# loose droppings and vomiting.



## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

i have a hen who is more than 8 years old (she had previous owners). we moved to my hometown about 6 months ago and she has had loose droppings ever since. i have done some research and the droppings are just watery, not diarrhea. the urates are very sparse and small, but they are stringy so i'm worried. they are really white though. she drinks a LOT of water. every time i replace their water, she chugs like she hasn't had water in days. i replace it everyday with tap water, but i'm going to try to replace it with filtered water from our brita pitcher to see if that yields any results. our plumbing isn't great. i thought it might have been from a food change, but they've been on the same food for a long time. her cagemate's poops are fine.
also, today i was clipping her toenails and i felt and heard a weird noise in her tummy, and there were small wet spots on my shirt from where i held her. i think she threw up on me a little bit. i felt really bad because i thought i squeezed her too hard, but later tonight i gave them some fresh water. after she drank about 2 bobs (head motions of drinking), she threw up some water. it was vomiting because she was shaking her head rapidly, no head-pumping like in regurgitation. this is the first day i have noticed vomiting, i don't know how long it's been going on. 
she is also sleeping much more than usual for the past week. she sleeps like a chicken (on her belly) but i am not concerned about this - she has always slept like this. i am going to schedule her for a vet's appt on thursday.
has anyone had these problems with older birds? is it just a sign she's getting older or should i be concerned?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I think it sounds like it could be a bacterial or fungal infection. Watch her closely between now and Thursday. They can go downhill very fast. 

How is her eating? Do you have a scale to weigh her? Do you know how to check her keelbone for body condition? 

The watery droppings alone may not be an issue, but the vomiting and the lethargy are concerning. 8 is not that old. I have an 18 year old and he is not yet showing signs of slowing down. 

I don't want to alarm you, but it does sound like she is sick. You're doing the right thing coming here for advice and getting her a vet check.


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

she eats very regularly. i feed her with lefaber's pellets and she likes them. i have offered some dried apricots, but she doesn't like them. we don't have a lot of food in the house so i haven't offered her anything else.

i don't have a scale but i can borrow my friend's. i know she is overweight a little, she is a very large hen and she doesn't like to fly unless she has to. her keelbone feels fine, you can feel it but it's not prominent.

i apologize for not seeing your reply before i edited my thread. the changes i made can be seen, but the only major thing that i changed is the fact that her urates are not mixed with the urine. they are separate and white, so no liver problems, but they are very small and stringy. i almost missed them when i looked at her droppings, they are so fine in width.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Are you sure she is actually drinking excessively? I have a 'tiel who really likes to play with her water, and that sometimes results in watery droppings because she'll swallow it while playing. But if you watch her closely, you can tell a difference between when she's really drinking and when she's flinging water around playing. 

I would wonder possibly about a kidney issue with the small, stringy urates and the drinking (if it really is that). It could also be an infection, as I mentioned earlier. I do think she definitely needs a vet visit to determine what's going on. It's promising that she isn't underweight and that she eats well, but if the vomiting is new then something has changed. If you can, it would also be good to weigh her every few days for several weeks. That's a good way to monitor her health, even if she's also receiving treatment from a vet.


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

yeah i think she's drinking a lot. she doesn't like to play in her water. i offer the water bowl directly to them when i change their water, i always have as a friendly gesture, and she usually just looked at me like i was dense and walked away haha. but since we've moved, she is either pacing back and forth once she sees me walk into the room with the bowl, if the cage is shut. or if it's open, she's leaning towards me acting like she's gonna fly. she seems that desperate. i see her drink on her own a lot, so i know she's not depending on me to offer the bowl of water.

the vomiting happens pretty quickly after she drinks, i'm wondering if it's just from drinking so fast she fills up her gullet and throat faster than she can get it down. she always walks away from the water after she drinks, and then shakes her head and water comes out of the beak. she makes those soft little sniffy-choke sounds that don't happen unless water gets in the airway, but the vomit is just water and it's clear. she doesn't vomit at random times, only after drinking, with the exception of the toenail clipping incident i posted earlier.


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

as for her age, i believe she is around 15 or 16. but that's just based off of a faint memory, my mom adopted her from a lady who i remembered overhearing. i thought she said she was 7 when we got her. i can see the age in her face a little bit, i've had her for a long time and she doesn't have as youthful a disposition.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Okay, then she is pretty old, but I still don't think that's old enough to account for the symptoms on their own.

That doesn't really sound like true vomiting to me. I would think that at least sometimes, food would come up as well. Does she ever show respiratory distress? It almost sounds as though she's having trouble swallowing the water, or getting it in her airway somehow. Either way, you'll want to get the excessive drinking evaluated at the vet.


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Oh i hope there ok!


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

okay, i'm a little relieved to hear that it doesn't sound like "true" vomiting. i have never had an experience with a bird vomiting before so i flipped a little. i think she's trying to drink too much water too fast and then puking it up. either way, she's really thirsty. she has never shown signs of respiratory distress.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I am not the most experienced person here by far, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But it certainly doesn't sound like cases of vomiting that I've seen or read about. It does sound like the drinking is the cause of it, especially since she doesn't also vomit after eating. Unfortunately, you still need to know WHY she's drinking enough to make herself sick. If it is her kidneys, your vet can help you with supplements and dietary modifications for support. I hope you can get her feeling better.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Cookie does the exact same thing which he his splashing water on himself to say i need a bath mom  some of my others are copying from him, the watery droppings im sure its from drinking as cookie is the same and iv had him at the vets but they are not concerned about it


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

do you offer JUST pellets?

if so it may be causing kidney issues

take a look here:
do they look like any of these:


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

i took her to the vet yesterday. the poops were normal but they did have a lot of water. her mouth and tongue were dried out, so the water was just going right through her and she was dehydrated. they found something enlarged in her side, it was hard and it hurt her a lot when they pushed on it. it turned out to be a tumor. there was nothing i could have done to prevent it, and unfortunately she showed signs way too late anyway. i had to put her to sleep.


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## rachelvest91 (Sep 21, 2011)

i'm scared for my other bird, Pinto. he is only 6 years old and he loved Chatter a lot. it's his mom, but i think he felt differently cause they kinda DID it (if you know what i mean). they've never been separated since he was born. he called for her a lot yesterday and started screaming a little while out of frustration. i don't know how to make it easier for him. i'm starting a new thread involving this, i just wanted to let you guys know.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

* i had to put her to sleep*

*HUGS...* Is the vet going to do a necropsy? If so that will give answers. From your description it sounds like diabetes (not sure if spelled right) I have found that putting a few drops of Stevia in the drinking water helps cut down the thirst.

Or another thought is a Pseudomonas infection, especially if she was retaining the fluids in the crop (crop would have felt fluidy) which is a result of reverse peristaltic action from the ventriculus drawing fluids from the body into the crop. This results in dehydration in the body that can lead to renal/kidney failure.

The stringy ness to the urates is also an indication of an infection.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Im so sorry for your loss


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