Change in Stool, Cause Unknown

[Naurthon]

TAKE YOUR BIRD TO THE VET RIGHT AWAY!

My black capped conure had similar symptoms a few months ago and it turned out he had swallowed a tiny .2mm (yes, POINT two millimeter) piece of metal that was poisoning him. He lost 10% of his weight in a couple of days and I nearly lost him. It required x-rays to identify the problem, and two oral meds and two rounds of injections to bring him back to health.

This isn't something to mess around with. Birds are prey animals and so they hide when they are sick. One of the best ways we bird owners can tell if our birds are ill is by keeping an eye on their stool. Have your vet take crop and stool samples to check for infection. You'll be much happier spending the money on a vet visit and finding out it was nothing to be concerned about than you would not spending the money and losing your bird.

[Naurthon]

Just as an illustration of how little it takes to make our birds ill, I've attached one of Nikko's xrays. If you look closely, inside of his body cavity along the front of his leg bone, about a quarter of the way up from the bottom, you can see a white spot. That was the piece of metal that caused Nikko to get so sick. My first indication that he was ill was consistently watery stools. Have your baby checked!

[liz]

That really shows how fragile these little guys are. Thank you.