# Excessive Thirst -- Diabetes or Something Else?



## mellowyellow (Feb 28, 2011)

Sorry I havnt been on for a while! Things have been a tad hectic lol

Anyway to the point, we're really concerned about peaches! We took him to the vet a while ago and he was given antibiotics for a slight bacterial infection. We went because we were concerned about his feet, weight and liquidy poop.

We have measured his water and found that he drank 47mls of water in 24 hours!! My first thought is diabetic... Zac at one stage was diabetic, and the vet was surprised she was alive with those readings! Peaches has presented with the same symptoms but much worse on the drinking front! He's such a happy boy though! When he has been out of his cage for a long time and hasn't had any water and then has a solid poop it's very healthy and green.

Does anyone have any suggestions,links to information or personal experiences?

We're calling the vet tomorrow to get him an appointment which will mean tests, which is okay. But I'm concerned that with his weight he has no room for loss and I'm scared he will bottom out like Zac and loose to much, I don't trust vets anymore!  

I'm really concerned, he weighs 69grams and has quite the pointy tummy and you have to take into consideration how much water is in him too contributing to his weight which is even worse!


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Drinking excessive amounts of water could also be a means of trying to flush out his body.....what is his diet?

If you can give more info, and detail what you are feeding, etc. that might be helpful.


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## mellowyellow (Feb 28, 2011)

srtiels said:


> Drinking excessive amounts of water could also be a means of trying to flush out his body.....what is his diet?
> 
> If you can give more info, and detail what you are feeding, etc. that might be helpful.


Thanks for your reply!
His diet consists of, pellets, Seed, corn cob, broccolini, carrot. That's pretty much it I think. Though he doesn't eat much pellets but the are offered. 
I don't know what other information I can give sorry.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Other info such as whether he gets cuttle bone or mineral block or do you put vitamins in his water, if he has a FSL light on him, that type of stuff would help.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

Nothing jumps out at me from the diet. Is the cage tray getting soaked from the droppings? Is there a faint sweet smell to the droppings/

I only had one hen like this many years ago, and another breeder suggested going to the healthfood store and getting Stevia extract and putting 10 drops in the water bowl. It helped reduce the excessive drinking and also greatly reduced soaked, wet cage tray papers from watery droppings.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

I really don't have anything helpful to add as far as guiding you or answering your questions with experience or knowledge... but I do wonder about something...

You said Zac was a diabetic. And now you have a second bird sounding like she could be diabetic. It just sounds very strange to me. My thoughts go to if it doesn't sound nutritional.. environmental of some sort. So my question would be.. what ELSE would present itself with these types of symptoms.. ? A plant, paint, wood, metal.. is there something that they could all have access to that might be causing them these issues?


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

My understanding of diabetes in avians is that it is VERY rare, and has a different mechanism than diabetes in humans (overproduction of glucagon in avians versus underproduction of insulin in humans). I agree it is unlikely that you'd have two diabetic birds unless there is some environmental (or genetic) factor involved. Are they related?

When you say that the vet was surprised Zac could be alive "with those readings," what readings are we talking about? That might give some clue as to what other causes could be behind these symptoms. There are several common biomarkers of diabetes which I imagine might be used in birds: blood glucose level, glucose secreted in the urine, ketones or protein secreted in the urine. Other metabolic problems, including both starvation and kidney disease can cause the latter two, which would also account for these symptoms.

How was Zac treated? Generally this is not a problem that just goes away, so I'm also not sure what you mean by "diabetic at one stage." Did the symptoms go away?

If this were my bird, I would probably start by getting a metabolic panel done to tell you how his liver and kidneys are functioning. If either of those values is off, then you'll have an additional question to ask -- Is the liver/kidney failure the cause of the symptoms, or are both the symptoms and the organ failure caused by the same underlying illness? Either way, it might give you some clues for treatment.

You can read more about diabetes in avians here: http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/diabetes.html

As a side note -- Susanne, do you know if there was an opinion as to WHY stevia would work? It has absolutely no effect on glucagon, insulin, or uptake of blood glucose, so if the problem truly was diabetes, I'm confused as to why this would work as a treatment.


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## mellowyellow (Feb 28, 2011)

Sorry all for the delay in reply all those questions were so overwhelming! 
So I've concentrated on listening to what the vet has said and we have been 3 times to see her this month. I really like her, she's one of the best in Melbourne. She's very well known so I've trusted her which is a first for me and avian vets. 

He has had blood tests to look at every possibility. With all the tests there has been nothing abnormal. The vet was really surprised, she doesn't know where to go next with him so we're just recording everything (water consumed, diet, sleep, cage time, who shares his cage ect.) that's all we know we can do. The vet says "you have a very unique and interesting bird" but she was very taken with his quirky personality! 

So my question now is where to next? She says there's something just not quite right but nothing more she can do at this time. He's a very happy little man which is great but I can't help think whats going on.

On a side note he's had alot of fun this week chatting up the girls  he wants a little more than friendship lol I wonder what the mutation of their babies would be... Not that I plan on doing that.


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## northernfog (Dec 14, 2010)

Just happened by this thread today and was wandering about your birdy. Hopefully he is better!


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