Kiwibird
Well-known member
- Jul 12, 2012
- 9,539
- 111
- Parrots
- 1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
Since I canāt sleep thought Iād update all you about Kiwiās vet appointment yesterday. Iām sure most of you remember that last year he contracted a serious infection that damaged one of his kidneys and the vet warned he could have occasional issues with the kidney for the rest of his life. The ONLY symptom he showed at the time of the infection was an itchy butt, so I now know if he has an itchy but he needs to have that butt brought to the vet ASAP. Sadly, I noticed him experiencing itchiness/discomfort again starting about 10 or so days ago and got him into the vet once I was sure it wasnāt just an off day or something.
Sure enough his poor kidney was a bit inflamed and unhappy. The vet came into the room and asked what Iād been feeding him that was ELECTRIC GREEN when she did a fecal exam, as she had told me at the time of the infection he could never have food with any artificial dyes again nor could he eat leafy green vegetables anymore. I was stumped. I mention peas in the seed mix she āprescribedā to be added to his diet but she said peas would not have caused it. So she pulled a bag of food off the shelf and we looked through it. Sure enough, they had recently added DYED peas. Kiwi likes peas so no doubt he thought a special treat had been added to his diet. Fortunately, the solution this time is as simple as pick out the dyed peas and give him cranberry juice to help flush the kidney, as she didnāt think it was serious enough for allipurinol. I learned my lesson to read the ingredient label EVERY TIME for changes. I also learned Kiwi apparently likes dried peas, so I will dehydrate him some organic peas for him instead (the vet okd that)
She is apparently very unhappy with Volkmans, which she has sold/recommended for years as they recently changed another mix to include dyed papaya which has made a bunch of birds vomit. Kiwi was the first to have an issue with the peas added to his mix. She is apparently in contact with their nutritional person and very upset about these changes. So just a heads up, if you feed volkmans seed mixes, pick out ANYTHING that looks suspicious in color.
Sure enough his poor kidney was a bit inflamed and unhappy. The vet came into the room and asked what Iād been feeding him that was ELECTRIC GREEN when she did a fecal exam, as she had told me at the time of the infection he could never have food with any artificial dyes again nor could he eat leafy green vegetables anymore. I was stumped. I mention peas in the seed mix she āprescribedā to be added to his diet but she said peas would not have caused it. So she pulled a bag of food off the shelf and we looked through it. Sure enough, they had recently added DYED peas. Kiwi likes peas so no doubt he thought a special treat had been added to his diet. Fortunately, the solution this time is as simple as pick out the dyed peas and give him cranberry juice to help flush the kidney, as she didnāt think it was serious enough for allipurinol. I learned my lesson to read the ingredient label EVERY TIME for changes. I also learned Kiwi apparently likes dried peas, so I will dehydrate him some organic peas for him instead (the vet okd that)
She is apparently very unhappy with Volkmans, which she has sold/recommended for years as they recently changed another mix to include dyed papaya which has made a bunch of birds vomit. Kiwi was the first to have an issue with the peas added to his mix. She is apparently in contact with their nutritional person and very upset about these changes. So just a heads up, if you feed volkmans seed mixes, pick out ANYTHING that looks suspicious in color.
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