Parrot fell off her perch, poop is either clear or chunky

[Harpmaker]

The AV said Corsair was fine after eating an atenolol pill last week, but last evening she had some clear poop and today it's almost solid. when I got her up this morning she fell off her perch to the bottom of the cage and banged around on the bottom of the cage totally disoriented for about a minute.

I assume the poop is kidney problems-the AV said to watch for it. The disorientation also scares me, even though it seems to have cleared up. Since I have ascertained that the off-hours AVs are unavailable for another 2 weeks, does anyone know anything I can do NOW to help her until I can get her to an AV? And what tests should I have the AV do?

Thank you all so much for being there.

[Wolf]

I don't have anything at the moment, as I just came on and saw this and I at least want you to know that someone is here. I will start looking to see if I can find anything.

[Pajarita]

Hmmm, the banging about disoriented on the cage floor sounds like a mild seizure to me which is consistent with advanced kidney malfunction but it could be caused by lots and lots of other things. As to tests, the AV will know but, personally, I would start with a CBC and a chem panel (this is the one that gives the results on BUN and creatinine -the two indicators of kidney problems) but, if you want to make sure of everything, do also bile acids (in case it's liver) and an ionized calcium (in case it's low calcium). For now, the best thing you can do is keep her warm and very hydrated so absolutely no pellets, and see if she likes a bit of juice or honey in her water (if it tastes good, she will drink more of it - I am concerned about the lack of urine in her last poop).

[Harpmaker]

I rushed off to the AV this morning without your response, Paharita, but she took blood for a chem panel and took a culture and put Corsair on cipro. Her weight is down 5% since Friday-she's playing with her food this morning, but not eating. I figured out about pellets yesterday and gave her some "parrot mix" seeds I had-mostly safflower.

Today her poop is extra wet again. When I put her in her travel cage she let out one that was foamy.

[Wolf]

I do hope that she will be ok and sorry that I couldn't help in this. I still have a lot to learn about parrots and there is so much to sift through. I spend at least a couple of hours or more a day reading and researching.

[marie83]

oh I am so so sorry to hear this. I hope everything comes ok again. when do you get the results?

[Pajarita]

Well, your AV is following the usual protocol: "if you don't know what's wrong with the bird, prescribe a wide spectrum antibiotic" (ciproflaxin is a fluoroquinolone, just like enrofloxacin -aka Baytril) but, to tell you the truth, I don't know if I agree with this with a bird that could possibly have a decreased kidney function. I think I would have wanted to see if the blood white cells levels were high... it only takes a day to get this number so the delay is not really significant. But foamy poop means gas so it could be an intestinal infection in which case the cipro would be OK (but then, that's precisely what the blood white cell high count would indicate).

Just in case, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate so no dry anything and make everything as moist as you can make it (you can soak the seeds, too) and keep her warm and quiet.

[Harpmaker]

OK, time for some updates.

The AV says the white count is the upper end of normal, probably from inflammation from the fall, so continue the cipro. Culture tests not back yet, but were originally expected today(the other tests were a day late). She said keep up the TLC. She also suggested putting some pellets in with the seeds because "she's used to them", so I did. Clever Corsair fished them out and dropped them on the floor.

Corsair's weight is back up to normal (about 100 grams). She gained extra gram and I worried briefly that it might be from all intake and no outlet, but she lost it again. My scale isn't that great and will vary by a gram when the bird moves around on the perch anyway.

I have been giving her a bowl of water (with ice) in addition to her normal bottle. As one might expect, she prefers a bowl, as being a more versatile toy, which she uses for drinking, bathing, soupmaking, and bobbing for breakfast. One of my worries has been she used it only for drinking. Yesterday she made soup with birdie-bread. Today she took a bath. Her poops look more normal if not as numerous as I expect. She ate some of her snap peas as well. She has been almost groggy first thing in the morning, and this morning she was normally lively-maybe because I was a few minutes late, and operating with a migraine headache. But I gladly trade the head ache for the ache in pit of my stomach when one of my "babies" is sick and I can't fix it.

[Wolf]

I am glad that Corsair is doing better and hope that it continues.

[Pajarita]

Well, there is no need for a 'probably' because all that needs to be done is look at the values of the different white cells as some react to inflammation, some to stress, some to infection, etc. If the problem is just inflammation, the AV needs to look at which one is elevated because there is one type that goes up with the early stages of inflammation and another one that goes up with chronic but, personally, if the total count was within the normal range, I would stop the antibiotic because it's absolutely normal for a bird that was taken to the vet (STRESS!) to show values a bit above normal so, if they are within the range, there is nothing there and the antibiotic is not needed.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE reconsider using a bottle for water! Parrots are not hard-wired for drinking a lot of water and bottles are downright dangerous for them if you ask me because one does NOT want to make it hard for them to drink enough (chronic mild dehydration is the number one cause of kidney issues in birds). On the contrary, one wants to make it real easy for them and to provide the vessel they like best - I use all stainless steel but all different types of containers so some are big and shallow, some are big and deep, some are small and deep, some small and shallow, some have a thick rim, some don't because all of them have their own preference so I make sure there is plenty to choose from. And, going by all the different activities she has shown with the bowl, Corsair has obviously chosen it over the bottle. (I can't think of anything more unnatural than for a bird to drink from a bottle!)