Budgie passing whole seeds in droppings

[vivalis]

Hi, everybody! Its been a long time since I've posted. My budgie, Phinny, sometimes passes whole seeds in his droppings. This problem is not new, however.
I took him to an avian vet specifically for this problem like 3 months ago. The vet tested him for chlamydia and a yeast infection, both of which came back negative. I was worried about PDD, but the vet told me that it was very rare in budgies. After the negative test results, we just decided to wait it out and see how he did. The problem went away for awhile, but recently he has began to pass whole seeds again.
When I offer him some grits, the problem seems to go away temporarily. Does this make any sense? I know some people believe grits help budgies with their digestion and some don't. I try to be safe with the grits. I only offer them to him in small amounts at a time and only if I see seeds in his droppings.
Could the grits actually be helping him, or is it merely coincidential? Most importantly, should I take him back to the vet? If allowing him more access to grits is the answer, then I would rather do that then put him through the stress of going to the vet.
He seems fine - very active and loud, but I know that this can be deceiving in birds.
Any advice/experience anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this!

[jayjay]

grit should be fine for your budgie. many people leave it in the cage as the bedding all the time with no ill affects. the problem with seeds is that if the husk isnt removed when your budgie eats it, then his stomach will have a hard time digesting it. so the problem may be something with his beak or perhaps even the type of seed or how long its been stored. if offering a bit of grit helps, then just offer it without worry. ltos of larger birds need grit because they dont always remove the husk of seeds before they swallow. budgies just dont need it as much because they tend to remove the husk. but grit certianly wont have any ill affects so long as its a clean source of grit.

[Joey]

Thats very odd I never heard of a bird passing whole seeds?I have seen wild birds that eat berries in their diet and their droppings are colored and you can see the seeds inside thats how new trees and things grow...birds plant most of them:o

[jayjay]

doesnt your first statement contradict your second one joey? hahah. yeah, most birds that eats berries and stuff pass the seeds through. thats also because they dont shell the seeds that are inside the berry. parrots are some of the few birds that specialize in eating seeds and removing the outer shells of the seed. if the shell is not removed from the seed, it wont get digested. for a human example, try eating watermelon seeds. see what happens ;)

[BUUZBEE]

i would say if the grit is helping keep it up. all mine get it

[Cyn]

The grit should help with grounding up the seeds. A couple of my budgies had the same problem. But they were also very over wieght and would eat all day long... After I put them on a diet things cleared up...

[Joey]

Lol so am I your experiment?:) Jay Jay?I do have 10 WaterMelons in my garden ill tell you when they are ready!

[jayjay]

hahahah. i can never manage to grow watermelon as animals eat any new growth before they have a chance and usually kill off the watermelon. too busy to create somekind of protection for them. hopefully next year. haha.

[Joey]

:eek: Im scared there is one about big as a tennis ball and teh other ones are like golf balls and marbles lol should I put a wire cover over them?But do wild birds eat watermelon I onder what happend to vivialis's budgie?Odd..

[jayjay]

i wouldnt worry about wild birds. generally watermelons are too tough for a bird to want to waste its time pecking through the outer skin. usually, when you see damage to the watermelon itself, it is done by ground animals. most damage i tend to worry about however is the damge to the watermelon plant leaves and whatnot. if those have been fine, you shouldnt have a problem. let me know how your watermelons turn out later on :)

[Tiki<3Polly]

yes i wonder how your watermelons will turn out..as though i have never grown them before but tend to some day :)

ok lets get back on subject..lol

well if grit makes him (or her ) stop having seeds in their droppings than i would give grit too!!:D

hope this helps
!!!

[Budgiekin]

Here is some information on budgie droppings for your interest (it has a little paragraph on seeds in the droppings):

http://www.birds-online.de/gesundheit/gesallgemein/indikatorkot_en.htm


Does your budgie show any other signs of illness?? Did the vet do a test for megabacteria? That illness can result in whole seeds in the droppings. There would likely also be other symptoms as well, such as weight loss (in spite of a seemingly good appetite), fluffed up appearance, lethargy.....This illness if fatal if not treated as it rarely clears up on its own. Stress can exacerbate the illness as well and cause a relapse.

Please let us know how your budgie is doing....

[jayjay]

my new budgie ISIS passed whole seeds the first day but was fine by the second day. so again, stress can cause it and moving the cage around is certainly something that can stress out a budgie. leave the cage in a stable location for a while and see what happens.

let us know how things are going. good luck. and vets are always a good choice if in doubt.

[Lace]

I dont use grit, cus Akita seems to do fine without it., but it sounds like he is having trouble digesting, so i suggest that you stick with the grit ^^ its harmless to the bird and can really help.

[MysticReader]

As long as it doesn't include your bird having to step on it (AKA grit used as bedding), it should be fine. Grit can hurt and cut their soft lil feet.

[vivalis]

Thanks for your advice, everyone! I have been offering Phinny grits in his cage and his droppings are normal again. I am monitoring the situation closely. If it starts to happen again, I will take him back to the vet for some more tests. I'll keep you all posted! Thanks again!

[buddy]

Mix the grit with the seed thats what I use to do, but my budgies dont really need it.