Our female cockatiel, TIKI is almost six years old. We’ve had her since she was three months old.She has always had the run of the house … (no clipped wings) and is, in our opinion, a perfect little creature.This past week her stool is showing undigested seeds in it and although she is a bit more “subdued” than usual … she appears to be normal. She does drink regularly and does eat somewhat but the seeds just seem to be passing through her.She eats eggs well but doesn’t seem to have too much interest in her other foods … except egg and millet occasionally. What can we do for her? She decided a few months ago that she was NOT going to sleep in her cage and sleeps on her play station now. If we were to take her out of her environment (home) we just know she wouldn’t be able to handle that! She is entirely bonded to my wife and I and no one else!If you can help us with our little gift from God, we would be ever so grateful.Thank you.Harry Heatherington Sr.e-mail:XXX@XXXXXX.XXX
Hi. I'm Dr. Heindel. I'm going to try to help you with your issue.
I get concerned when seed is passing undigested through the GI tract :(
Specifically PDD - proventricular dilatation disease. It's where the proventriculus - similar to our stomach - cannot break down the seed so it passes thorough and there is no nutritional value from the undigested seed.
You can read more about it HERE
Well, I see you are presently not in our chat :( I hope to connect with you soon so I can answer some of your questions.Good day!Dr. Heindel
Sorry I missed you Dr. Heindel. I had waited for a fairly long time for an answer but gathered that things were busy at your end and I would try tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I've been doing some research on my TIKI and what I see so far scares the heck out of me! My wife and I are both cancer patients and in our eighties so it's kind of hard to get to a vet and besides ... we just know our little feathered friend would freak out completely if we had to take her from the house and that is a great concern to us as well. I just looked at her stool and it still contains full seeds, although Joyce (my wife) is feeding her egg (mushed up) and bread/toast (which she likes) She has always just loved the butter on the bread and there's no problem even now with her eating that. She also eats cashews and pistachios and I do not see any evidence of them coming through her stool. I'll get back to you (if you don't mind) tomorrow. It's almost 2:00 am now and this old man needs his "beauty sleep." ... I wish!! :-)
No worries, I'll be around today :)
Well Doctor, I've finally woke up and see that Joyce has been feeding Tiki with egg. She always eats off Joyce's plate. She also fed her some rolled oats (which she ate readily.) She always sits beside me in the kitchen while I'm having my coffee and I have a small heater fan on the counter for her. She preened very well this morning and looks terrific. As a matter of fact, generally after she has breakfast, we have a game with her whereby she flies (fast as hell) throughout all the rooms ... back and forth three times and there was no problem this morning with her doing that as this is her usual ritual. I'll wait for you to get back to us and then I'll turn it over to Joyce as she is the one that feeds her and knows what to answer if you have any questions. My e-mail address is: XXXXX@XXXXXX.XXX and my telephone is (XXX) XXX-XXXX. We live in Port Colborne and if there might be anything whereby we have to pay you for ... prescriptions for instance ... we would be happy to pay you. I'll be waiting ... there's certainly no way of going out in that weather today anyway. :-) ... Harry
Just for interest sake, I wonder if you attended the College in Guelph for your degree. If so, I started my Police career in Guelph and met and married Joyce there in 1948. Just musing ... waiting for you to come back online....
Sorry but as a former policeman I should have read your bio. I didn't see you were in Ohio. Well we are just across the lake near Buffalo so we're not that far apart. My daughter read your bio this morning and told me you couldn't have gone to the Veterinarian College in Guelph. Oh well ... I was just passing time waiting for your reply anyway...
Okay, well, sorry to miss you again :( It sounds like Tiki is acting more perky, active and alert. The seeds passing does bother me though. We are an answer-only site, we cannot prescribe medications, only give advice and educate. :) I suppose worse case scenario it is PDD ... there is no cure or treatment, it's a progressively degenerative disease. On the flip side, maybe she's ( or was) just under the weather. Watch her closely, birds are genetically programmed to mask illness as a protective measure. Be sure she's eating and taking in fluids - and that the water is FRESH ... a lot of people over look the need to clean out the water bowl - scrub it, as a film of yeast and bacteria can build up there. If she won't eat on her own, you'll need to syringe feed her. There are some Critical Care feeding formula and a probiotic paste that can be given, too. Those last two are for seriously sick birds and need to be prescribed by a vet that sees her. If you have a gram scale in the house, it's worth weighing her each day and keeping a record. PDD birds start losing muscle mass over time.
If she's seemed to have turned a corner and is doing better, maybe she's on the down-side of a viral or bacterial infection. Let's hope.
Do you have any further specific questions for me? Please click the ACCEPT button to close this question from our open-question board. However, you can still communicate with me and ask questions, at no additional fee, and I'm happy to answer. The format will not be a chat, however, which is probably good, since it never really worked for us! It will be a Q and A format - like a message board. You can find our thread under MY QUESTIONS. Let me know if there is anything I can answer for you.
Take care,
Dr. Heindel
Thanks Doc ... I've been watching the computer off and on all day for your reply. It's hard to "get together" on the net. I sure hope you are right that she might not have PDD as this one really freaked me out when I read about it. We love our little bird so very much and she means the world to us. I have given you my e-mail address and would like it if I had yours in case I have more questions as time goes by. The best to you and yours and thanks tons for your advice. I'll click "Accept" on this gadget so you will get your fee. Also we think you are doing great raising your family and operating from home. By the way in case you may be interested my Website is: http://www.harryh.com/hheath2/ I'm an old "hard nosed right winger" so there might be some things in there you won't agree with but you will see my TIKI and learn about our family, etc.. God Bless --- Harry