# Undigested seed in poop



## spike09

Our spike has been having whole seeds show up in her poop. A trip to the vet confirmed that it was not bacterial or parasite. The vet said she looked great, was a good weight (her normal weight) and just to keep an eye on her. She seems fine, although I've learned that doesn't always mean anything. We went through Psittacosis / Chlamydiosis back in May and she had 45 days of anti-biotics and has been great ever since. This just started a few weeks ago, went away for a week or so and just started up again.

I'm wondering if the antibiotics created some type of yeast infection? I didn't know enough to ask the vet at the time and they never mentioned it. I've read a little about probiotics but I'm afraid to give her anything without understanding it completely.

Any ideas?

Thanks!


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## Renae

Another member on this forum, srtiels, posted this, I think it may help:



> Usually an imbalance of intestinal flora will cause a tiel to pass whole seed.
> 
> A few days to a week on probiotics should help. You can find some acidophilus capsules at the drugstore and lightly sprinkle a 1/2 capsule per day on food. Or mix 3 capsules in 1 gallon of water, (refrigerate between use) and use as drinking water for a week.
> Below is alittle general info I had saved on my computer...
> ----------------------------------------
> Not long ago I was researching probiotics and was dismayed to learn that it is not a word in the dictionary, but is a term comprised of 2 words: Pro meaning 'for', and biotics meaning 'life' And if you go looking in avian, animal, and human drug books the actual word probiotics is not listed. Therefore probiotics is a term used descriptively that describes a class of non prescription oral medications/supplements (such as acidophilus, lactobacillus) which are used primarily to boost the population of live bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract which flourish inside the birds digestive tract. Probiotics can be used preventively during periods of stress, such as breeding, molting, when chicks are weaning. With a sick bird, pathogens (disease-causing bacteria) take the place of the good bacteria. They consist of naturally occurring organisms that aid in digestion and inhibit the production of disease producing bacteria. Probiotics help to supplement and replace used up beneficial bacteria in the GI tract. Thus what is happening, especially after antibiotic treatment, is the replenishment of good bacteria which acts to lower inhibit the levels of bad bacteria from becoming pathogenic. Probiotics such as lactobacillus also lower the pH.
> 
> This is beneficial when dealing with slow crop, or when yeast or bacteria is suspected. When pH is reduced this in turn increases the effectiveness of existing good flora in the GI tract. I'm also learning that one of the reasons why heat is so beneficial to sick babies is because it helps to decrease the time needed to kill harmful pathogens when antibiotic and antifungals are used.


I am sure srtiels will be able to help you more with your question, but I thought the info above might help too.


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## spike09

Thanks for posting that Solace. Wouldn't the vet's gram stain have picked up the pathogens though? The did not give me specifics, just said that the test was ok.


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## xxxSpikexxx

It could be pdd http://www.avianweb.com/pdd.html I think the safest bet would be to take her back to an avain vet to get checked out


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## Jess

A long treatment of antibiotics can cause GI upset, it could be avain gastric yeast or a deep bacterial gut infection. Could you take a picture of the poo or describe it? ie is it just millet seeds, general look of the dropping etc.


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## spike09

Spike-thank you but we just went to the vet and they just sent me home to keep an eye on her after doing the two tests. I don't know what to ask for if I scheduled another visit.

Jess-Your right I should have taken a picture. This mornings "big morning poo" doesn't seem to have any in there for the first time in a few days so I won't bother with that picture. The ones that had it looked like entire millet seed, not bits but the whole seed. I can't tell if it's been hulled or not but it looks like it was hulled. The white part is still white which I'm happy about. The little ones that she does throughout the day sometimes have one or two seeds in it, but otherwise look normal consistency. I will start taking pictures today to keep track.

Thank you both for you help, I'm so concerned about this.


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## spike09

Also, shouldn't the two test the vet did have picked up on yeast or bacteria?


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## Jess

I've sent you a pm.


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## Lilly

One of my old cockatiels had liver disease, so after her treatment for that was over the vet gave me some Probiotics. I gave that to her and Aggro for a while. It helps to boost their health a bit. Maybe go back to the vet and ask whether you should get some.


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## spike09




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## spike09

http://www.talkcockatiels.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6359&d=1292124190


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## spike09

Sorry for all the posts, I'm obviously having trouble posting pictures. Does anyone know why it's asking me for URL when I click insert image?

Anyway, here are pics of poop from today. Big one is from this morning, actually too big morning poos side by side, one from yesterday and one from today. The other smaller ones are during the day today.

Thanks, and sorry for the graphic pics but I'm sure you understand.


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## shelagh

I upload my photos to photobucket.com first, then link the url from there. Hope that helps.


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## spike09

I just received the AviBios I ordered on line today and will be giving that a try. I'll update my post with any results, just in case someone else is having this problem.

Thanks!


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