5 month old GCC has hard crop

[Cyrinaluna]

At work we have a very friendly green cheek. I noticed last night at closing that his crop was hard as a rock an seemed much larger than normal. I thought at first that he may have just eaten and needed to let it empty. I did some research last night and couldn't find too much information.

This morning when I opened, his crop hadn't changed at all. It had been at least 8 hours from when I saw him last night to when I came into work. I isolated him and made a vet appointment. I realize there's a chance I'm over reacting but I would rather be safe than sorry. What do you guys think?

Symptoms:
Hard/enlarged crop
Some times watery poop
Eating/drinking/acting normal otherwise

He is on a compressed pine bedding in the floor of his cage. No grate to separate him from it. The pieces are about half an inch long and the thickness of a pencil. And he does love to chew the pieces and break them apart. I doubt they're digestable. Possibly got stuck in his crop?

 

[thekarens]

I'd be with you and take him to see a vet. Birds go downhill very quickly.

 

[Cyrinaluna]

That's what I keep saying. I really do hope I'm just over reacting and the vet says it's nothing.

 

[henpecked]

I've seen this before. Could be impaction from ingesting the pine shavings (very common young/weaning parrots). You can get "cellulase" from the GNC/health food store. It works to breakdown the cellulose fiber. Mix with water and feed for several days until impaction breaks up and keep feeding until it clears the digestive tract (usually 1 week). You help this along by massaging the mass to help break it up. The other possibility is a yeast infection in the crop. It too will be a hard mass but you should be able to see evidence in the mouth/throat area. (hard, white, waxy looking substance). In this case a AV would prescribe a med to combat the yeast infection. IMO the 1st scenario is your issue.

If you wish to research this further ,,goggle,, Dr Scott McDonald , he has some good articles on crop impactions and is the one who recommended using the cellulase from the GNC store when i had impactions in baby amazons. He knows me and your welcome to use my name. I think i still have his # and email address if you can't find it.

 

[Cyrinaluna]

Thanks! Sorry for the late response. I'll pass this info along to my mangers so hopefully they can understand how serious this can get. And I'll look up Dr. Scott McDonald for more info!

 

[henpecked]

keep us informed and let me know if you need more info. There's a thread about this somewhere if i can find it (years ago) PMing me might be quicker.

 

[Cyrinaluna]

Ok thanks! Since we have to go to an avian vet instead of our usual one, we had to get permission from corprate. Just waiting on that at the moment.

 

[Kinny]

I agree with henpecked. Could it also be dehydration? Though if it is there'd be something else going on to cause the bird to become dehydrated... Avian Vets ftw!

 

[Cyrinaluna]

Just so I know, what is a bird's crop supposed to normally feel like?

 

[henpecked]

At 5 months old,,, it should be much smaller than before weaning/fledging. It might be obvious after a big feed but it shouldn't . Flighted (old enough to fly) birds don't have the storage capacity that young baby birds do. IMO if you can feel something hard in the crop ,it's ingested some of the pine shaving. I'd offer plenty of water and get something to help break up the cellulose. (that's what woody plant material is). If your feeling any kind of hard knot in the crop something is wrong. A full crop might feel "bean bag" like, but nothing really solid.

 

[Cyrinaluna]

Ok good to know. Thanks I'll keep this thread updated at things happen

 

[Cyrinaluna]

Ok. At the vet's now (she has a green cheek too yay!) She said part of the feeling is new feathers coming in. But I was right and it doesn't feel quite normal. Just waiting on the results of the crop culture swab and and gram stain.