Intestinal problem, watery poop

[liz]

...
Does anyone know of a remedy for this? Or is there an antibiotic that doesn't taste so bad?

I keep mini jelly beans on hand. Rambo will do most anything for one.

I had a little dog with cushings deseas . The liquid meds were awful. I had a dose of maple syrup ready and she took the meds to get the syrup.

Liz, please be careful about the use of jelly beans with respect to your birds as it is a dangerous compound to give them. Please read: http://www.africangreys.com/articles/ot ... dsugar.htm
and reconsider this practice and use a piece of fruit instead.[/quote]

His last owner gave them by free choice. With me he might get one a year. She also used to give him handfuls of Cheetos.

[Wolf]

What can you say, other than that some people, like me , for one, just ain't got no sense.

[liz8200]

The first med started with Bact, I dont have the bottle to tell you the correct name.
The vet I take him to started with Metronidazole, then he did gave him Pretty Bird Ultimate. During that time the vet did a culture of his poop sent it to a lab. Clemidea test, was negative. Then the Vet took blood and sent that to Mimi to test the major organs that came back all good.
Then the vet said maybe he has water on his heart and said if he gained weight we will know. I took him back and he lost weight. That was the last visit at that point I asked if it could be fungus the vet gave me Fluconazole to try. He said if that does not work he will put a probe in his anus to check for something like palaps . Becouse there was a small amount of blood in his poop. He said he may have strained or something.

The Vet said after the probe if that doesn't find the problem he will call the specialist. He wanted to be able to tell them he tested for everything, and give him all the results.

I live in Englewood Fl, I use city water and it is hard water. I feed him seeds and what I eat, Small amounts of bread, brocelie, salad, noddles, Some fruit not every day, cheese, almonds, peanuts. Stuff like that. He is near the kitchen, I dont use stick-less pots.

I can't think of anything else. His poop looks normal except the water seeps out past the rest of his waste.

[liz8200]

I will ask his vet to do a bile test.
I dont think he would like jelly beans.
His own vet has yet to give him totally nasty med's. It was the Vet that came to the house that gave him the nasty tasting antibiotic, I could not find anything to make that taste better .

[Wolf]

Ok, I think that to begin with I would consider getting one of those water filters, I think that Brita makes one that filters the water into a pitcher. You could use bottled water and that would be cheaper to begin with but the filter will be cheaper in the long run and you can drink better water too. I know that Florida water tends to have a lot of lime in it which can cause some problems like kidney stones, at least it did in some of my cats. and that was what the vet said caused it. Also without testing it you don't know what other minerals are in it, but being city water it is very likely to be fluoridated and again that is not good.
His diet is not a good one and you will need to change it, because if you do not your bird is going to develop liver disease and is also most likely malnourished, which means that he gets enough food to eat but not the right stuff like amino acids, vitamins, minerals and such, for his body to stay strong and healthy.
I would start by getting a can of white beans, the unsalted ones, and a box of Kashi 7 grain pilaf. Cook the packs of grain in the pilaf and drain and rinse the beans. Measure the cooked grains and then add enough of the beans so that you have 1/4 beans and 3/4 grains. Then chop up small whatever vegetables that you know he eats and add enough of the vegetables to where you have a half and half mix of vegetables and grain/ bean mix. I would feed your bird this food in the mornings and sprinkle just a little of his seed mix on top of it until he starts eating this like he likes it. and I would not give any more seeds than that until his dinner time when I would feed him his seed mix and take it out after he goes to sleep for the night. Make sure that the cooked food is not any warmer than room temperature when you feed it to him. This soft food is much better nutritionally for him and will also be gentler on his digestive tract.
Pajarita is much better on this nutritional stuff than I am and I am sure that when she comes online that she will be able to provide you with more information and even better advice than I can.

[Pajarita]

Yes, his diet is not good at all so you need to change it and pronto! What Wolf described is called gloop and you should feed it to him in the am as he suggested but I would add the following supplements to a large bowl of it (3 heaping ladlefuls):

- 2 capsules of milk thistle
- 1 capsule of dandelion root
- 1 capsule of methionine
- 2 capsules of slippery elm
- 1 capsule of chamomile
- 1 capsule of Keybiotics

Add oregano and a tiny bit of garlic (and pepper) to it for taste and as boosters to the immune system (the oregano and garlic also have antibacterial and antifungal properties so they are a triple whammy kind of help). And give him organic apple (the pectin in them is very good for digestion) and, if he eats it, fresh papaya.

I know it sounds like a lot but this has been going on for a long time, he has lost weight already and you need to find out real fast if this is something you can take care of with a good diet and some supplements to get him over the hump so his body (with the right diet) can heal itself or if this is something that will require prescription medication.

We recently found out that birds do get diabetes insipidus which would cause too much urine output (watery poop - not to be confused with diarrhea) so, if this doesn't work after a couple of weeks, you should ask your vet to do a test for it, too.

I would also give him ONLY bottled water, I would not even go with the pitcher or the faucet filters in his case.

[liz]

I drink and use tap water but buy bottled spring water for my pets. They can't tell me how they feel. I can't take any chances. The house dogs drink 2 gallons a day. I do have the boxers on tap water but let it run for some time before filling their buckets.

[Wolf]

Hi; I am back as while I was gone to town I could not shake the feeling that I had not given a complete reply to you this morning. So I came back to re read his posting and I was right, I did miss something that I think is very important for you to know if you don't already know. So I am going to correct my oversight now.
Birds should not be any closer to the kitchen than absolutely necessary for them to be for several reasons. The first reason is that any heating appliance that has a non stick surface is dangerous for them as is a self cleaning oven and hot vinegar, all of these release fumes that can and will kill your bird. Another reason is all of the cooking grease and stuff settleing on their feathers which they ingest when they preen, clean their feathers. Ok, now I feel better since this is no longer on my mind.

[liz8200]

Thanks for the info. I will go get the ingredients and herbs latter.
The Vet has done a Diabetes test and that was neg.
I have an old oven with the burners on the top. I don't use nonstick pots. I try to open the windows to vent air in the house. My kitchen in open to the living room,and dining area. I have the birds in the dinning area, the only other place I could put them is on the other side of the living room by the sliding glass door. I have been afraid there would be cold air on them with the sliding door. Would that be better than them being by the kitchen?

[Wolf]

No, sliding glass doors have their own set of problems so you are probably better off with him where he is. I did misunderstand you in reference to non stick pans and I apologise for that. I don't know the layout of your house so I just try to give all of the information that I have that relates to what you tell me and then I just trust that you will put the useful information to use based on your particular circumstances, and sometime we have to make compromises to insure both the safety and well being of our birds.
I personally don't like sliding glass door when it comes to birds so I tend to keep them well away from them for the birds safety.