Vinegar in the water?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

The vet called today with Scotty's culture results. Nothing abnormal, they cultured two species considered normal (I didn't write them down and have subsequently forgotten) "traveler" bacteria. Nothing that needs treatment, but she recommended adding a bit of apple cider vinegar to the birds' drinking water to help keep the water aseptic. She says she does it with her own birds. The "dosage" she recommended was 1/2tsp to 15oz of water. She says they usually drink fine with that, maybe even better because it makes the water a little "apple-y". I decided to try it, starting at a bit less than half that strength. Anyone else heard of this? Anyone else try it?

[Chicklet]

My sun conure has a small yeast infection and my avian vet prescribed organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar in his drinking water for the next 3 weeks. He loves it, and if anything has drank a little more since adding it to his water.

Although, according to my vet is has to be raw or unpasteurized apple cider vinegar otherwise it's useless.

[bmsweb]

We did this for our babies and even added baby apple food to thier formula. Works a treat

[pfinarffle]

did this for our Sennie daily for 3 wks and have long since tapered to just once/wk. my understanding is that it's not so much to make the water asceptic as it is to give the bird some bacteria to aid digestion (hence the need for raw and unfiltered and organic) and also to slightly acidify their gut so that the yeast and bad bacteria can't grow there. i will also frequently add some acidophilus powder (the same bacteria in yogurt) to the ACV water (since the vinegar is acidic and acidophilus love acidic environments). have thus far helped keep bacteria and yeast at bay. if you think about it, birds in the wild regurgitate for each other all the time. they're sharing gut flora between themselves left and right. we can't do that for our pets. so i figure this is as good as it's going to get.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Well I think my vet's angle was the acidulation of the water, not bacteria present in the vinegar.

[ptuga72]

Well I think my vet's angle was the acidulation of the water, not bacteria present in the vinegar.

That was my understanding too. My birds do get ACV water daily, since we found out Scarlet is super prone to yeast and bacterial infections.

[birdvet]

I have to add my two cents worth from a scientific/veterinary perspective

The proventriculus has a pH of around 2.5-3, trust me, it does not need vinegar to improve the acidity. As for bacteria, well, unless they are encapsulated in something that bypasses the proventriculus (and some do make it hidden in food particles etc.) then they are going to be annihilated by the stomach. It's one of the bodies defence mechanisms to try prevent nasty bugs entering our body via the oral route.

The vinegar may prevent overgrowth of some bugs and yeast in water so its fine to use but it shouldn't be used as sole treatment of a bird that has been diagnosed with candida etc. Candida can grow out of control super quick and become systemic and kill the bird. To me its not worth the risk when we have brilliant veterinary drugs that can treat the disease.

However, I am not completely opposed to natural remedies and I think using vinegar in water is fine as long the limitations are recognised

[ptuga72]

Thank you birdvet, very informative!

I only use ACV as a preventative measure. Don't know if it's working, but it's worth a shot!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Wow, 2.5 to 3, that's pretty darned acid!

Sounds as if birdvet and my vet are on the same page... her thought was just to keep the water cleaner. Scotty doesn't have anything that warrants treatment, but she did feel that adding the vinegar to the water might help limit exposure in general for both birds.

[bmsweb]

. . but she did feel that adding the vinegar to the water might help limit exposure in general for both birds.

This is the reason many breeders use it, I can't see it being used as treatment . . well not effectively.