Sick Parrot: people food, poison?

[Candidchris]

For the last couple of days my parrot has been making frequent liquidy red stools, bloody?, it evaporates on a piece of cardboard and seems more watery than bloody. Yesterday he vommited oatmeal, it was cooked and organic. I've also been giving him cooked basmatti rice, beans and eggs. I cook on a cast iron skillet.

Could it be too much metal in the kidneys? He also drinks NYC tap water and has his whole life.

Last week, I also changed the bottom of his cage from paper to the leftover miracle grow dirt I had laying around. I've seen him go down and nibble on some white specs.

Could anything be poisonous?

I also don't use an air conditioner, so it can be humid and hot in my apartment.

Lastly, there have been a few dead rats in front of my building, poisoned from those exterminator boxes. I left the window opened and some flys got in. They might have nibbled around his food.

Could he be slightly poisoned?

 

[zERo]

Firstly, he should see a vet as soon as possible. The throwing up and poop color sounds quite alarming.

As far as being poisoned goes, that’s hard to say. However, I would remove the miracle grow from his cage, there could be fertilizers in there, and not to mention, I assume the soil is made from manure as most are?

So sorry to hear you’re going through this! Not knowing what’s wrong with our birdies is always tough.

 

[Candidchris]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Candidchris]

He's dead


I got home around 6pm and he was at the bottom of the cage stiff. I rushed over to the emergency room and they said he had been dead for a while. I left for a gig around 530 am that day. A little desperate for money, I waited, hesitated taking him to the vet. Now he's dead.
I woke up that morning a little worried and with a little doubt but ultimately left for the money.

I should've have reached out to this forum sooner, made a video and posted it anywhere. Asked my Great Aunt to check up on him when she woke up. I have so many regrets. He was fighting through some infection or poison for 2 days.

There were rats dying in front of my building. He couldnt fly. I put him out on the fire escape on the second floor and some flys got in my apartment.

I had dirt at the bottom of his cage. Leftover miracle grow brand I was going to take it out when I got home.
I had been cooking with a cast iron skillet and feeding him food I eat: only oatmeal, rice, beans, and eggs.

I don't if it was something I did. I want to get an autopsy. I've already sealed him in those airtight vacuum bags and put him in the fridge. I live in Manhattan New York. Any suggestions where to go?

 

[zERo]

He's dead


I got home around 6pm and he was at the bottom of the cage stiff. I rushed over to the emergency room and they said he had been dead for a while. I left for a gig around 530 am that day. A little desperate for money, I waited, hesitated taking him to the vet. Now he's dead.
I woke up that morning a little worried and with a little doubt but ultimately left for the money.

I should've have reached out to this forum sooner, made a video and posted it anywhere. Asked my Great Aunt to check up on him when she woke up. I have so many regrets. He was fighting through some infection or poison for 2 days.

There were rats dying in front of my building. He couldnt fly. I put him out on the fire escape on the second floor and some flys got in my apartment.

I had dirt at the bottom of his cage. Leftover miracle grow brand I was going to take it out when I got home.
I had been cooking with a cast iron skillet and feeding him food I eat: only oatmeal, rice, beans, and eggs.

I don't if it was something I did. I want to get an autopsy. I've already sealed him in those airtight vacuum bags and put him in the fridge. I live in Manhattan New York. Any suggestions where to go?

Oh no, I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s hard not to blame ourselves when things like this happen but just know that you did the right thing in reaching out for help.

Here’s our avian vet resource thread which should help you find somewhere you can take him to do a necropsy.

Avian Vet Resources

After a suggestion by a member, @Abu Colo, the Mod Team decided to create a list of veterinarians around the world who see birds. This was something we had discussed a few years ago, but the task seemed so large that we didn't get very far. However, the need is there and we decided that the time...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Trogdor]

Miracle Gro soil has pelletized fertilizer in it for slow release. The little light-colored balls are a polymer coated mix of Ammonium Nitrate, Ammonium Phosphate, Calcium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

 

[Trogdor]

Miracle Gro soil has pelletized fertilizer in it for slow release. The little light-colored balls are a polymer coated mix of Ammonium Nitrate, Ammonium Phosphate, Calcium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

Not implying you would have known this, and very sorry for your loss. The info isn’t very obvious on the packaging. I looked it up in the MSDS.

 

[Candidchris]

Thank you for the responses. I got a necropsy. In the end it was just a general neglect, whether poor diet or the miracle grow and especially not seeing a vet sooner. I wasnt a bird person. I started taking care of him in 2014 and he grew on me. I had a plan to get him a Juliet and built some perches, i'll attach. He couldnt fly, something I was going to check up on from advice from someone. Whether his feathers were clipped to the bone or not was on my mind. If they were clipped to the bone i wondered if there was a procedure to attach synthetic feathers. I had heard other birds can teach birds how to fly. During the winter I'd put his cage in the kitchen and place a 2x4 as a bridge to a platform i put where he'd peak his head down when I left. This winter I had him in the room with the black cage with leftover stumps from Christmas trees I was selling.

 

[Candidchris]

Just by chance where I put the cage he was able to climb up and onto the branch. I had to bring him back down though.

 

[Candidchris]

I got a necropsy. After reading the responses. Im convinced it was the white and green specs from the miracle grow.

In the report and when I spoke to her, she mentioned heart failure and the diet I was giving him recently, a lot of eggs.

I would put him on the fire escape and had a long pot of dirt from a pothos that died from a transplant the second time. *I didnt buy the plant. Someone said i could have it when they moved.

I remember it having a lot of green specs. I only found 1 now and it has a lot of white specs.

Im pretty sure he ate them while climbing up back through the window to get inside. He would do that a lot when he didnt want to be on the fire escape anymore.

 

[Candidchris]

I also distinctly remember doing a little research on whether I should put dirt in his cage but I looked at my search history and nothing comes up. Not even what I distinctly remember: an article, writing on a forum or reddit that mentioned whether bird poop is a good fertilizer for plants. Because I remember reading its like guano and thought of Ace Ventura.

I would have never put what I thought was just dirt in his cage and would have kept the pot away from him.

I had planned to make a 2x4 area of dirt around his cage and use his poop as a fertilizer to grow mushrooms or something. I would never have even considered that after recently reading that bird poop isnt a great fertilizer at all.

I dont know what I searched before but it didnt come up the same as I remember and from my search history it looks like i didnt even consider whether I should put dirt in his cage.

I also had the long pot out on the fire escape way longer than I had the dirt in his cage.

R.I.P. Romeo. I'm so sorry.