[Mike S]

Hello, I have a 4 year old cockatiel that started having a lot of clear liquid and very stringy urates simular to what white thread looks like. She will have some solid green poop, but not always.
I took her to a board certified avian vet I been going to for about 25 yrs. She did a gram stain and put her on two antibiotics for 14 days. Today is day 5 without really any improvement. I've been weighing her with the gram scale and so far she's staying the same weight. She sleeps on one leg and seems pretty normal as far as I can tell.
I'm hoping if someone has had a similar experience with their birds, they can give me some information. Thanks!!

 

[A cockatiel]

Hello, I have a 4 year old cockatiel that started having a lot of clear liquid and very stringy urates simular to what white thread looks like. She will have some solid green poop, but not always.
I took her to a board certified avian vet I been going to for about 25 yrs. She did a gram stain and put her on two antibiotics for 14 days. Today is day 5 without really any improvement. I've been weighing her with the gram scale and so far she's staying the same weight. She sleeps on one leg and seems pretty normal as far as I can tell.
I'm hoping if someone has had a similar experience with their birds, they can give me some information. Thanks!!

Is she better??

 

[Mike S]

Is she better??

She's doing about the same, she seems normal most of the time. I would say about a ⅓ of time she has webb like urates, but usually has a lot of clear liquid. I was disappointed that the antibiotics didn't do much because I had to give them two medicines twice a day and was stressful for them.

I have another appointment on September 1st. This is another vet. She wants to make sure all the antibiotics are out of their system before doing more test. This vet has been seeing only birds for about 40 years. It's just her, and her prices are very reasonable. I hope we can figure out the cause and successfully treat it. I had another cockatiel I had to put down a couple years ago because her mouth would always fill up with saliva and would prevent her food from going down her throat. I would have to use a q tip to kinda dry her mouth so she could eat. I had taken her to UC Davis animal teaching hospital and many vets and no one could find the cause. After she passed, the vet did an autopsy and could find nothing wrong...... very disappointing.

 

[A cockatiel]

She's doing about the same, she seems normal most of the time. I would say about a ⅓ of time she has webb like urates, but usually has a lot of clear liquid. I was disappointed that the antibiotics didn't do much because I had to give them two medicines twice a day and was stressful for them.

I have another appointment on September 1st. This is another vet. She wants to make sure all the antibiotics are out of their system before doing more test. This vet has been seeing only birds for about 40 years. It's just her, and her prices are very reasonable. I hope we can figure out the cause and successfully treat it. I had another cockatiel I had to put down a couple years ago because her mouth would always fill up with saliva and would prevent her food from going down her throat. I would have to use a q tip to kinda dry her mouth so she could eat. I had taken her to UC Davis animal teaching hospital and many vets and no one could find the cause. After she passed, the vet did an autopsy and could find nothing wrong...... very disappointing.

I hope it goes well for your bird and im so sorry for your loss :[ make sure to keep us updated!
I also had a cockatiel for almost a year, his feathers would grow out, then fall the moment they were fully grown and he could never fly. When we talked to a vet he said that we cant do anything about it and to just give him vitamins. It didnt help. He died from a stroke in my hands

 

[Mike S]

I hope it goes well for your bird and im so sorry for your loss :[ make sure to keep us updated!
I also had a cockatiel for almost a year, his feathers would grow out, then fall the moment they were fully grown and he could never fly. When we talked to a vet he said that we cant do anything about it and to just give him vitamins. It didnt help. He died from a stroke in my hands

I am new to this site, I will post update after treatment is done. I will try and state "UPDATE" on title.
I'm sorry on what happened to your bird. Birds were meant to fly, it just makes it that much harder on the both of you. I'm sure you do the same... and that is I tell them "I'm doing everything I can to make you healthy and happy. " My first Cockatiel lived 30 years and hardly ANY health problems, his name was Smokey. I have had several cockatiels since...... and not a lot of luck, regardless how much we both tried. I had rescued a 6 month old Pigeon that had a broken wing next to the tracks when I was operating the light rail..... he was the house Warden and lived a great life for 19 years.

I'm taking the birds to another vet I like because the first vet never returned my calls. She said there should be an improvement in 3 days. They were on it for 14 days. I didn't want to stop the antibiotics and have the disease get a stronger grip. It would have been nice if she called and we could have talked about what was the next step. Also, I ran out of one of the antibiotics 5 days before the 14th day..... on a Friday night and they are closed on the weekends. I didn't spill any either...to say I was upset would be a huge understatement.

 

[A cockatiel]

I am new to this site, I will post update after treatment is done. I will try and state "UPDATE" on title.
I'm sorry on what happened to your bird. Birds were meant to fly, it just makes it that much harder on the both of you. I'm sure you do the same... and that is I tell them "I'm doing everything I can to make you healthy and happy. " My first Cockatiel lived 30 years and hardly ANY health problems, his name was Smokey. I have had several cockatiels since...... and not a lot of luck, regardless how much we both tried. I had rescued a 6 month old Pigeon that had a broken wing next to the tracks when I was operating the light rail..... he was the house Warden and lived a great life for 19 years.

I'm taking the birds to another vet I like because the first vet never returned my calls. She said there should be an improvement in 3 days. They were on it for 14 days. I didn't want to stop the antibiotics and have the disease get a stronger grip. It would have been nice if she called and we could have talked about what was the next step. Also, I ran out of one of the antibiotics 5 days before the 14th day..... on a Friday night and they are closed on the weekends. I didn't spill any either...to say I was upset would be a huge understatement.

That doesnt sound like a very good vet.. i hope the new one you go to can help you more to treat the infection! It can be really scary to have a bird like that, especially when you dont know whats wrong with it and how to help it

 

[Mike S]

UPDATE

I had a culture done and they didn't find anything abnormal. She seems to be doing better, less liquid and no stringy white urayrs.

 

[A cockatiel]

UPDATE

I had a culture done and they didn't find anything abnormal. She seems to be doing better, less liquid and no stringy white urayrs.

Thats great!

 

[Krupali]

When you say stringy urates, do you mean like a thick thread or just slimy like this?

 

[Mike S]

At the beginning, she has very thin white urates.... sometimes it would look kinda like a web. Other times, it looked like a ton of very tiny worms.

Also, there were a few times when I hardly seen any urates..... she usually always had an excess amoint of clear liquid with her droppings.

This went on for several weeks. She always acts her normal self...so whatever the cause was, it didn't bother her. She has kept a very good appetite. The vets did test but came up with nothing on what caused it.

After she laid an egg, her dropping went to being totally normal. She had three eggs and I switch them out with plastic ones. Hopefully things continue to be good, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Mike S]

When you say stringy urates, do you mean like a thick thread or just slimy like this? View attachment 95966

Looking at your picture, I think she might of had similar droppings at the beginning. To me, that doesn't look like a very bad dropping thou. I would obviously keep an eye on it's droppings. I wish I could tell you what problem mine had, so you have a better idea...I just simply don't know what caused it.

 

[Krupali]

Looking at your picture, I think she might of had similar droppings at the beginning. To me, that doesn't look like a very bad dropping thou. I would obviously keep an eye on it's droppings. I wish I could tell you what problem mine had, so you have a better idea...I just simply don't know what caused it.

Thanks. He had a gram stain, fecal float, fecal smear twice, urinalysis, and blood work. Everything came back normal. His liver and kidney functions are normal as well as his wbc. So I really don't know what's going on. They said he is a very healthy bird. The ver thinks because of his hormones, he is eating less than usual because smaller birds do that. He lost his last year🥺 so he's been very lonely so I can see why he is nesting. His water intake increased while his food intake decreased. I wouldn't say by much butbhe tends to eat more during bedtime. In the daytime, he likes to play around, whistle and drink water. I think I'm worrying way too much about his poop. Who knows maybe it's always been this way. It's definetly not as stringy when the poop has dried has a little, so I'm wondering if it's because of his increase water intake.

 

[Mike S]

Thanks. He had a gram stain, fecal float, fecal smear twice, urinalysis, and blood work. Everything came back normal. His liver and kidney functions are normal as well as his wbc. So I really don't know what's going on. They said he is a very healthy bird. The ver thinks because of his hormones, he is eating less than usual because smaller birds do that. He lost his last year🥺 so he's been very lonely so I can see why he is nesting. His water intake increased while his food intake decreased. I wouldn't say by much butbhe tends to eat more during bedtime. In the daytime, he likes to play around, whistle and drink water. I think I'm worrying way too much about his poop. Who knows maybe it's always been this way. It's definetly not as stringy when the poop has dried has a little, so I'm wondering if it's because of his increase water intake.

It sounds like you had a lot of testing done, I think drinking more water is a possibility. Sometimes it seems like finding the cause of a problem is impossible.
I think I'd do what you said and that is, just keep an eye on him. At times, I've had vets that wanted to treat a problem a certain way.....medicine that could cause a much more serious problem, then what I'm currently trying to fix. I just hate trying to determine the best route.

It sounds like your bird is happy, my cockatiel had his "wife" passed away a couple years ago. He eventually got "remarried" but I had started playing "Cockatiel singing, If you're happy and you know it" on YouTube. He would fly down and stand right in front of my phone. He's learned the song and I still play the video for him from time to time.

 

[Krupali]

It sounds like you had a lot of testing done, I think drinking more water is a possibility. Sometimes it seems like finding the cause of a problem is impossible.
I think I'd do what you said and that is, just keep an eye on him. At times, I've had vets that wanted to treat a problem a certain way.....medicine that could cause a much more serious problem, then what I'm currently trying to fix. I just hate trying to determine the best route.

It sounds like your bird is happy, my cockatiel had his "wife" passed away a couple years ago. He eventually got "remarried" but I had started playing "Cockatiel singing, If you're happy and you know it" on YouTube. He would fly down and stand right in front of my phone. He's learned the song and I still play the video for him from time to time.

I'm so sorry for you loss😢 it's really tough and I know the pain. I lost two tiels and both were age of 9-10. My other bird did have kidney or diabetes and she drank alot of water, she lster developed bumblefoot on both feet and lost her battle evne after treatment. So that's why I'm overly cautiaus. I constantly check his poop and I definetly need to stop doing that. He's beeb taken too 3 dfferent vets in the last month and they all said he is healthy. Atleast the bloodwork showed that he doesn't have diabetes, kidney or liver so that's always a good sign.

On the good side, his poops today don't look nearly as watery. I think the stringy bits in his case are normal as long as it doesn't look like worms. Maybe it's always been this way, who knows.

 

[Mike S]

I'm so sorry for you loss😢 it's really tough and I know the pain. I lost two tiels and both were age of 9-10. My other bird did have kidney or diabetes and she drank alot of water, she lster developed bumblefoot on both feet and lost her battle evne after treatment. So that's why I'm overly cautiaus. I constantly check his poop and I definetly need to stop doing that. He's beeb taken too 3 dfferent vets in the last month and they all said he is healthy. Atleast the bloodwork showed that he doesn't have diabetes, kidney or liver so that's always a good sign.

On the good side, his poops today don't look nearly as watery. I think the stringy bits in his case are normal as long as it doesn't look like worms. Maybe it's always been this way, who knows.

I'm happy to hear things seem and look good today. My cockatiel had A TON of clear liquid when she was having the very thin white urates. I forgot to mention I did treat them both with 2 antibiotics 2 times a day for 14 days. There was no improvement at all, I waited a week and gave them probiotics and nothing really changed either. A week or 2 after that her droppings were normal for the most part. No clue why it started or how it stopped.

 

[Krupali]

I'm happy to hear things seem and look good today. My cockatiel had A TON of clear liquid when she was having the very thin white urates. I forgot to mention I did treat them both with 2 antibiotics 2 times a day for 14 days. There was no improvement at all, I waited a week and gave them probiotics and nothing really changed either. A week or 2 after that her droppings were normal for the most part. No clue why it started or how it stopped.

Was she hormonal durung that time? Ive read that increase hormones cam cause them to drink more water. My tiels poop is less stringy when it's 10-20 mins old. It's still wet but I dont really see that slimy stuff. Like the urates became more creamy and solid. Was this the same case for you?

 

[Mike S]

Was she hormonal durung that time? Ive read that increase hormones cam cause them to drink more water. My tiels poop is less stringy when it's 10-20 mins old. It's still wet but I dont really see that slimy stuff. Like the urates became more creamy and solid. Was this the same case for you?

I didn't notice much activity of that kind. I was surprised when she laid an egg. I do recall her drinking more water thou.

 

[Mike S]

Was she hormonal durung that time? Ive read that increase hormones cam cause them to drink more water. My tiels poop is less stringy when it's 10-20 mins old. It's still wet but I dont really see that slimy stuff. Like the urates became more creamy and solid. Was this the same case for you?

Her droppings have done that. I had taken pictures for the vet when they were fresh, because when they get old and dry they do change a lot. I always like it when they are small green droppings with little liquid and a white cap of urates on top. Their droppings seem to change often, so I don't panic anymore. If they are acting different.....sickly like, then I pay very close attention. If they are acting normal, I keep an eye out and observe!!

 

[Krupali]

Update.

His urates still look like that but his poops have improved since he is eating more. One thing I have noticed was when he pooped on the bed sheat. It had been there 3-5 mins because I forgot to wipe it. When I picked it up with a tissue i noticed that the bottom side of urate that was touching the sheet was creamy and not stringy at all. I'm guessing it's because the sheets absorbed all the water. The top that was not touching the sheets was still stringy and it had only been a couple of minutes when I tested this. Maybe it's because his fresh poops are watery so the urates kind if become stringy. The urates from his old poops look creamy in consistency like how they should be.


Since you said that she doesn't have this issue anymore, maybe increase in her water intake during that time made her urates stringy? Just a theory.

 

[Mike S]

Update.

His urates still look like that but his poops have improved since he is eating more. One thing I have noticed was when he pooped on the bed sheat. It had been there 3-5 mins because I forgot to wipe it. When I picked it up with a tissue i noticed that the bottom side of urate that was touching the sheet was creamy and not stringy at all. I'm guessing it's because the sheets absorbed all the water. The top that was not touching the sheets was still stringy and it had only been a couple of minutes when I tested this. Maybe it's because his fresh poops are watery so the urates kind if become stringy. The urates from his old poops look creamy in consistency like how they should be.


Since you said that she doesn't have this issue anymore, maybe increase in her water intake during that time made her urates stringy? Just a theory.

That could have had something to do with it. I was a little surprised that my vet didn't say "It is probably______and caused by______. She has been an avian doctor for almost 40 yrs. but, she couldn't tell me a lot because she really hasn't dealt with this issue.
That's a good sign your bird is eating more. Whatever the cause, I think it's a good thing that it didn't seem to effect her at all....especially since the vet isn't familiar with it.