Constipated YNA (?)

[Laurasea]

We are all so worried about you and your parrot. You are working so hard! I too can't believe sn avian vet would have you wait for a potential life threatening problem?!?! O sure hope it ends up being less serious. You are both in my thoughts (and if you don't mind my prayers as well)

 

[brolie]

it's not that the vet wouldnt see her - well technically most wouldnt see her until next week. but i found one that could but i had doctor and work yesterday and my daughter had oral surgery today so we have an appt for her tomorrow at 1130. she is definitely not in any pain whatsoever. she's happy and cheerful and playful and cuddly like normal. just has that occasional strain. she may be a tad overweight (im used to my umbrella cockatoo and my amazon just seems more dense i guess) but ive had her doing extra mild exercise which she has been loving so im leaning more towards constipation. again, she's definitely not in any pain at all.

 

[noodles123]

Egg-binding is the first thing that comes to mind. I second what others have said. I would get her checked by a CAV.

 

[brolie]

I've also been thinking about it. If she thinks she's trying to lay an egg, wouldn't she be on the bottom of her cage, not sitting up super high?

 

[Laurasea]

I hope tomorrow you'll update us after vet visit. Hope your daughter is doing well after her surgery! With a female bird straining, the first thing to worry is egg binding (an emergency) I haven't heard if constipation in birds ( but I'm no expert) but eggbinding happens all to often. You checked her cage for chewed fraying of anything string rope fabric plastic? I'm really sorry you have all this on your plate right now, abd really hope your appointment in the morning shows something less serious.

 

[Laurasea]

No, but if she goes to the bottom of the cage take her to the ER!!

 

[noodles123]

Birds can lay eggs without being on the bottom of the cage. That having been said, egg-binding is internal in many cases, so the bird may not even know what is wrong. It may no know that it is egg-related (IF it is).
A bird on the bottom of the cage, however, is indicative of potentially SERIOUS/deadly situations (unless you are 100% certain that she is playing or something).

 

[texsize]

Based on her behavior I am still thinking she is just hormonal.
Pacho my female RLA died almost a year ago due to ingesting something she could not pass.
She was straining to go poop every 10 min. or so she lost a lot of weight, was not eating and was definitely not playing.

It best to be 100% sure though. I know I wish I had done more and sooner for my poor poor Pacho. I would not want anyone have to watch there beloved pet pass in the manner she did.

 

[brolie]

Yeah so I've been doing incredibly extensive research (I'm a weirdo like that) and she's not exhibiting ANY of the other behaviors of egg binding. She's not swollen at all anywhere. I had a chance to feel her belly and it's normal, no bulging, no swelling, no sensitivity, nothing. She's perching fine. She's happy and playful. She's nowhere near the bottom of her cage. There is no evidence of any sort of nesting or anything of the sort. She's eating and drinking normal. She's passed some droppings, but not the normal amount, they've been really small instead of her giant ones. She's been singing to me (la la la doo de doo doo) for the past 10 minutes. It's just that straining every so often. Only happened once today (that I saw of course).

I actually had a cockatiel die from constipation. We didn't realize what was going on, she was one of our first birds 20 years ago. A little over a year ago, my quaker swallowed the inside of a bell too, so I've been super wary of any weird behavior. Hopefully the vet will have good news, and everything will be okay. I love this bird so much.

And in reference to my daughter, she had to get an incision in her lower gums to stop gum recession on one of her bottom teeth. I'm all woozy about it, but she's a trooper (she's 11) and handling it super well. It's super nasty looking for sure. Dentist called it a "second smile" *shudder*

 

[Laurasea]

I'm sorry your RLA died. Did you have a necropsy done to determine cause of death? Straining is always an emergency, should be seen the same day you notice it. Egg binding can be deadly in miniuts hours, or a long slower death, but untreated they will always die. None if us but the avain vet can determine why, but please anyone consider all straining even in a DNA male to be an emergency! Because no one but the avian vet who exams the bird can determine otherwise.

 

[Laurasea]

Brolie,
You have two symptoms, smaller than normal poop, and straining. Birds hide being sick. To share my sad story again. My GCC whome I got knowing would have life long problems from an infection that closed one nostril for life from improper hand feeding. She had off and on infections in her sinus for life. Her last infection was years ago. A few months ago she had one drop of liquid in her working nostril. So ok here we go with infection again, made appointment to see vet next day. Her weight perfect, her alpiti perfect, her dropping perfect, her behavior active playful. Gave her some love and treats, went outside for 1 hour, came back inside, she was dead in the bottom of the cage!!!! My heart broken, my guilt still makes me cry. I watched her like a hawk, birds hide being sick!!!! Yes sometimes you get lucky and see something wrong, but there are endless stories of found dead, no previous symptoms. I felt like I should have seen something more, but my vet assures me they hide being sick......that's why two symptoms make me worry so much for you. I know you love her, and I sure hope it is nothing serious at all, but please know they can hide being sick.....

 

[brolie]

oh i know that for sure, but the things she can't hide, like swollen belly, not eating, etc is not a factor. im still taking her in, just saying that those big clues aren't there.

also, if she is a bit constipated that would explain the small poops and the straining. since she's not showing the other symptoms of egg binding, it just seems more likely to be constipation.

 

[texsize]

I'm sorry your RLA died. Did you have a necropsy done to determine cause of death? Straining is always an emergency, should be seen the same day you notice it. Egg binding can be deadly in miniuts hours, or a long slower death, but untreated they will always die. None if us but the avain vet can determine why, but please anyone consider all straining even in a DNA male to be an emergency! Because no one but the avian vet who exams the bird can determine otherwise.

I took her to the vet (avian certified) twice before she passed. He checked for egg bind.
I did not have the necropsy done. I could not bear the thought of having her cut up and I was certain she did not pass for something communicable.

It was maybe a week after she passed that I was looking over old photos and it became clear to me what had happened. I firmly believe she was eating/ingesting some of the string perch in her cage. It never occurred to me she was eating it, I just thought she was ripping it up and I was glad to see the activity. She had been in morning over the death of Plumas our very first bird and her mate.
Plumas went very fast due most likely to a stroke. He was a wild caught bird and I think quite old (though there was no way to be sure of age)

 

[Laurasea]

I agree it is too hard and sad to have that done if you don't need to. I am sorrowful for loss as I have too recently gone through it myself.

 

[brolie]

Update: $200 later and it's hormonal. No eggs, no constipation. Slight bacteria infection that we got some meds for. Let's just hope I make enough money this weekend to get groceries -_-

 

[ChristaNL]

W0000t, you made it!
(Both of you!)


Karma should count for something... I hope you will get whatever you need!

 

[texsize]

I am glad to hear your YNA is in no danger.
It did look to me like hormones but none of my female birds had exactly the same behavior.
Sorry about the cost but sometimes piece of mind can be expensive.

 

[EllenD]

Well it's hormonal, so keep your eyes open because hormonal female behavior usually results in egg-laying, that's the order of events. And it's good that you caught the bacterial infection before it got out of hand, as usually by the time we as people see any outward signs of infection, it's widespread and in a lot of cases too late to successfully treat, and the bird just dies "suddenly", even though they've been sick with the infection for months and months. So this wasn't at all a wasted trip or wasted money, if that's what you're thinking. Your bird has an infection and needed the appropriate antibiotic to treat it, and you now not only know that she's not egg-bound, but that she is displaying hormonal behavior and will likely start egg-laying soon, and you can both prepare to be looking for that, but also trying to do everything you can to stop it from happening. If she isn't already on a Natural-Light-Schedule, then that's the first thing you should do, as this can calm the hormones and thwart the egg-laying/egg-binding. Also, making sure that she has a nice, big Mineral Block inside of her cage at all times is going to be very important, because the number one cause of egg-binding is too little calcium to make solid egg shells, so they end-up rubbery and cannot be passed.

 

[Laurasea]

Happy!!! Glad infection will be treated as minor, abd progress to serious!! Thank you for the update!!!!!

 

[Scott]

I'm so glad there was no egg binding! Yet your choice to take her to the vet was wise, hopefully the finances will follow.