# Pat's poop is clay coloured now, urates a little peachy, lost a little bit of weight



## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

Hi! So. My two 'tiels (currently nearly 11 weeks old wow) which I got about 4 weeks ago had greenish/yellowish urates at the beginning. After some vet visits and tests, the vet and I decided to wait and see if the colour gets better after some time (I put them on a much better diet than they were weaned on since getting them). And they did! Both have almost white or completely white urates all of the time these past two weeks 

And now, Pat's have gone a bit weird. The feces portion especially. A few days ago, I noticed it getting to a lighter and lighter green with a tad bit of what looked like mucus in there, and thought it might be the veggies, so today and part of yesterday I gave the veggies a pause. Now they are becoming more of a clay-ish colour...? 

The urates are just a tad peach coloured - I have a really good eye for colours, so I'm pretty sure most people would not even notice, but there is a teeny tiny bit of a peach colour in there - not cream-yellow, but peach (a touch of red/pink)

He has lost a bit of weight...? But I am confused about this one. When I got them, Mat weighed 82g and pat 81g. Over time their weight kept increasing, especially I think because they loved the nutriberries and new diet so much. Mat's seems to be stabilizing around 88-90g now, and Pat's was at around 87-89g a week or so ago, but over the past couple of days it has gone down slowly and is now at 83-85g. Their weight keeps going up and down depending on how stuffed they are though, and I think maybe Pat has been distracted by the fun new cage toys and time out of the cage flying about and was maybe feeling reluctant to eat unless actually hungry, while Mat is more sedentary than him

Changes: new toys since two days ago (a spinning toy with bells that I have only seen them play with yesterday morning, and an all natural shredding toy that they LOVE by All Living Things made of the same material as another they had since day 1 and it is hung with a metal clamp-thing that they have played with atop the cage), introduction of pellet-berries to their diet since they don't seem to like Harrison's pellets so much and I wanted them to eat more pellets, and I've noticed Pat likes to chew on the cuttlebone more than before.


I called the vet, and have an appointment tomorrow morning and will hopefully get a blood test done on him at last! (last time we tried it started to bruise. Had to wait two weeks or more so I hope it's alright to try again now)

The only other news is the vet tried the fresh poop sample test on two occasions now (with their poop combined) and both times found just one flagellate. She said she wouldn't want to risk medication with something not technically an infestation. I read that they are hard to catch in poop sometimes so perhaps it actually is a parasite infestation all along?? Apparently clay feces is something with pancreas, or maldigestion/malabsorption (which would fit with weight loss). The urates would have had to be zinc or lead that he must have chewed on, but there's barely anything I could think of in this room that he had access to other than the top of my window blinds (I always take him from there when he lands on it) and the toys... which should be safe considering what I read on All Living Things website.
Also noticed that both Pat and Mat get foamy/bubbly poops and/or diarrhea after I give them a bunch of veggies at once to choose from (bok choy, broccoli, carrots, carrot tops, romaine lettuce, kale, peas, dill, corn..) but that I think must be normal especially if they combine these foods together like they would when given the choice lol. that aspect goes back to normal after eating seeds or pellets for a while.

Poop compared to Mat's (left):


















Very most recent poop, after feeding him just nutriberries seeds (urates seem to be normal here, maybe it was just nothing or very minor):










He is otherwise super duper active as usual and perky as usual! What do you guys think? :0


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Is every single one of his poops this color? It looks like normal variation to me, but it also seems like you should get the bloodwork done for your own peace of mind to put these questions to rest.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

enigma731 said:


> Is every single one of his poops this color? It looks like normal variation to me, but it also seems like you should get the bloodwork done for your own peace of mind to put these questions to rest.


his poops for all of today have been like this, and part of yesterday. Previous to that they weren't this colour, but were a brighter green with what looked like mucus so it still wasn't his normal :0

I agree yeah. Can't wait to get it done! Hopefully the area won't start bruising this time


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Ask if you can get the blood drawn from a toenail clip.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

enigma731 said:


> Ask if you can get the blood drawn from a toenail clip.


hm that does sound like a good idea, but wouldn't it have more probability of bleeding more than required? I feel like that wouldn't clot very well since it seems like they're essentially cutting the vein and might get infected on top of that since he steps in his poop a lot :1


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

No, it's not risky. It's the same as accidentally cutting too close to the quick, which is common during nail trims. The vet can put a clotting agent on the nail after the clip. 

Different vets have different opinions on the best procedure, but I personally feel that sedating a bird to draw from the jugular is much riskier than a toenail clip.


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## paoputrees (Mar 27, 2014)

the vet refused to take it that way, apparently it hurts for a week after and lots of reasons why it should only be ised as a last resort according to her. They took it from the jugular and were successful! So results should come in about a week


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

paoputrees said:


> the vet refused to take it that way, apparently it hurts for a week after and lots of reasons why it should only be ised as a last resort according to her.


Like I said, different vets have different opinions. Hurting for a week is wildly exaggerated, though.

Either way, I'm glad they were able to get the sample.


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