My sun conure is going to the vets today

[conureowner1]

Hi everyone i'll be taking my sun conure to the vets today at 4:15pm as he has runny poo and it really stinks. The stinky poo did go for a day but then came back. HIs poo has been stinking since the day i brought him home. I also don't think his eattting enough, I'm always coaxing him to eat if i don't he won't eat much. I've noticed a few times that poo has been sticking to his vent feathers not much poo but still a concern. At the end of the day his crop is only partly full or empty. Its just like he will not eat unless i coax him or am in the room. If i don't coax him to eat he will not eat very much. My green cheek conures eat way more then what he has been, even when babies they did.
I diffenetly want to get the runny,stinky poo checked out that is not normal. My other birds have nice firm poo and no smell to it at all.

[asharee]

my green cheek is a bit runny, but like i said i thought it was because of all the fruit i've been feeding him lol, i hope the little guy is ok maybe give his some mashed veggies?

[conureowner1]

stupid vets the idoit checked his temperture said its normal poked and more poked said his at the correct weight. She wouldn't take a feces sample even when i said too, she turned and said no need too his bright happy and at the correct weight temperture is normal. She turned and said the smelly poo and runny poo could be caused by the vegetables, I said his been eatting the same vegetables the breeder gave for since he was offered food at 4 weeks old. I don't see it being the vegetables at all. She said to feed him just pellets for a couple of days. I do not want to do that as they need there fruit and vegetables, I'm also afraid if i do that he will not touch vegetables or fruit again.
She then said i clipped his wings wrong, She said only the 1 wing should be clipped, My other birds have just the 1 wing clipped and when they jump off things or go to fly they land like rocks, Where my sun having 5 flight feathers on each wing done can saftely glide to the ground. We have no avian vets where i am the closest one is 7 hours away. She said wait here and left the room she was gone a good 5-10 minutes i think she had to read up in a book about birds.

[kebz]

Looks like you need to find a real avian vet - someone who actually knows about exotic birds. Shame there isnt one near you.

Clipping 1 wing is mean, it causes birds to fly in a circle... We did the same thing you did on our sunnie.. left a few flight feathers so he didnt drop like a rock.

It could be the pellets, because when they get wet they stink - so perhaps that smell is continuing through into his poo?? I could be completely wrong but yeah. Also hes still probably getting used to his new surrounds and this is why he might not be eating too much.

[conureowner1]

True kebz it could be the pellets i've notice he will eat some pellets then go get a drink and then back to eatting the pellets. I hate it vets should be made to do all research etc needed for all species of animal. She basicly treated me like i knew nothing about birds. My sun conure didn't really like her she was way to rough with him i should of up her. My sun conure even went to bite her which isn't like him his very gentle. He kept coming back to me hiding behind my hair. At least his gained some weight back i weighed him this morning with an empty crop his 102grams.
I wander if the runny poo could be stress from the moving,worming,wing clipping etc?

[kebz]

I guess its hard for a Vet to learn every single animal in the world.. i mean there are a lot of them. So i dont blame them for not knowing.

Perhaps you could speak to the breeder you got him from??

Runny poo could be caused by stress, but the main cause for runny poo is eating lots of watery foods or drinking too much water.

Maybe dont give him pellets for a day and see if it stops the smelly poos.

[vankarhi]

Well I am so lucky to have a great vet about 25 mins drive away. he is not an avian vet specifically but he does know quite a lot about birds.......the breeders around here use him and it was suggested to me to go to him with my birds by a breeder......lucky for me I already had been using him ;D

I am not a vet and am only guessing as I cannot see what your bird is doing or what he is eating, but if he is drinking a lot of water then that can make his poos runny. Also eating fruit like melons and apples can make their poos runny too as there is a lot of moisture in them.

The fact he is putting on weight is a very good sign and he doesn't appear sick is also a good sign. Maybe he is starting to feel comfortable now at his new home.

[avinet]

Doesn't sound like this vet should be seeing birds!

I'm curious how she took his temperature - avian vets do not take the temperature of birds - it is meaningless since it can vary widely due to factors such as stress. I hope she didn't shove the thermometer up the rear end of the bird. In addition different species have differing natural body temperatures so she would have to know what it is for a Sun Conure to know what was normal.

In any bird that comes in with a poo problem there should be a feacal examination with a gram stain as a minimum.

And as for the wing clipping!!!

It is perfectly acceptable for vets to know nothing about birds - learning and keeping up-to-date with all they need to know about dogs or cats is a full time task in itself - but they should be prepared to admit their ignorance and recommend someone who does have some experience of birds.

cheers,

Mike

[avinet]

I forgot to talk about the smelly poos. Firstly I don't think it is the pellets, unless they have passed their use by date. And taking a drink of water with pellets is quite normal and doesn't result in runny poos.

Since he is gaining weight, and otherwise seems OK it seems most likely that it is just a stress problem with coming into a new environment and in which case it should pass pretty quickly.

Just keep a daily weight chart until he seems to be fully settled. If he loses more than about 5 grams then it is a cause for some concern - if he stays the same or slowly gains weight then it is very unlikely he has a problem.

cheers,

Mike

[robert]

It is important to check out your vet as well as the breeder. A Bird Vet is a specialist vet. Some Vets dabble in Birds. I prefer to go to the former. But it is difficult if a specialist Bird Vet is not nearby. Thankfully I have Deborah Monks nearby.
see www.bbevs.com.au
from Robert and Precious

[conureowner1]

The thing i find werid is his poos were normal till i wormed him on saturday 11th of october i stoped worming on sunday as he lost weight eg from 106grams to 96grams. I weighed him this morning on a empty crop and weighs 102grams now.
Problem is he now doesn't like the passwell pellets will only eat the vetafarm pellets. I haven't got much left and i'm afraid it ain't going to last till next week when my 2kg bag and 350gram bag finally get sent to me. So its either he eats the passwell pellets and veggies when i run out of vetafarm pellets. I have been mixing the vetafarm pellets with the passwell he picks out the vetafarm first eats all of that then kinda only nibbles the passwell. I know theres a bag of vetafarm south american mix on ebay but if my boyfriend brought it it still wouldn't be here this week. I just hope he will eat enough veggies as he normally won't touch the veggies till his eatten some of his pellets. But i suppose if the pellets aren't there he would eat whats on offer exept for seed lol.

[conureowner1]

Maybe i should try soaked seed when i run out of vetafarm pellets thats better then nothing. I got told to soak the seed for 8 hours in hot tap water with a cap full of vingar to stop the bacteria build up,then drain and raise soak again for another 10 minutes then feed. How does everyone else soak there seed?

[rainbowfeathers]

Sounds like me, when I got my first 2 birds (2 red rumps). I took them to a (general) vet, as at the time I didn't know about "avian" vets. The vet didn't do squad diddly with my birds but decided to clip one wing, on each bird. Your vet doesn't sound, much better

Stinky poo is not normal, I would make the effort to take him to an avian vet.
Another thing you can do, is if you join the vetafarms 'vetaclub' you can send away your birds poo in the mail to get tested for a couple of things (not sure what they were) for free.
But the results can also be misleading, since by the time the poo gets to them, the bacteria composition would probably change.

I dunno, it's just something you can try, but taking into account, that they may find something only because they are a business and will try to force their products onto you, so as to fix that "medical condition".

But then again, it may give you some genuine resluts, aswell.

Just thinking of what you could try to do, if you really can't get to an avian vet.
Just ring the vetafarm company in wagga wagga and ask them for more precise details about it all. I think there is a fee to join the membership.

[rainbowfeathers]

I follow the advice from those abk's "A Guide to...." books. They're pretty good. In the one about "pet/companoin birds" book, there is a bit on how to soak/sprout seeds.

[Laraine]

I always worry about runny poos......you'd feel happier if she had taken a sample for examination. With my avian vet it is the first thing they check.

[rainbowfeathers]

You should get a refund - say you paid for a (fill gap) service at the vets.

[Robyn]

My 2 bobs worth on Vets. We don't have an Avian Vet up here but i do know that if i ever have to take a bird to my Vet i know he will do all in his power to help. Also he won't treat a bird if there are no clinical symptoms. As well if he is unsure i know he contacts an Avian Vet by phone & will also send samples. So not all non Avian Vets are hopeless. I also might add that i treat all my own birds as well as other people as long as i am dealing with common problems.

In the case of conureowner1's little guy i would be confident in saying he is totally stressed out. His droppings are typical stress droppings & not eating enough food. What needs to be done is to figure out what is stressing him out. I think it would be a combination of him leaving his hand rearer & going to his new home with all the changes happening so quick. Poor little fellow is out of sorts. But having said that bare in mind that stress can increase the risk of problems developing.

I do know that when i sell my babies my customers have strict instructions not to change anything to much so the bird can ease into the new home with ease. Once you get to know the bird & feel all is well then subtle changes can be made, without over loading the poor bird.

Robyn.

[conureowner1]

Well his poos didn't stink today and seem to be getting firmer. He seems to be eatting well mainly when i'm in the room he will eat. He doesn't go to floor of the cage stays up high so doing what he breeder did having food on the floor in a bowl probably wouldn't work. He seems to like his bowls where they are beside one of his perches so its easy for him to get to. I will keep an eye on him,tommorrow will be hard tho as we are going to the show so hopefully he will eat without me around. I weighed him again this morning the scales said 97grams but he won't keep still when on them so it bounces from 97 to 102grams. He feels heavy when his on my hand so thats gotta be good. Got told by vet n pet direct where i ordered my pellets from that there being packed and ready for sending so hopefully they were sent today or tommorrow., Probably still won't get it till next week. He seems to be picking at the soaked seed i did last night.

[Robyn]

yah, that's a start. I think i am right about the stress bit & not really eating enough. I am sure he will eat when your not there so please don't worry.

Robyn.

[rainbowfeathers]

Good to hear he's on the mend