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Is my cockatiel sick???

angieburchell Mar 13, 2006 01:52 AM

I have a 1 1/2 yr old female cockatiel who I love just as much as one of the family. She has laid three eggs and since then has displayed loose stools that were very runny for the past two days and drinks alot of water. We had switched her normal diet for one day because we ran out of her food and pet store wasn't open on sundays. We gave her a little bit of Budgie seed and then switched her back to her normal diet monday evening. I don't know whether or not any of this is related to her egg laying or diet change but no other changes in her behaviour or her demeanor have occured and she seems content and happy all of the time...well except when we leave the room. She sleeps normal and her feet are warm and she does not hang out at the bottom of the cage except when she paces back and forth for us to let her out. She also hasn't changed her eating habits as she is always well fed that we see and she interacts with us showing no signs of being sick. She gets all of her exercise flying back and forth all over the house and talks and squawks just like she always does. There is no fluids in her eyes or nasal areas...no loss of weight that we can see and she doesn't pick and pluck at her feathers. There are no changes to her routine or her environment that we can think of. But I don't know enough about birds to tell whether or not she is sick but doesn't show it. We would take her to a vet but we are 100% lack of money ontil Saturday. Any help from any reader would be greatly appreciated as I am quite concerned if this isn't something normal to do with either the eggs or the diet.

Replies (3)

sandybeth Mar 13, 2006 04:01 PM

I used to freak out when my female tiel had loose stools. Like your bird, she never exhibited any other signs of illness. She is age 8 now, and has these loose stools quite often, maybe every couple months or so. I don't know what it is, but I just let it run its course since it seems to be normal for my bird. She is on a pelleted diet and I rarely feed her people food. Keep an eye on your bird and take her to a vet if she shows any other signs of illness, tho.

PHIggysbirds Mar 13, 2006 10:49 PM

Just keep a close eye on her. If she shows any other symptoms or if the loose stools continue for an extended period or become very frequent get her to a vet. Many birds especially cockatiels and budgies will have loose stools as a sign of stress. With the egg laying especially this could be what is causing the loose stools. If the loose stools come and go quite often it could actually be a bacterial infection that her body is trying to fight and not quite able to get rid of on its own.

ksearle Mar 16, 2006 06:53 PM

My Daisy laid her first clutch of eggs at a year and a half old ,and she got really nasty big stools at that time, when her cycle was over they became normal again. Now she is laying eggs again and her stools again are big and nasty so Im sure its just the egg laying. so I wouldnt worry just as long as she eats and drinks as normal and make sure she has a good cuddle bone, Mine uses hers more than normal when se is laying eggs.

Kim

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