Seed in Stool!

[Pajarita]

Well, I would still be very careful of contagion until PDD is ruled out completely (for which I am keeping all my fingers crossed!)

[ParrotMan82]

He vomited last night. I called the vet this morning. The vet said at this point in time it's likely the whole flock has been infected anyhow, if it is AVB, so there wouldn't be a point in removing the bird and making them more depressed. The vet said that while it may be PDD he is still going to check more common avenues first.

The symptoms are too vague to really make a diagnosis at this point. They'll need to do tests before they can say anything more. He said that unless he can't keep food down at all that we're still going to wait until Wednesday.

I have to say it's a bit frustrating that there are so few avian vets even though they are almost the second most popular pet. I can't even schedule an emergency appointment as the emergency technicians aren't CAV's.

[Wolf]

While it is great to have access to a certified Avian vet, don't discount other exotic animal vets as some of them are just as good or better than some of the certified avian vets, and some of them have much more hands on experience with birds. There are huge areas of this country with no certified avian vets as it is still relatively a new field of veterinary medicine. If you consider that parrots and other birds were not a large portion of the pet trade until the 1970's, then it makes a great deal of sense that there are as few of them as there are as well as why I am saying that some of the exotic animal vets are just as good or better at this time.

[Pajarita]

Indeed! Wolf is 100% correct. The best avian vet I've ever had was not board certified AND she had taken in a cockatoo with PDD (after diagnosis, the owners no longer wanted him) so she knew more about treatment options for this disease than any avian vet out there (she also had other birds in her house so she was VERY knowledgeable -more than the avian vet she worked for, that's for sure!).

PS. Terrible, terrible news! My heart goes out to you, my dear - I can't even begin to imagine how upset you must be...

[ParrotMan82]

So far, nothing. No abnormal bacterium I'm the stool. The Xray came back normal, proventriculus was normal size and no opaque obstructions or metals. Liver, kidney, other organizations function is good. We are waiting on a crop swab and CBC.

We have to wait two more weeks for AVB. Too much blood taken today.

Edit: Crop swab came back. They said that there was a high amount of "good" bacteria in the crop but there appeared to be some irritation in there as well. Still waiting on CBC blood panel, heavy metal, and microbe analysis.

So far they have said that it isn't looking like typical PDD, but that they can't rule it out yet.

[Wolf]

I don't know where this will lead but I know that I will be very happy if it is not PDD, although I do understand that this is still probably a fairly serious situation and I do hope for a quick and speedy recovery.

[ParrotMan82]

Update: ABV test is going out today. Every other test was normal. Based upon tests and observation, they are pretty sure he's...just hormonal. Yeah, $1000 to tell me he's horny. Yey.

We are still getting all our birds tested for ABV just in case. So much stress over something so simple...sheesh.

[Wolf]

I don't know... I have never read or seen anything showing or even suggesting that being hormonal caused any seeds to be in the poop of any bird, unless the bird is just tossing them and they just happen to land in it , but never have I heard of them passing undigested seeds due to hormones.

[ParrotMan82]

Well three of the senior vets at Cornell University seemed to agree that it wasn't PDD, so we did get a second and third opinion. I feel very confident with these doctors. Whether he has ABV or not is still up in the air, of course, but then that is the same with any bird really since as much as 30-60% of birds test positive for the antibodies.

We'll know that by next week. However, we can say that he hasn't been diagnosed with the disease and has a good prognosis either way.

[Wolf]

This is a mixed blessing as it is good that they don't think that this is the problem, but in addition to waiting for the tests to come back, there is still no answer as to its cause. I am still looking for answers as my time allows me to and will let you know if I find anything, but would appreciate your continued updates. This is frustrating for me and I can only imagine how much more so it is for you.