5 Year Old Parakeet Vomiting Whole Seeds

[BoomBoom]

Hi everyone. I'm posting at 1:30 AM after I was woken up by the sound of seeds falling in my parakeets' cage. I thought they were having a late night stack which was very unusual so I got up and checked. I saw my 5 year old parakeet Pewpew vomiting whole seeds - tons of it. This was definitely not regurgitation because it was uncontrollable / involuntary. He was flicking his head left to right, etc. Even getting some mush and whole seeds on the walls and floor around the cage. It happened for a while, maybe 2-3 mins. Hasn't happened since as he seems to have settled on the top perch.

The only thing I can think of is the new bag of Volkman seeds I opened tonight. Been feeding them Volkman for over a year now without issue. I mix it w/ roudybush pellets and a bit of safflower seeds. The bag was not suspicious, seeds were clean and shiny looking, didn't smell any different than normal. He also eats veggie chopmix and brocolli. He was just fine, eating and flying around all afternoon/evening. He had normal stool as of yesterday morning when I last checked/noticed. He's vomited before back in 2018. Vet said at the time that it could have been a bad batch of seeds. I'm hoping this is the case now and not something more serious (like a virus or untreatable condition). I have a 1 year old parakeet who share the cage and food, Ulap, who is fine.

I just left a message w/ my avian vet. I hope he can see us tomorrow what with how crazy California has been due to Covid-19. I'm so worried. Please send Pewpew warm thoughts and prayers. I love this guy so much.

 

[LaManuka]

Sending you and Pewpew all my best wishes and hopes for a full recovery. My Lilly had a case of the vomits and a visit to her doctor just over a week ago so I know that horrible sinking feeling only too well. Fortunately she has not had a repeat performance and I hope your feather baby is the same!

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks, LaManuka. I'm sorry to hear about Lilly. Glad to hear she hasn't vomited since. I hope she continues to show good health. Birds give me so much worry. They are perfectly fine one moment then very sick the next. They're so wired to hide their illness.

I hope Pewpew fights this. He's always been such a tough little bird.

 

[LaManuka]

Budgies are, as my husband likes to say, as tough as ten bears! But I know what you mean about the worry, sometimes I think I really shouldn’t have birds because I worry about them so much.

One of the things the doc asked me about Lilly was whether I’d just opened a new bag of feed, which I hadn’t. She was wormed in case she’d picked up a parasite from all the foraging materials we give her but if she vomits again she’ll be going back for an x-ray (joy!) Actually I suspect she was just being a little piggy at breakfast time and gulping down her dry nectar powder too fast.

I hope you’re able to get an appointment ASAP - if your bird vet is anything like mine it’ll be a case of they take your budgie into the clinic while you wait outside and they conduct the consultation over the phone. I’m praying for good news for you and Pewpew!

 

[Amsterdam]

the vet would be the best option yes is he or she puffed up when she vomits? is she active?

 

[BoomBoom]

Hi Amsterdam. I just checked and he is not puffed up. I'll check for any new signs of vomit. I'm on the phone w/ a new vet. My current A Vet says they are booked for the week and recommended I go to emergency or another clinic. That was weird to me because they've always made room for me. Just to check, I asked if they are free for next week to see my other bird for an annual wellness exam, they said they can schedule me.

That's a let down for me. In the almost 10 years I've spent w/ them, they've always made room for me. Not sure if it's because of Covid-19, or if they're really booked or if they are just worried to take on his case (they've always seen my birds on emergency situations).

The new vet I'm on the phone with sees animals but the actual doctor is an avian expert (according to their reviews).

 

[LaManuka]

Well that’s a bit of a surprise your usual vet not being able to see a regular client for a week. Mind you they may be short staffed themselves so perhaps they aren’t able to take as many patients. Hopefully they’ve put you on a waitlist in case of a cancellation in the meantime and/or the new vet works out for you.

 

[noodles123]

Stressful..sorry...I have to second the vet...Budgies are tough, but that seems like a major red-flag (especially in the middle of the night). Could they at least look at his poop? I mean, this may be much more serious, but if it is bacterial, a gram-stain could take hardly any time and they could do that without the bird. If the stain is negative then you have to consider viral or other issues, obviously, but it could rule some stuff out at least.

 

[BoomBoom]

Thank you for your responses! I wanted to update our situation.

We came back from the vet an hour ago. I've never been there before. He seems to be a highly regarded Avian Vet in city of Orange and the general South CA area. Unlike other vets, his clinic only focuses on bird patients. My regular vet is also Avian Certified but sees exotics, dogs and cats.

Well the new vet went straight to a diagnosis that I was fearing since 2017. Pewpew has fatty liver disease. In my research, Pew fit the bill (abnormal beak/nail growth, yellowish stool). I brought this over the years with my old vet but he kept assuring me that Pew's problem was genetic and that there was nothing I could do about it. When Pew vomited in 2018, old vet gave him a shot of doxycycline dex for what he diagnosed as localized infection possibly from bad food. When I mentioned this to new vet, he acted shocked saying that doxycycline dex was a steroid that does resolve the vomiting issue but actually makes the liver worse. He saw it as a band-aid. He knew my old vet because old vet was a renowned avian vet pioneer and also very widely regarded. He was shocked my old vet would go for that treatment.

He took a large blood sample from Pew in my presence (old vet never allowed owners in the examination room). He put in a spinning machine. It separated the blood from the fat. He basically showed me in real time how Pew's blood has 65% fat content which was very, very bad.

So now I'm upset because I lost 3 years of opportunity to reverse Pew's fatty liver disease. New vet decided not to give any medication to Pew. He said he has no infection (I think he knew that from the blood sample). He gave me a very strict plan to transition Pew to 100% pellet diet. He eats a mix of seed and pellets right now and veggie chop-mix. I have to accomplish this ideally in a month and have to put his cage-mate, Ulap, to a different cage. This is so I can measure his diet transition properly. He is worried that with an aggressive transition for an older bird, Pew might die from starvation.

Then there's the matter of possibly cutting ties with my old vet. He's helped me and my flock since 2012. He has the best bedside manners and I always left the place feeling hopeful. New vet is so cerebral and strict, I left feeling so worried. However I've lost some faith in old vet because of his reluctance to call out fatty liver disease on Pew even when the signs were there. New vet called it out immediately and has dealt with it many times. That said, new vet is untested for me. Tonight I worry if, because Pew didn't get any medicine or shots, whether he will vomit again. New vet doesn't think he didn't any meds so I guess I'll have to see. Ugh so stressful.

Thanks so much for listening. Please send warm thoughts to Pew. I'll do my very best for my little love. My best to your flocks.

 

[LaManuka]

I’m so sorry the news for Pew wasn’t better. At the very least he already gets pellets and chop as part of his diet so the transition should *in theory* be a bit easier. Did the vet mention perhaps also incorporating a milk thistle supplement? I’ve never used it but I notice a number of other members do use it as a liver detoxifyer, although apparently there are some that have a base of ethyl alcohol so you’ll need to avoid those.

I wish you and Pew every success!

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks, LaManuka. I was actually thinking of milk thistle today. I used to mix MT powder with Pew's food back in 2017 to help w/ the fatty liver disease (FLD). I stopped because old vet kept telling me that Pew's beak abnormality was genetic and not FLD.

I'll ask new vet if I can start mixing it in his dry food.