She is eating her own Feces

[BillieD]

My Sheba, an 8 yrs old hormonal Too. Today has began to eat her own feces from the bottom of the cage. She sees the Avian Vet on the 15th of this month for a check up. I was wondering if anyone has gone thru this with any of their birds?

 

[Scott]

A good thing you have a vet appointment for Sheba. I have seen birds pick at dried feces but not eat - as though they were curious as to the material. Some discussions have suggested it is a symptom of dietary deficiency, but your vet will know best. Please let us know how this develops!

 

[plumsmum2005]

There is a possibility that it could be Vit B that is in short supply. Your AV can say for sure and rectify in the short term.

Foods rich in Vit B, choline especially are spinach, beets, poultry (does she get any chicken?), pasta, yoghurt, cheese, eggs and rice to name some.

Do you feed any pellets?

Might be worth making sure she has enough to do, going down the 'I'm bored' route, plenty to do and chew is advisable. If it does turn out to be this how about hiding some treats in her cage?

Hope you find a definite answer

 

[Piasa]

My male conure does this. He only goes for the dry stuff. Our specialist said there is no benefit to them eating their feces, they only get bad bacteria in their systems that way. I give my conure probiotics anyway, but would be especially sure to give probiotics if poop eating is involved.

I just do my best to keep his cage clean and poop inaccessible. He's been doing this for years and no sign of stopping, but it doesn't seem to be hurting him either.

 

[Teddscau]

My budgies pick dried poop off of their perches and whatnot in order to clean them, but they definitely don't eat it (although Ziggy might have that one time he took poop out of Alice's mouth thinking it was food).

There was a bit of a discussion on another parrot forum that I'm on concerning poop eating in budgies. The consensus was, basically, that poop eating isn't a problem unless it is caused by nutritional deficiencies, psychological problems, or boredom, and as long as the poop doesn't have any harmful pathogens in it. For a number of species (rabbits, etc.), eating one's poop is beneficial as it contains a lot of B-complex vitamins, as a number of species synthesize certain B-complex vitamins in their lower intestine which can only be utilized by eating their poop.

However, parrots should only really be eating actual food rather than feces for nutritional purposes.

 

[BillieD]

Thank you all for your responses and input. It is very much appreciated. I have an appointment with her vet on Thursday the 15th so we will see how it goes. I have had her on Zupreme fruit and veg pellets, she will not eat anything fresh, Her favorite is strawberry and bananas organic baby food. She has been a real challenge in the food department. Her other favorite is Ritz crackers

 

[BillieD]

There is a possibility that it could be Vit B that is in short supply. Your AV can say for sure and rectify in the short term.

Foods rich in Vit B, choline especially are spinach, beets, poultry (does she get any chicken?), pasta, yoghurt, cheese, eggs and rice to name some.

Do you feed any pellets?

Might be worth making sure she has enough to do, going down the 'I'm bored' route, plenty to do and chew is advisable. If it does turn out to be this how about hiding some treats in her cage?

Hope you find a definite answer

I hide treats for her on a daily basis. I will beef up her toys and see if that helps also. I have never tried chicken with her, I will try it this afternoon.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I use a grate on the cage bottom, just to keep him from dragging his tail in poo.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Thank you all for your responses and input. It is very much appreciated. I have an appointment with her vet on Thursday the 15th so we will see how it goes. I have had her on Zupreme fruit and veg pellets, she will not eat anything fresh, Her favorite is strawberry and bananas organic baby food. She has been a real challenge in the food department. Her other favorite is Ritz crackers

Have you tried making your own which also offers the possibility if she is OK with it of hiding other stuff in there, slowly, slowly catchy monkey as we say LOL.

Birdy bread loaded up? Offer a bird friendly veggie pesto on her cracker or some well cooked egg?

 

[BillieD]

Thank you all for your responses and input. It is very much appreciated. I have an appointment with her vet on Thursday the 15th so we will see how it goes. I have had her on Zupreme fruit and veg pellets, she will not eat anything fresh, Her favorite is strawberry and bananas organic baby food. She has been a real challenge in the food department. Her other favorite is Ritz crackers

Have you tried making your own which also offers the possibility if she is OK with it of hiding other stuff in there, slowly, slowly catchy monkey as we say LOL.

Birdy bread loaded up? Offer a bird friendly veggie pesto on her cracker or some well cooked egg?

No I have not. All those ideas are excellent input and thank you so much for the suggestions. I will also go to the food and diet section of the forum to get some additional ideas Getting her to eat good nutritional food has been quite a challenge with her. I am her third home and her forever home. She is also hormonal so I have been very careful with warm or hot foods with her also.