropping.
Color changes:
If your bird's red, gray or black feces can't be explained by a diet change, consult your avian veterinarian because these discolorations can mean something serious.
Blood found throughout the stool usually means the bird is bleeding from the lower intestinal tract. It can be a symptom of intestinal infections, poisoning, warts, tumors, ingestion of foreign objects such as parts of toys, parasites, problems with egg laying. Fresh black feces are a symptom of bleeding in the upper digestive tract.
If you suspect your bird is bleeding internally, never wait to see if it gets better. If you wait until the bird shows signs of weakness, it may be too late to save it.
Here are some other feces abnormalities you should speak with your vet about:
- Dark greenish-black coloration. This could be a symptom of liver disease.
- Undigested food. If you notice any bits of seed or pellets, be worried. These symptoms could mean parasites, an intestinal infection, proventricular dilation, or a disease of the pancreas or other internal organs.
- Tarlike consistency. If you notice that your bird is defecating blackish, tar-like feces, it could mean he's stopped eating. In small birds such as lovebirds or cockatiels, the feces may turn dark and pasty within 24 hours. It may take 48 hours or longer for larger birds such as African greys and Amazons to have these dark, dense droppings.
- Change in volume. If you notice an increase in the amount of feces in each dropping, it could mean your bird is not digesting its food properly or is having a problem laying. Very small, compact, and dark droppings could mean your bird is not eating enough due to an appetite loss from illness or an internal obstruction.
