Enlarged liver in young Parakeet

[Jeff]

Hi All,
Does anyone know why a young parakeet of around 1 1/2 years would have a large discolored liver?
Thank you.

[Wolf]

Probably from an all seed diet and perhaps high oil content sunflower seeds for treats. Just a guess, with no info to go on.

[Pajarita]

Hmmmm, at 1.5 years, he should not have an enlarged liver from a bad diet (especially budgies which are mostly ground foragers and consume a large amount of grass seed in the wild) BUT birds get hepatitis, too, just like people do, and there are other reasons for liver issues: metal poisoning, prolonged used of anti-fungals and antibiotics, aflatoxin poisoning, etc In any case, the treatment for the liver itself is the same: lower protein diet, milk thistle, dandelion root, artichoke, vit B6, methionine or SAMe and aloe vera juice (as well as a completely organic diet because you don't want that liver to be filtering out any of the chemicals found in the 'regular' produce)

[Wolf]

I didn't think of metal poisoning and I did not know that they could get hepatitis. Thanks for that, I want to check that out in more depth.
I just love having you here, just totally love it !

[Jeff]

Thank you for your responses thus far. I'm sorry to say he passed away a couple of days ago in surgery. Our bird vet was 98% certain that it was a tumor of some kind and talked us into attempting surgery. During the surgery he found that his liver was larger than he has ever seen, which led him to believe the tumor could have been inside his liver. We are devastated because we feel that it was the wrong decision and the doctor should have tested him first to try to find out what it was first.
We are now just trying to find out what could've happened. I am assuming his stainless steel water bowl and the metal bells on his toys weren't an issue? Because you mentioned metal poisoning we do notice some paint peeled off the framing of our old bow window near his cage.

[cml]

Thank you for your responses thus far. I'm sorry to say he passed away a couple of days ago in surgery. Our bird vet was 98% certain that it was a tumor of some kind and talked us into attempting surgery. During the surgery he found that his liver was larger than he has ever seen, which led him to believe the tumor could have been inside his liver. We are devastated because we feel that it was the wrong decision and the doctor should have tested him first to try to find out what it was first.
We are now just trying to find out what could've happened. I am assuming his stainless steel water bowl and the metal bells on his toys weren't an issue? Because you mentioned metal poisoning we do notice some paint peeled off the framing of our old bow window near his cage.

I am so very sorry for your loss ! Dont blame yourselvs, you did the absolute best by your bird to bring him to an avian vet. If his liver was that enlarged, then the surgery was not a bad decision I think so dont second guess yourselvs.

Regarding the stainless steel, there are different qualities of stainless steel, with different alloys, and some of them are good some are not. I would not worry about the waterbowl, they are usually of good quality but some cheap toys may or may not be optimal. It's hard to tell. Steer well away from zinc-treated stuff (galvanized) though, this is crap and can be potentially dangerous for birds.

[Wolf]

Based on what you have said, I would strongly suspect that the paint would be the major risk if it was metal poisoning. Most white paints contain titanium dioxide which is a known poison and blue may contain cobalt, another known poison, cadmium is another one and can be found in reds and yellows. In short, peeling paint is a major risk factor.
I am so sorry that your friend didn't make it.

[Pajarita]

Oh, so very sorry for your loss. Budgies are VERY prone to tumors (all the inbreeding and overbreeding in order to get so many color mutations drastically altered and weakened their natural strong health) and your vet did the best he could under the circumstances. Budgies are so tiny that X-rays and MRIs are very hard to read so it's not his fault that he miscalculated the enlargement of the liver (you need to be able to have a 3D image to be accurate, something practically impossible with such a tiny body). If he had a large tumor in his liver, it was a very aggressive form of cancer because it's the only explanation for it in such a young bird and he would have died anyway so the fact that he went under anesthesia is, in itself, a blessing as he did not suffer unnecessarily.

[Harpmaker]

I am so sorry for your loss, Jeff.

[Jeff]

Thank you so much for all your support. He was extra special to me because he appeared at our 6th floor apartment window in Brooklyn exactly 4 weeks after my younger brother, Josh passed away and a few days prior, we were talking about birds and how I have always wanted a parrot. Needless to say, J was and always will be our little miracle who brought us great comfort during these difficult times.