regurgitating or vomiting??

[fiddle]

Hello,

To fill you in, Tiki our CAG has been having some regurgitating/vomiting episodes for the last few days. We had took her to her Avian vet this past Friday night. She did a crop wash and gram stain, she found that Tiki has some form of bactaria in her crop, I thought she said it was a gram positive stain I could be wrong. She gave us Septra 2x a day for 7-14 until she gets the results of the culture back, after she may have to change the meds to Baytril once she knows what Tiki has.

Anyhow, my question about Tiki's regurgitating/vomiting. We Tiki started doing this, she was in her cage this happened around 5:30pm in the evening. Where Tiki's cage is she can see the birds on the deck feeding from the window, also she can see her own reflection. The second time she did this she was in the kitchen on her portable stand, she regurgitated/vomited all over the kitchen window, this was around 7:00pm in the evening.

My husband and I were able to sit and watch what she does during these episodes....Tiki sits on her perch, facing the window, bends over with her head down, then lifts it up and down at the same time opens up her beak as if she is trying to be sick, she does this until she becomes sick. When she is being sick she lets it fall on the cage bars, basically I wouldn't say she's aiming it. So far, Tiki seems to be doing this while one of us is around her viewing area.

Since this has started Tiki will not eat anything but oatmeal, toast with a little peanut butter, and almonds. If I give her anything other then those 3 items she becomes sick. If I put her fruit/veggie, or rice/beans etc in her dish in her cage she will get sick. If I have her out of the cage and feed her the oatmeal or toast she doesn't get sick. Tiki also has Mazuri Pellets which is available at all times, she will eat those but most of the time plays with them. Tiki is approx. 19 months old, she is not losing weight holds steady between 424-450grams. Active as always, plays talks etc.

We mentioned all this to the AVet, she thinks maybe Tiki is showing some sexual behaviour but is not sure because of the bacteria in her crop. Someone mentioned that maybe she regressing back to a baby. I mentioned this to my husband, he didn't think so because he said babies don't regurgitate they take the material from their mothers.


What do you all think?
Thanks,
Wendy
Tiki CAG

[Majj]

Geeee this is interesting I have no idea , my guys regurgitate only when wanting to be sexual and we try to discourage this by divirting their attention with a toy or a treat ...I think this sounds more like actual vomiting , will be interested to see what the vet comes up with ...I hope Tiki starts to feel better and starts to eat her regular food again I guess that is when you will know she is on the mend ...Keeping you and Tiki in my prayers for a speedy recovery I know how worrying it is when your fid is sick...Hugs

[greyburd]

This sounds like a strange situation you have. With Tiki being only 19 months old, I would rule out sexual behavior. But I'm no expert. Please let us know what your vet says.

~don

[The Outlaw]

Is Tiki losing weight? Can you feel loss of muscle? Regurgitating is part of growing up, but birds don't lose weight as a result of it. Vomiting is entirely different and is something that usually happens shortly after eating. Let's say you feed her at 6:30 in the evening. Vomiting would likely occur in about 30 minutes if its truly vomiting. Maybe even sooner.

Please describe her droppings? Are you seeing any undigested seed? Are you certain that your vet didn't say Megabacteria? Its extremely important that you pay close attention to the vet's questions and ask if you don't understand things.

THE OUTLAW

[fiddle]

Hello OUTLAW,

Thank you for your response and questions.

No Tiki is not losing weight at all, she is holding her usual weight 424 to 450 grams, we've been weighing her in the morning and night, before and after her meals. Tiki was at the clinic in Nov. for bloodwork (came back all normal by the way) We took Tiki there to meet her/us Avian Vet and get the bloodwork done so there was something to refer to if Tiki came down with something.

I don't feel any loss of muscle either.

When Tiki does her vomiting it's not a every day after every meal type of thing. She is doing this approx. every 2-3 days. She is vomiting roughly about 30-60 minutes after eating.

I've gotten her to start eating sweet potatoe yesterday which is good, plus she didn't vomit it back up. This morning she ate her oatmeal/sweet potatoe as long as I fed it to her.

I was speaking with her Avian Vet yesterday and I asked her whether it was a positive/negative bacteria gram stain, she said it was an over amount of negative bacteria that is normally not found in the crop.

Tiki's droppings. She has no undigested food in her droppings. To explain them, usually they are green in colour, long like worm, she has the normal amount of white, with urine. Her droppings also have a little bit of loose to it, not alot though, I asked the vet about this when we were there Friday night and she felt it could be the apple cider vinegar in her water causing it. Yesterday her droppings were like clay color (sweet potatoe) worm like, with white, but had more urine in it because she had a bath. We give Tiki sun flower seeds as a treat every day there is no undigested seed in her droppings at all.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Wendy

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

Is Tiki losing weight? Can you feel loss of muscle? Regurgitating is part of growing up, but birds don't lose weight as a result of it. Vomiting is entirely different and is something that usually happens shortly after eating. Let's say you feed her at 6:30 in the evening. Vomiting would likely occur in about 30 minutes if its truly vomiting. Maybe even sooner.

Please describe her droppings? Are you seeing any undigested seed? Are you certain that your vet didn't say Megabacteria? Its extremely important that you pay close attention to the vet's questions and ask if you don't understand things.

THE OUTLAW