Kiwi kidney update+warning

Kiwibird

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Jul 12, 2012
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1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
Since I canā€™t sleep thought Iā€™d update all you about Kiwiā€™s vet appointment yesterday. Iā€™m sure most of you remember that last year he contracted a serious infection that damaged one of his kidneys and the vet warned he could have occasional issues with the kidney for the rest of his life. The ONLY symptom he showed at the time of the infection was an itchy butt, so I now know if he has an itchy but he needs to have that butt brought to the vet ASAP. Sadly, I noticed him experiencing itchiness/discomfort again starting about 10 or so days ago and got him into the vet once I was sure it wasnā€™t just an off day or something.

Sure enough his poor kidney was a bit inflamed and unhappy. The vet came into the room and asked what Iā€™d been feeding him that was ELECTRIC GREEN when she did a fecal exam, as she had told me at the time of the infection he could never have food with any artificial dyes again nor could he eat leafy green vegetables anymore. I was stumped. I mention peas in the seed mix she ā€˜prescribedā€™ to be added to his diet but she said peas would not have caused it. So she pulled a bag of food off the shelf and we looked through it. Sure enough, they had recently added DYED peas. Kiwi likes peas so no doubt he thought a special treat had been added to his diet. Fortunately, the solution this time is as simple as pick out the dyed peas and give him cranberry juice to help flush the kidney, as she didnā€™t think it was serious enough for allipurinol. I learned my lesson to read the ingredient label EVERY TIME for changes. I also learned Kiwi apparently likes dried peas, so I will dehydrate him some organic peas for him instead (the vet okd that):)

She is apparently very unhappy with Volkmans, which she has sold/recommended for years as they recently changed another mix to include dyed papaya which has made a bunch of birds vomit. Kiwi was the first to have an issue with the peas added to his mix. She is apparently in contact with their nutritional person and very upset about these changes. So just a heads up, if you feed volkmans seed mixes, pick out ANYTHING that looks suspicious in color.
 
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LeaKP

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Aug 11, 2014
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Oh Iā€™m glad you got to the vet. Feel better sweet Kiwi!


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OutlawedSpirit

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Apr 12, 2016
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I'm glad that you were able to figure out Kiwi's issue quickly and hopefully it resolves quickly this time as well.

I will say I'm disappointed to hear this about Volkmans as I've always liked their seed mixes and used to recommend them for the parrotlets I bred in addition to their pellets. Plus it's one of the seed mixes I use for my birds now.

Thanks for the warning, April. I, for one, will definitely be looking much closer at my seed mixes.

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ChristaNL

Banned
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May 23, 2018
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Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Thank you for that warning!

and so sorry you little dinsaur was suffering because of it (again).
(that really makes me mad!)

And for (al holy and unholy on this earth)'s sake: why do people feel the need to mess with perfectly fine food?
Who needs extra colour anyway?


I was happy to have my birds finally avoid eating peanuts alltogether, till it dawned on me that 'earthnuts' (in the ingredient-list) are an oooldfasioned name for peanuts overhere, and their "healthy" pellets contain a lot of it!
(good thing they are baked before being eaten, but still...)
There is just no getting around them (almost all pellets I can find have them, and the ones that dont have ingredients that are for worse for them / inmho anyway).
It is hard enough to avoid al that GMO-crap, but if they keep this up I am going back to feeding (self mixed) seed-mix again!
 

SailBoat

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Jul 10, 2015
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DYH Amazon
I'm so very happy that the both of you where able to find and make changes in Kiwi's diet.

Julio's girl friend has been picking bits and pieces out of his mix for several years now. I will be passing along your most recent findings. Thank-You!
 

Flboy

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Dec 28, 2014
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Thank you for that warning!......
I was happy to have my birds finally avoid eating peanuts alltogether, till it dawned on me that 'earthnuts' (in the ingredient-list) are an oooldfasioned name for peanuts overhere, and their "healthy" pellets contain a lot of it!
(good thing they are baked before being eaten, but still...)....

Baking does not kill the mold spores!
 

Tami2

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Aug 18, 2017
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DOH-4/2/2016
Wow! Iā€™m sorry Kiwi isnā€™t feeling well.

I canā€™t believe he got sick from food specifically made for parrots.
Thatā€™s outrageous! :mad:
I so glad your Vet was able to figure out the cause. Thank God!
Good for her for contacting them and calling them out on it.

Praying for a speedy recovery!!
 

Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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Full house
Definitely a great vet. Glad you figure it out, hopefully he feels great soonest.
 

Scott

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RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Oh, good grief, April. Hope Kiwi improves quickly, sorry you have to confront musical ingredients in well established feed. Thanks for the heads-up.
 

EllenD

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I'm glad Kiwi is going to be okay and not going to go through what he did last year...This is the third or fourth recent complaint I've heard about Volkman's seed-mixes, which used to be one of the best available anywhere...First they started adding Peanuts, which blew me away, then some of them started containing sugary, awful Pellets, then freeze-dried fruit, now artificial dyes...I don't know what is going on at Volkman's but they are losing customers by the hundreds.
 

noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I have been picking out the peanuts (which are new) but ugh...now this...I need a replacement seed mix. I already mix it with pellets, but still, Noodles prefers the seed....
 

ChristaNL

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May 23, 2018
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Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Thank you for that warning!......
I was happy to have my birds finally avoid eating peanuts alltogether, till it dawned on me that 'earthnuts' (in the ingredient-list) are an oooldfasioned name for peanuts overhere, and their "healthy" pellets contain a lot of it!
(good thing they are baked before being eaten, but still...)....

Baking does not kill the mold spores!


:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
OP
Kiwibird

Kiwibird

Well-known member
Jul 12, 2012
9,539
111
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1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
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I have been beyond busy as of late but did want to update everyone about Kiwi and his bum kidney. As per vets orders, I have been picking out the dyed peas and papaya from the food mix (I donā€™t think he eats the papaya but just to be safe, it goes too) and within a few days he seemed much less itchy and at this point (2 weeks tomorrow) I havenā€™t seen him exhibit the behavior in several days and he is back to preening normally and not just attacking his butt. I have to say, Iā€™m shocked just how serious of issues a few dyed peas caused him! There couldnā€™t have been more than 2 or 3 in a scoop of food. Just crazy!
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
So glad to hear that Kiwi is doing fine now! :)



Once again, you spared your bird a lot of extra pain and discomfort all around.
(And probably more birds because of your warning to us all.)
 

Allee

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Oct 27, 2013
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U2-Poppy(Poppy lives with her new mommy, Misty now) CAG-Jack, YNA, Bingo, Budgie-Piper, Cockatiel-Sweet Pea Quakers-Harry, Sammy, Wilson ***Zeke (quaker) Twinkle (budgie) forever in our hearts
April, Iā€™m sorry Kiwi had to go through this. Thank you for posting the warning. Iā€™m so glad Kiwi is feeling better, he has an amazing mom, lucky boy.
 

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