Gloria has high liver values in blood work

So Gloria, my 32 year old BFA, had a complete blood panel done a couple of weeks ago as part of her annual exam. I adopted her 2 1/2 years ago when she was 30. She had been on an all seed diet the first 30 years of her life and her bloodwork then revealed high cholesterol which, with careful attention to her diet, I was able to get back into the normal range. Bloodwork this time showed very high liver values (can't remember the name but it was something to do with bile). This test wasn't done 2 years ago so we have no idea how long this may have been going on. The vet wants to do more blood work after a fast and, depending on the reading, follow up with an x-ray with sedation. Needless to say, I'm quite worried about my girl. Has anyone had older birds with liver issues? If so, what were the problems and how were they treated?

Please send Gloria some good vibes. She seems like her normal self so I don't think she feels sick.

I just went through this --- mine had bile levels (I think?) at 112 and that was considered liver disease (She is 10 y.o...so youngish...BUT)
Vet told me it possibly could be corrected but a lot was unknown, as mine was adopted... Her words at the time of diagnosis were "Lets just wait and see....if things go well, then we can be cautiously optimistic that her levels may improve..." (THIS WAS NOT A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE! LOL)
Anyway, I gave her a prescription mix of of milk thistle and lactulose (to prevent seizures from excess ammonia in system)---0.5 ML 2x daily. It was a huge pain because she wouldn't let me syringe feed her---I had to hide it on things and she got sick of those quickly (BIG HINT- THE CLOSER THE COLOR OF THE MIX-IN FOOD TO THE MEDS, THE MORE LIKELY MINE WAS TO EAT IT..)
She had to ingest it all both times each day, but I figured out a system.
Anyway, her liver levels were re-tested 2 months later and the vet said they were BEAUTIFUL....so, there is hope.

I was told to limit seed (obviously) but because mine came to me as a picky seed eater, I continued to provide her zupreme +seed mix (no sunflowers)----I just made sure she had A LOT of fresh food that she preferred 2x daily, so in the long run, she didn't need to eat as many seeds (As she was full from other vegetables and grains). I always gave her fresh food, but it became a veritable feast...


My vet told me to avoid high-protein foods, and my biologist boyfriend didn't understand this, but bird livers aren't human livers. Either way, it worked...


Bottom-line----if you can get a prescription for milk thistle + lactulose(per vet), modify diet/remove toxins, then you could possibly fix things depending on the cause of the liver issue---MY BIRD'S DISEASE WAS NOT LIKELY DUE TO FATTY LIVER (as she was quite thin etc). That having been said, treatment is similar in many ways.


PS: GOOD LUCK AND I AM ROOTING FOR YOU!
I am still recovering from my giant scare, but I hope my story gives you some hope....
ALSO- I was convinced that my bird's levels were getting worse because her poop was runny and her urine looked green at times....Nevertheless, all blood-work AND gram-stains were normal 2 month later, despite my concerns.

Thanks. I was wondering about administering meds. Gloria will not step up and doesn't like to be touched, though she'll give kisses and is quite mellow and affectionate. She ate seed for 30 years and I switched her to a tiny bit (about a teaspoon) of Fiesta mix that has a mix of seeds, pellets, dried peppers, nuts etc. plus a handful of pellets (Zupreme fruit and Harrisons natural). She also gets a dish of fresh veggies and pomegranate and corn on the cob on a skewer. Given that her cholesterol levels dropped with the diet change, I think she's okay there. She does like certain liquids--fruit/veggie smoothies and vegan soups with barley--so I may end up having to put meds in that or in mashed sweet potato. This will be interesting. I hope it's nothing serious. Have a cat who had fatty liver and liver disease but he recovered.

My mixture (prescription meds) needed to be refridgerated and it was a rusty-orange color.


I was able to hide it well in oatmeal (home-made +sweetened with banana and fruit), sweet potato, raspberries (into the hole) and sometimes inside of noodles (not my bird, but the food lol)...
I wasted A TON and gave it a bit at a time to ensure that she got the full dose. I made sure the cage liner was clean if giving it on individual pieces of food (b/c she often threw it down and sometimes it was salvageable)....
She also would take it (bit at a time) if smeared onto the surface of a grape, pear or cherry (no pits) that I cross-hatched with a knife ahead of time (inserting meds)... In the beginning, I was so desperate that I gave her a small (1/4 chunk) of a MINI Nilla Wafer (the mini ones are very small and I was desperate). I told the vet about my dilemma and in my case, she basically said that it was most important that my bird get the meds (Do consult your vet if you try something sketchy like I did). Obviously sugar isn't great for the liver, but it isn't quite as bad as fat, so I did that until she got used to the taste (Not saying it was a great idea or that you should do it)...BUT she eventually accepted the mix in/on other things. Again, sometimes it took me 5 different bits of food soaked in meds before she got all that she needed. I also often found that she would pick around it if presented on something crunchy, so softer and more absorbent foods worked best because she couldn't do that. If you do mix it in, make sure you mix it into a low enough ratio that you can tell when the bird has eaten it all.

I already think you are wonderful! Thank you for taking this bird into your life, and getting her such good care!
Just a thought... is your vet a Certified Avian Vet?
If not, here's a resource.
Avian vets
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
Regular vets often "wing it" with birds, although some are very dedicated and talented.

I had a cockatiel that was diagnosed with fatty liver disease because of an all seed diet over the years. My vet insisted I stop feeding seed and convert to pelleted diet supplimented with fresh veg. In addition I gave him lactulose daily by mouth altho you probably can give in favorite foods. He lived another 8 years to be 24 years old. It wasn't that hard to convert to pellets. Some birds will readily take the meds without alot of drama. My Senegal, will just open his beak when he sees me coming with the syringe. If the bird has fatty liver disease, it is not cureable. But the progression can be slowed down by changing the diet and the medication.

We don't know if it's fatty liver. We'll have to see how the next round of tests goes. She's basically been switched off of seed--just gets a tiny amount. She loves the fruit pellets though I wish she'd eat the plain one--I'm happy that she's actually choosing pellets. I do give her 2 nutriberries in her dish as well. 30 years on a seed only diet probably did this. She was well loved when I got her but I don't think she got the kind of care she should've had probably due to her owners being elderly and unable to care for her properly.

Gloria's vet is a certified avian vet. We're fortunate to have 4 or 5 of them within 30 minutes of us. He's just 10 minutes away and most of his patients are birds and reptiles. We have an aquatic turtle who is also a patient. I feel confident that he'll give her good care but it sure is unsettling to think about her having to be sedated. She's not cooperative at the vet's at all and she gets really stressed. He's great with her and takes his time, plays with her and talks to her before he gets to work.

I believe the reading you are talking about is the BA (Bile Acid) reading. My Moustache Parakeet Fuji has had high readings. My CAV did an X-ray and thankfully his liver was not enlarged. He has me try and give him Opt Omega drops. Fuji hates the drops.

I need to have his blood work retested soon too so I feel your pain. He acts fine, plays, eats and poops just fine. I am the one on pins and needles with every blood test,

I would imagine the vet would like to sedate to do either endoscopy or perhaps a liver biopsy? Had this recently done with a Goffins with high WBC and elevated liver enzymes. The biopsy showed white spots that might be consistent with some sort of Mycobacteria. No FLD, and he was likely cured with a 6 week course of Doxycycline injections.

As others have suggested, food and homeopathic remedies can help with liver disease. Some members speak highly of a specific type of aloe for liver detox. But first, an accurate diagnosis is required. If oral meds are required, oatmeal is often a great medium for disguise. Let me know if interested!

Good news so far that Gloria behaves normally. We all know birds hide illness, but potentially advanced liver maladies are well apparent.

There are different types of liver disease in birds. Fatty liver is just one, so some are more reversible than others...ARG ..its almost 2am and I am awake because I procrastinated packing ALL DAY! This is my mini-break...


This link reflects what my vet told me:
https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/liver-disease

I'm so sorry to hear this, but there are a million causes for her bile acid salts or her bilirubin to be high, it's not necessarily anything at all to do with Fatty Liver Disease, and the nice thing is that most of these causes are correctable/controllable...

I do suggest putting her on Milk Thistle once daily, regardless of what the issue is, Milk Thistle is like a "cleaner" for liver tissue and is one of the natural supplements that really does work in most-all cases, or at the very least helps quite a bit. Hopefully whatever is going on will be something easy to correct...

BTW, the reason that humans/animals/birds etc. with suspected liver disease of any kind are told that they need to limit the amount of protein they take in is because depending on what the exact liver issue/disease is, the liver will specifically not be able to properly process protein (big, huge process of protein break-down in the liver that I'm not going to write out, but your boyfriend probably knows this, lol, it just depends on what the specific liver issue/disease is as to how the processing of protein by the liver will be effected), and the end-result of this happening is typically a build-up of toxins/waste products in the blood that are usually filtered out by the liver...Same concept for people with any type of kidney disease. Believe it or not, with specifically liver disease, carbs/sugar is actually better for you than protein or salt is...Be sure the soups that he eats are low-salt/salt-free btw, as salt will increase the swelling within the liver tissue....

EllenD said:

I do suggest putting her on Milk Thistle once daily, regardless of what the issue is, Milk Thistle is like a "cleaner" for liver tissue and is one of the natural supplements that really does work in most-all cases, or at the very least helps quite a bit. Hopefully whatever is going on will be something easy to correct...

Click to expand...

What form Milk Thistle would I need and in what dosage for a Blue Front Amazon?