Sour smell in budgie breath

[Red Moppet]

Hey there,

Sputnik normally smells lovely and his breath doesn't have a smell to it (the air that comes out of his nostrils when he exhales) but over the last couple of days his breath smells sour. He is acting normally and very busy and active. The only other thing that I've noticed is that often when he poops he sits and wiggles his rear to deposit. Could these be related? What could these mean?

I've looked online and the only thing I can see is something called "impacted crop" but I can't seem to find whether this is serious or common and nothing to worry about. I will be calling my vet first thing Monday, unless people here think it's serious enough to call my vet's emergency line. Thanks for any info and help you may have.

[Kim S]

Sour smelling breath indicates a crop problem. If food is not being digested the way it should some food will remain in the crop. This will start to decay and smell sour.
It realy is vital to rule out any crop problems since they can be lethal. Usually its just a matter of a fungal or bacterial infection that can be sorted out quickly with medication.

The tailwagging after pooping is normal. Some do it more than others. But if he normally doesnt it might be a sign that his poops are stickier that usual. This could indicate a little trouble with digesting. Normally I wouldnt be too worried about that, but in combination with sour smelling breath I would go to the vet.

[Red Moppet]

Thanks Kim!

Normally he just poops, but he's been squatting and wiggling, like he's pushing, and his poops have been lighter and watery.

Also, his feet are cold. Should I put him in his travel cage with a heating pad? He doesn't like his travel cage and it would stress him out - maybe just put the heating pad in an area of his regular cage so he could choose whether he wanted warmth or not?

[Kim S]

I never noticed a difference in birdfeet being warmer or colder when being ill. But if you want to help him keep warm you could always get an infra red heating light. Always make sure he can get out of the warmth if he wants to.

[birdvet]

I agree with Kim, probably safer to get him to the vet sooner rather than later. Sour crop can turn nasty very quickly. It isn't very common for the crop to be the primary problem in an adult bird so its possible a bit of enteritis, which may be causing the excessive tail wiggle, may be the cause. Either way I'm certain an avian vet will be able to get to the bottom of it in no time .

Good luck, let us know how Sputnik goes

[Red Moppet]

Thanks for all the advice!

I called the vet Monday and she said to come in as soon as possible. She checked Sputnik out and she couldn't smell anything and she said his nares and vent look good and that maybe it's just a bit of unbalanced bacteria or yeast in his crop that is making the smell and he could be drinking more water (thus the watery poops) to get rid of the taste. She wanted to treat it as conservatively as possible so she gave me some pro/pre (? not sure which) biotics to sprinkle on his food and apple cider vinegar for his water to help neutralize anything. It is only day 3 but I'm sure he smells worse. The vet wants me to check in later this week so I guess I'll give the vinegar a bit more of a chance to work. Keep your fingers crossed! I would hate for Sputnik to get really sick over this.

[Kim S]

Apple vinager gives off a pretty sour smell too. you might be confusing the two.
But its never a bad thing to checking things with the vet.

Keeping you and Sput in my thoughts. Hope he gets well soon.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Did the vet give you guidelines as to what conditions would warrant reporting back earlier than the end of the week? If not, you might want to call and ask that question. If he smells like the vinegar, Kim might be right. When I was using it, Scooter came up reeking of the stuff once. I could only figure he'd had a bath in it.

[Red Moppet]

I could only figure he'd had a bath in it.

You're NOT supposed to swim in it?

I've just noticed that Sputnik is defiling a toy of his - this is the first time I've seen him engage in this behaviour (he's almost 6 months old - is that normal?) Sigh. My little baby is no longer innocent.

But could this change in hormones affect his breath smell too? And his wiggle butt during some poops? Or could he be regurgitating to the toy and that's causing stink?

I'd go up and watch but that seems a little pervy....

[a.susz]

I'd go up and watch but that seems a little pervy....

sorry just had a good chuckle at that. hope he stops stinking. lol