diet change drppings red

[angelblue]

Ok so I have two amazons and they are on the same diet so I have a very bad feeling.... A few days ago I started to mix in a colored food with thier reg diet....now one parrot has wet red droppings and theother looks normal. The normal droppings are in the parrot who is eating all her food and fruit, while the wet red droppings are from the bird favoring the new colored food and no fruit. He did have some sweert potatoe a day or three ago but no fruit. The red looks identical to the dye in the food but neither of my other parrots have ever shown this change. However they dont eat : the sweet potatoes... since it has been afew days with no fruits or veggies I dont know if i should be concerned.... dont you usually see the change within 24 hours..... there is no emergency bird vet near me so I have to wait till monday to be seen....anyone know what to think? He is acting fine....cranky self mobile and talkative....but he had an injury i couldnt locate a week ago maybe his tongue? Blood on a stick he was chewing but i never saw it again after i took the stick and made him rest. Possible it took that long for swallowed blood to come in his waste? Seems too much quantity wise....thanks for any advise.

[Cockatielsongs]

Can you identify the red as blood? If so you need a vet ASAP
Why don't you take the colored food out of their diet temporarily and monitor his droppings then, if his dropping remain red with the next few hours its obviously not the colored food and needs a vet.
Keep an eye on him even if he does even the slightest unusual action/movement etc etc that could be likely signs that he is ill.
So yeah, thats about all I can think of, so just try take it out of their diet and see what happens to their droppings.
If it remains red get to a vet ASAP or even call the for advise!

Keep us posted!

[Michael]

Sounds like dye more than anything. Blood in the stool usually turns black as it dries. So if it's bright red and remains red, it's the paint in the food. This is why I don't like colored pellets because they lead you astray (amongst other things). Though this can happen from coloring on toys as well! That's a freaky one. So I'd say continue to monitor. If you do see black and or other signs, contact a vet. Look into switching to an uncolored diet as soon as possible.

[Cockatielsongs]

Oh yeah! I forgot that blood the dries out turns blackish. But yeah, still change the colored food, there may be a time that its is blood and you dismiss it as food dye. Still keep an eye on him though, seeing as the other birds dropping's are the same.

[Pajarita]

Artificial coloring is never good, it adds nothing good to their diet and some birds are highly intolerant of it and it seems that this is the case here so I would say eliminate that new food immediately and observe the bird's droppings for the next couple of days - if everything goes as it should, the droppings should go back to normal in a day or so. If they don't, take the bird to a vet.

[angelblue]

I did take away the nee food today and his droppings are normal. I think it was the sweet potatoe that made it red. I swirched to this food because besides harrisons it is the only brand i have found with the recommended protien and vitamin a. Even if the color isnt beneficial as long as it doesnt hurt I need the nutritian. Im going to with hold the sweet potatoe and see if that was the culprit or the new food. Is any one aware of a dye free high protien amazon diet? The harrisons still had less protien than this one by prettybird and that is what my vet says my new babies need. They were on a seed diet before i got them and one is overweight and the other under. Now they are improving quite a bit. They have been mistreated and iam trying to do my best to build up their health.

[Michael]

I think Roudybush is pretty well balanced for Amazons. After all it was developed on Cockatiels and Orange Winged Amazons. If more protein is needed, you can try supplementing any pellet diet with a little chicken, eggs, cooked beans, and protein rich vegetables.