reeb
New member
Hi everyone,
It's been a loooooong time since I've been on the forums. I keep popping in briefly every now and then, but things have been very busy at uni. I am finally on a holiday now!
Pearl, my female budgie, was on-and-off sick at the beginning of the year. You can read my various previous posts on her here, here and here.
Now, I thought she had finally recovered from her recurring infection that kept resurfacing between December and March. She was on three rounds of antibiotics and it finally cleared up. I am still so paranoid about her, even months later!
Then, about 2 weeks ago (in the middle of my exams, ugh!), she suddenly got very strange, bright green stools. Obviously I FREAKED out, because any bird owner knows that that SCREAMS liver problems! I rushed her to the vet for the umpteenth time. My mom often remarks that I should have frequent flier miles there.
They checked her crop fluid, no infection. They checked her blood sugar as usual, and again it was a little raised. That's why in the beginning I thought it might be some kind of diabetes (see my post on diabetes in January). She doesn't have any other symptoms of diabetes, and the vet doesn't think that she is diabetic. After seeing her stool, my vet agreed to draw blood and send it off to the labs. Liver and kidneys came back NORMAL (that was a massive relief, that stool was seriously suspicious). Full blood count came back NORMAL, no raised white blood cell count indicating a hidden infection. I was relieved, of course... but still frustrated. Why does she keep getting all of these strange symptoms? Her stools returned to normal after a couple of days, and haven't changed colour again.
What is so bizarre about this situation is that Pearl is a highly active, chatty, happy bird. When she WAS sick with a bacterial infection, she never acted sick. I know birds hide illness, but somehow she was just too chirpy for a sick bird. I've seen many sick budgies over the years, and she just never deteriorated in the same way, even though it was a seriously vicious infection.
That said, she DOES has some strange behaviours. She has a little bit of a problem with overeating. She's been a glutton, even when I raised her as a baby. She practically gorges herself until her crop is about to explode at the end of each day. It's comical, really. She's chubby, but not overweight as she gets a lot of exercise. I used to just think it was a personality thing, but now I think there may be something else going on health wise. The paranoia is real at this point though, so maybe I'm overthinking this.
She also doesn't display ANY normal female hormonal behaviour, which has always struck me as odd. When I mentioned hormonal problems to my vet, she asked if she is overly hormonal, i.e. laying lots of eggs, aggressive etc. I simply replied saying that it's the TOTAL OPPOSITE. It's like she is devoid of any hormonal behaviour. Her cere also never changes colour (it's been a crusty brown since she went through puberty nearly 2 years ago). It definitely isn't an environmental thing. Although their environment is designed to limit hormonal behaviour, her cage mates still get hormonal. Berry, my female tiel, goes through hormonal phases (she even laid an egg once lol), Opal, my male budgie, goes mad over his two girlfriends (who never reciprocate, poor little man).
Usually hormonal treatments are for birds who are producing too much of a certain hormone, like if they are serial egg layers. But Pearl is such a unique case. Even my vet commented on how strange her situation is. The vet couldn't confirm if it is hormonal (I mean its hard to test for something like that), but she said it is a possibility. Perhaps she has a weakened immune system because of a hormonal imbalance. It could also explain the high blood sugar. It could be a thyroid problem. It could be ANYTHING really. And I don't think I'll ever get to know what it is, which is, admittedly, very frustrating at times.
The vet pretty much told me that, with basically NO answers from any of the many tests we have done, we just have to treat her symptomatically. If she gets infections again, treat them as it comes. Other than that, Pearl seems good. Still her chubby, tweety, happy, active self. I just hope that this is the end of this expensive saga!
EDIT: here’s a little pic of her for fun!
It's been a loooooong time since I've been on the forums. I keep popping in briefly every now and then, but things have been very busy at uni. I am finally on a holiday now!
Pearl, my female budgie, was on-and-off sick at the beginning of the year. You can read my various previous posts on her here, here and here.
Now, I thought she had finally recovered from her recurring infection that kept resurfacing between December and March. She was on three rounds of antibiotics and it finally cleared up. I am still so paranoid about her, even months later!
Then, about 2 weeks ago (in the middle of my exams, ugh!), she suddenly got very strange, bright green stools. Obviously I FREAKED out, because any bird owner knows that that SCREAMS liver problems! I rushed her to the vet for the umpteenth time. My mom often remarks that I should have frequent flier miles there.
They checked her crop fluid, no infection. They checked her blood sugar as usual, and again it was a little raised. That's why in the beginning I thought it might be some kind of diabetes (see my post on diabetes in January). She doesn't have any other symptoms of diabetes, and the vet doesn't think that she is diabetic. After seeing her stool, my vet agreed to draw blood and send it off to the labs. Liver and kidneys came back NORMAL (that was a massive relief, that stool was seriously suspicious). Full blood count came back NORMAL, no raised white blood cell count indicating a hidden infection. I was relieved, of course... but still frustrated. Why does she keep getting all of these strange symptoms? Her stools returned to normal after a couple of days, and haven't changed colour again.
What is so bizarre about this situation is that Pearl is a highly active, chatty, happy bird. When she WAS sick with a bacterial infection, she never acted sick. I know birds hide illness, but somehow she was just too chirpy for a sick bird. I've seen many sick budgies over the years, and she just never deteriorated in the same way, even though it was a seriously vicious infection.
That said, she DOES has some strange behaviours. She has a little bit of a problem with overeating. She's been a glutton, even when I raised her as a baby. She practically gorges herself until her crop is about to explode at the end of each day. It's comical, really. She's chubby, but not overweight as she gets a lot of exercise. I used to just think it was a personality thing, but now I think there may be something else going on health wise. The paranoia is real at this point though, so maybe I'm overthinking this.
She also doesn't display ANY normal female hormonal behaviour, which has always struck me as odd. When I mentioned hormonal problems to my vet, she asked if she is overly hormonal, i.e. laying lots of eggs, aggressive etc. I simply replied saying that it's the TOTAL OPPOSITE. It's like she is devoid of any hormonal behaviour. Her cere also never changes colour (it's been a crusty brown since she went through puberty nearly 2 years ago). It definitely isn't an environmental thing. Although their environment is designed to limit hormonal behaviour, her cage mates still get hormonal. Berry, my female tiel, goes through hormonal phases (she even laid an egg once lol), Opal, my male budgie, goes mad over his two girlfriends (who never reciprocate, poor little man).
Usually hormonal treatments are for birds who are producing too much of a certain hormone, like if they are serial egg layers. But Pearl is such a unique case. Even my vet commented on how strange her situation is. The vet couldn't confirm if it is hormonal (I mean its hard to test for something like that), but she said it is a possibility. Perhaps she has a weakened immune system because of a hormonal imbalance. It could also explain the high blood sugar. It could be a thyroid problem. It could be ANYTHING really. And I don't think I'll ever get to know what it is, which is, admittedly, very frustrating at times.
The vet pretty much told me that, with basically NO answers from any of the many tests we have done, we just have to treat her symptomatically. If she gets infections again, treat them as it comes. Other than that, Pearl seems good. Still her chubby, tweety, happy, active self. I just hope that this is the end of this expensive saga!
EDIT: here’s a little pic of her for fun!
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was soooo darn cute! Geez it HAS to be frustrating for both of you. My little Fluffboy BB gets these bacterial infections too. His poo is sooo watery (urine) with a LITTLE green/white then clears up...comes back...sigh his CAV has no idea either 
