Discolored Stool

[Spacey'sMom]

Hello all,

I'm in a mild panic at the moment so apologies for any nonsensical information. One of my 2 budgies (Yvie) was covered in red stuff this morning. Appears too bright to be blood or anything and I've seen him have that on occasion due to an "Edible perch" that seemed to stain him. We no longer use that and everything seemed fine.

This morning his vent and face were bright red/orange. My first thought was the flavored cuttlebone. Neither really knew what to do with forage toys or anything when we got them. I thought this would at least entice them to try it.

I was worried but figured maybe he just stained his beak and then feathers around his vent and tail... Nope I put fresh paper towels under their perch downstairs and his feces is BRIGHT ORANGEY YELLOW and watery.

Including pics below. Vet isn't open today. Acting pretty normal. What do I do?

 

[Owlet]

Can you show us a picture of his cage and give us an overview of what his diet is like / if he gets any additive vitamins in his water? have you given him anything new to eat recently?

I would immediately change any papers or cage lining you use just so you can monitor new poops and see if the issue persists. I would also recommend searching for a vet appointment. It's not abnormal for bird to have funky poops sometimes, we just want to make sure the issue doesn't persist and they go back to normal.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

That's a new one. Better shape but very yellowy. I gave a small amount of pumpkin with their dry mix yesterday. I do that whenever I open a new can so there isn't any cross contamination from my other pets to them. Maybe a Tsp amount?

Their Dry mix consists of 2 bags of uncolored pellet. Usually 1 bag of budgie nutrisoft pellets and 1 bag of zupreem naturals for medium to small birds, about a cup of oatmeal, 1/4 cup of a seed mix, 1/4 cup of freezedried fruit, about 1/2 a cup of dried herbs generally Italian mix or chamomile tea and flowers, a couple hand fulls of Timothy Hay. I generally grind down the pellets since they don't seem to get how to eat them. Then larger particles like the hay I chop down to smaller bits like 1/2 inch or so.

For wet stuff I keep a coleslaw mix on hand and have started growing my own microgreens to give intermittently. They also like to eat my zebrina tradescantia (wandering jew).

The tree I made them is mad out of Beech wood cut off my own trees in my yard and cleaned with water vinegar and a scrub brush.

Just figured out our heater is busted of course. Explains why they looked so poofy. Pulling my exotics into our bedroom with a space heater. I don't like using it much but we've been okay so far . It's generally just to make sure the temp doesn't get too low. I'll be caging them and covering the cage. I saw him fully eating the colored cuttlebone downstairs... could it be he's just getting that all over and staining everything?

 

[Owlet]

when you say coleslaw do you mean actual coleslaw or just something that is similar in texture to coleslaw?

 

[Owlet]

It could be he's just having a bit of a tummy upset. It's not abnormal for animals to have those, I mean humans have it all the time. If it doesn't go back to normal in the next day or two without giving him anything new I would definitely go the vet route and have a fecal done but if it's already starting to look better I wouldn't worry too much. just continue to monitor. Maybe try to get him to eat more watery things like some grapes, apples, or anything like that to just flush his system a little.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

Thank you! Today has been one panic inducing event after another e.e glad he's probably okay.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

when you say coleslaw do you mean actual coleslaw or just something that is similar in texture to coleslaw?

It's the pre cut veggie mix. Similar to this. No sauce added or anything.

 

[Owlet]

Okay I was worried you were giving them the stuff with the sauce. That was my only concern otherwise I think youre doing grand and just to see how it develops. usually this stuff passes in a day or 2

 

[Owlet]

If they're use to leafy greens you could also try iceberg lettuce as that has a high water content (but like no nutritional value)

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hello all,

I'm in a mild panic at the moment so apologies for any nonsensical information. One of my 2 budgies (Yvie) was covered in red stuff this morning. Appears too bright to be blood or anything and I've seen him have that on occasion due to an "Edible perch" that seemed to stain him. We no longer use that and everything seemed fine.

This morning his vent and face were bright red/orange. My first thought was the flavored cuttlebone. Neither really knew what to do with forage toys or anything when we got them. I thought this would at least entice them to try it.

I was worried but figured maybe he just stained his beak and then feathers around his vent and tail... Nope I put fresh paper towels under their perch downstairs and his feces is BRIGHT ORANGEY YELLOW and watery.

Including pics below. Vet isn't open today. Acting pretty normal. What do I do?

View attachment 48473View attachment 48474View attachment 48475View attachment 48476

It seems odd to me that he would get so much staining on his feathers around his vent if his poops were just stained from his diet. Usually a bird "ejects" poop without messing it's feathers. It's probably nothing but I would bring him to the vet to make sure he's okay. If you do, show them the pictures.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

It seems odd to me that he would get so much staining on his feathers around his vent if his poops were just stained from his diet. Usually a bird "ejects" poop without messing it's feathers. It's probably nothing but I would bring him to the vet to make sure he's okay. If you do, show them the pictures.

He definitely was having some diarrhea on and off yesterday. Some staining around his vent still but his tail and parts of his wings as well...

We're scheduled for an annual check up next month since the only avian vet within about an hour radius is on maternity leave. Is it safe to continue monitoring or should we look for another vet? The only other one I know of was... Not the most knowledgeable. She said any cleaner was fine and that I could use Clorox wipes to clean the cage...

 

[Owlet]

I would monitor for now but if it doesn't return to normal in the next 24-48 hours I would seek out a vet. I would make a vet appointment now and if he improves then you can just cancel it

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Great vent shot!

Vinegar and water solution is safest for cage cleaning and disinfecting. I wouldn't use Clorox wipes unless you rinse them well first and dip then in vinegar water solution.
As long as your budgie with the staining on vent isn't acting sick he'll probably be okay to wait to see the vet. Is he acting normal? I hold off on veggies for a while.

View attachment 48513

He definitely was having some diarrhea on and off yesterday. Some staining around his vent still but his tail and parts of his wings as well...

We're scheduled for an annual check up next month since the only avian vet within about an hour radius is on maternity leave. Is it safe to continue monitoring or should we look for another vet? The only other one I know of was... Not the most knowledgeable. She said any cleaner was fine and that I could use Clorox wipes to clean the cage.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

Definitely more active today. Having the house at a reasonable temp doesn't hurt. He was playing with the hay in the water bowl. Just refilled with warm water. Hoping he'll figure out the whole bathing thing. Having the hay in it seemed to make Teeri more comfortable with wading into it.
Still having some loose stool but the color is much more regular.

Lots more flying and talking today.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Definitely more active today. Having the house at a reasonable temp doesn't hurt. He was playing with the hay in the water bowl. Just refilled with warm water. Hoping he'll figure out the whole bathing thing. Having the hay in it seemed to make Teeri more comfortable with wading into it.
Still having some loose stool but the color is much more regular.

Lots more flying and talking today.
View attachment 48517View attachment 48518View attachment 48519View attachment 48520View attachment 48521

She looks great. Any budgie that eats a lot of greens and drinks a lot of water is going to have wet droppings because the urine comes out with the stool and makes it look kinda like diarrhea. Sometimes it's hard to tell budgie diarrhea from healthy wet droppings.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

Huh.... Idk how/where but now Teeri has a stain on her head...? Cute bath fun though.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Huh.... Idk how/where but now Teeri has a stain on her head...? Cute bath fun though.

View attachment 48525View attachment 48526View attachment 48527

She looks fine.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

She looks fine.

Is teeri the yellow one? Teeri looks like a male and the green one looks like a female with a brown cere.

 

[Spacey'sMom]

Is teeri the yellow one? Teeri looks like a male and the green one looks like a female with a brown cere.

Sorry!

Teeri pre bath

Yvie

 

[Spacey'sMom]

He seems to be fully back to normal. Thanks everyone!