bocastephen
New member
- Dec 16, 2024
- 4
- 2
- Parrots
- African Grey, Red Breasted Cockatoo, Major Mitchell Cockatoo and 3 Cockatiels
So our 13 year old African Grey parrot Sunny has been having an issue for a number of months now with foul smelling poop and light brown color diarrhea that we just cannot seem to get a handle on. The smell can be so bad that it's hard to clean, or even open the cage without us gagging, and it can affect the entire home. Her first morning poop is almost all liquid of substantial volume, the second is mostly liquid, but the remaining poops for the day and evening are all perfectly normal format, color, and smell, as if there is no problem. Her behavior has always been normal, appetite is normal, communication, intelligence, talking, flapping/flying, feathers, beak, feet - all normal.
When it first started, we took her to Vet #1 who ran a test on the stool sample and tested positive for significant Clostridium disporicum and some Enterococcus faecium and Clostridium celatum in lesser amounts. She was put on Enrofloxacin and some fluconazole for 10 days. The infection cleared up, poop returned to normal, but within 48 hours after finishing the course, the smelling poop returned. We extended the antibiotics another 14 days, but again after it was finished, the smelly poop returned almost instantly.
After a couple months, we then took her to Vet #2 who did blood work checking for possible major issues or cancers, and it came back negative. We were going to try antibiotics again, and sent another sample of her liquid poop to the lab to check again, but it did not grow any bacteria, so there was no antibiotic to give. Not sure how it didn't grow bacteria, but it didn't.
So here we are, two vets, 4 office visits, lots of tests and lots of antibiotics and we're no further ahead. She eats the same food as 3 other birds, and they are all fine. She shares a large cage (divided in the middle by a wire barrier) with the Red Breasted cockatoo, but he hasn't gotten sick at all. Unless she suddenly developed an allergy to the food she has eaten all her life (Harrisons and Tropimix), we can't trace it to her food, plus the bulk of her daytime stool is normal. She eats no seeds, and is a very picky eater so no fruit, no vegetables, literally 100% mix of those two pellets.
She is drinking more than she used to, but that is probably due to the diarrhea. We have also wiped down areas of the cage with diluted bleach/water solution that had been 'splashed' by her droppings just in case.
So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
When it first started, we took her to Vet #1 who ran a test on the stool sample and tested positive for significant Clostridium disporicum and some Enterococcus faecium and Clostridium celatum in lesser amounts. She was put on Enrofloxacin and some fluconazole for 10 days. The infection cleared up, poop returned to normal, but within 48 hours after finishing the course, the smelling poop returned. We extended the antibiotics another 14 days, but again after it was finished, the smelly poop returned almost instantly.
After a couple months, we then took her to Vet #2 who did blood work checking for possible major issues or cancers, and it came back negative. We were going to try antibiotics again, and sent another sample of her liquid poop to the lab to check again, but it did not grow any bacteria, so there was no antibiotic to give. Not sure how it didn't grow bacteria, but it didn't.
So here we are, two vets, 4 office visits, lots of tests and lots of antibiotics and we're no further ahead. She eats the same food as 3 other birds, and they are all fine. She shares a large cage (divided in the middle by a wire barrier) with the Red Breasted cockatoo, but he hasn't gotten sick at all. Unless she suddenly developed an allergy to the food she has eaten all her life (Harrisons and Tropimix), we can't trace it to her food, plus the bulk of her daytime stool is normal. She eats no seeds, and is a very picky eater so no fruit, no vegetables, literally 100% mix of those two pellets.
She is drinking more than she used to, but that is probably due to the diarrhea. We have also wiped down areas of the cage with diluted bleach/water solution that had been 'splashed' by her droppings just in case.
So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
