Nuts in the Shell?

[LittleWing]

If the avian vet just got an avian chem panel, it is entirely possible that he has liver damage which doesn't show on the values they look at. I had a bird that showed normal values until one month before he died from liver failure and that's how I learn that the 'regular' test is no good (there is no single value in it that is liver specific and it only shows advanced damage and not malfunction). You need to do a bile acids test. It's the ONLY test that shows actual liver function. Please ask your vet to do one on your bird because, in my personal experience (24 years and hundreds of birds), the only reason for an overgrown beak if there is no visible deformation is liver malfunction and giving the bird more nuts is actually bad for it so you really need to find out what is causing this before you add more protein to his diet.

Oh wow! Thanks for the info! I am not sure what tests they ran. They are supposed to be emailing me the results, which I have yet to receive. I will definitely check!

[LittleWing]

I think I have figured out how to share photos. Here goes.....

This is his beak when we first got him from the rescue:



This is just before he went for his checkup and trim:



And after the trim:

[liz]

It looks like he was really neglected and not even given toys to chew on. He is much happier now. I only had one bird, Tweetle Dum, who needed his beak trimmed. He was sick and his buddy Tweetle Dee fed him so he did not use his beak at all.

[Wolf]

Personally, I would get a bile acids test done as it appears to me that this birds is suffering with liver disease and it is the only way to know for sure until the liver function has dropped to almost the point of failure. The liver is capable of regenerating to a fair degree but only if liver disease is caught soon enough and the bird receives ongoing treatment for the condition.

I would also carefully consider what is in his daily diet as he will need to eat a low fat, low protein diet daily, this is because the liver is having difficulty processing these things and what it can not process is going into growing his beak, nails and feathers and the rest is being stored in the liver as fatty nodules which further reduces the ability of the liver to function properly.

With proper treatment, low stress and a good diet your bird can live a relatively normal life. I have a budgie that came to me with liver disease about three years ago and he is doing fine and I don't have to trim his beak as often as I needed to when he first came to me.

[LittleWing]

Personally, I would get a bile acids test done as it appears to me that this birds is suffering with liver disease and it is the only way to know for sure until the liver function has dropped to almost the point of failure. The liver is capable of regenerating to a fair degree but only if liver disease is caught soon enough and the bird receives ongoing treatment for the condition.

I would also carefully consider what is in his daily diet as he will need to eat a low fat, low protein diet daily, this is because the liver is having difficulty processing these things and what it can not process is going into growing his beak, nails and feathers and the rest is being stored in the liver as fatty nodules which further reduces the ability of the liver to function properly.

With proper treatment, low stress and a good diet your bird can live a relatively normal life. I have a budgie that came to me with liver disease about three years ago and he is doing fine and I don't have to trim his beak as often as I needed to when he first came to me.

They did do labs at the vet, I just don't know what. They are supposed to be emailing me the results. They said something on the phone about low calcium and something else that would be explained more in the mystery email. I am going to call them again on monday. Thank you all for your advice. I never would have known

[Pajarita]

Again, low calcium can only be determined by an ionized calcium test. The regular test shows the amount of calcium in the blood and this is good enough for mammals but because birds have the ability to move calcium in and out of their bones and can actually regulate it, they show different levels of calcium depending on the time of the year and even the time of the day so the only reliable test is the ionized one. For example, even a bird with more than enough calcium will show a low level if the bird is getting ready to produce or actually forming an egg (and I know of two cases when avian vets insisted on giving the birds a calcium shot and, in one case, a canary, actually killed the bird with it -never allow a vet to give your bird an injection unless it's a matter of life and death)

See if the 'mystery' is not high uric acid because, usually, it goes hand in hand with fatty liver disease (which is what causes the beak and claws to become overgrown).

[Navre]

I'd get a cholesterol test, too. I don't think it's usually done.

[Pajarita]

Yes, you are right, John. It depends on the panel they do. More and more vets are 'catching on' to the fact that the original biochemistry panel is not enough and now have different ones (they call them different names like 'avian scan', 'chem panel' and 'full chem panel') but it depends on the vet so one needs to be vigilant and make sure that everything is covered so, Little Wing, if you don't see a cholesterol value in the results, ask for a test for it because, usually, birds with liver problems will also show high cholesterol.

[LittleWing]

I am looking over my receipt for payment, and it has an itemized list! The tests that they did were:
Avian/Rep panel 1
complete blood count
bile acid

Yay! now if I could just get the results :-/

[Wolf]

Patiently awaiting the results, same as you.