kidney disease please help

[djven]

i have a male cockatiel about 4-5 years old, a couple of months ago he had an injure on his feet and it was swollen, he took medication but after the last medication/ ointment he started watery droppings, in addition to that at sunday while he was drinking water, the water passed through his nostrils and possibly ended up in the lungs. I took him to the avian vet fast, he said that Zarathustra (my cockatiel) is getting better regarding the water in the lungs but he will eventually die (he implied) because he has a problem with his kidneys. He drinks too much water and as a consequence he has big watery droppings and after a lot of while he will die.. I am devastated. He has the problem with watery droppings for 2 weeks, he seemed to have a quite good improvement, and before he had this accident with water his behaviour was excellent. is it sure that he is going to die? He will take an antibiotic the vet said for 10 days.
please if you know anything .. help me..

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'm very sorry to hear about your cockatiel. Has your vet done any tests to figure out WHY his kidneys aren't working properly?

Here is a link I found:
Kidney Disease in Pet Birds

http://www.2ndchance.info/goutpollocAvianrenaldis.pdf

I wish you the VERY best of luck, and truly wish I could give you some helpful advice.

 

[Birdlover11]

Very very sorry for your cockatiel. You know, I heard countless stories about birds that have been said that they will die in a few months while they lived for years ! I don't know about kidney problems, but did the bet told you how much likely it is to happend ?

 

[djven]

i doubt if he knows... but i found a better vet in athens, she told she would take all the examinations needed and maybe he doesn't have kidney damage. The bird has to travel back to me from his vet in Patras by car for 4 hours and on tuesday or friday we 'll go to athens another 4-5 hours journey. I contacted all the doctors in my area no one knows about cockatiel, i thought our vet was one of the best because he saved them many times in the past but now i doubt... The woman vet in athens told me that even if he has this problem we can expand his living period, but there's likely to be something else more curable... god bless..

 

[Birdlover11]

Hope he's curable.

 

[MonicaMc]

If it is kidneys, there are kidney specific diets for birds... although, if you don't live in the USA, these diets may be harder to get as I am not aware of any non-American companies producing diets for birds with health problems.

There is a drug known as Allopurinol which helps the kidneys, as well as fruits and vegetables that are 'kidney friendly'... such as black cherries, celery and celery seed to name a few.



I would first recommend getting blood tests done to make sure of what's occurring!

 

[Pedro]

Excessive thirst in parrots could be a symptom of Diabetes Mellitus. Usually in parrots it is only temporary. Your Vet will be able to diagnose this by running tests on samples of urine & blood.

Allopurinol is a drug given for Gout. I wouldn't think it is prescribed for kidney disease as the causes are many.

 

[Remy]

I was going to say that the excessive thirst could be a symptom of diabetes mellitus, also known as RENAL (KIDNEY) diabetes!! One of my best friends has it. It basically causes the body to excrete too much water, hence the increased thirst, and when left untreated it can lead to extreme dehydration and eventually death.

Some kinds of kidney disease can be treated exclusively with diet. We have a dog with kidney disease (not sure what kind, vet didn't tell my mom). He is on a kidney diet now, and his kidney function is completely normal now. I don't know of any for birds, but there is likely something you can feed your bird that will help.

I would DEFINITELY seek a second opinion (like you did) rather than accept a death sentence. You are a very good pet owner to make that kind of a drive for your cockatiel.

 

[djven]

thank you very much all for your help, i really appreciate it, i never thought you would reply. Anyway, i was searching for the best avian vets in Greece, and i found this one

Αττικό Νοσοκομείο Ζώων - Θανάσης Αδάμης, Κτηνίατρος. DVM

what do you think? I contacted other vets and also recommend me this one. anyway i took the bird to him and he told me that the ointment the bird took for his feet may caused this problem but this doesn't mean that his kidneys are destroyed.
Update : After last Sunday when the accident with water occurred, Zarathustra stopped drinking so much water.. in fact, he drinks like every other cockatiel and the watery droppings stopped.. he hasn't come back to normal, it's like diarrhea at the moment..
The new vet told me to give him augmentin which is a medication for children and consists of amoxycillin and claruvanate..
Do you know anything about that? i tried that and his droppings became green just an hour ago.. now i am waiting to see how it goes and i'll contact the vet again.
Regarding the food both vets told me to give fresh food and Harrison' s pellets or oxbow, i have never heard about Oxbow. At the moment, i give Nutribird pellets with seeds and try to get Harrison's. Thank you All!!