# Worrisome poop... checking urgency



## GreenThing (Jul 17, 2021)

Both of my boys (around 7-8 months old) are still progressing through their juvenile molt, and both are due for a wellness check. I wanted to get input from experienced eyes on Percy's poop to determine whether I can take the next available appointment or if this might be an emergency. 

For context: both eat 2 tsp of Dr. Harvey's seed mix per day (one in the morning, one at night when I get home from work), usually mixed in with shredded greens so they have to forage for it. I leave 3-4 tsp of Harrison's pellets in the cage all day (replace daily, so they are fresh), and they have recently gone from picking at these to eating nearly all of them (the larger boy, Percy, is 41-42g and eats the most). I do not give multi-veggie chop at the moment, because they seem more interested in nibbling greens and slices of veg when they are clipped up. They are still ignoring peppers and squash, but I offer them a few times a week, and they get broccoli rabe and dandelion greens daily, as I know they will eat them. Percy has a number of visible blood feathers that must be quite tender growing in his wings, right now, but unlike Merlin (who acted like a sick bird during two of the roughest days-- extra naps and less energy), has remained quite active for his whole molt. 

The attached are his nighttime droppings, and they have looked like this for a while (with one or two off days where they were darker and less polyuric):









Later the same day his poop looked like this:









Once this entire month he has one alarming poop:









... but he has not had any droppings like this one since then. 

The first photo looks really different than Merlin's polyuria during the worst of his molt, but then Percy is eating more pellets than Merlin ate at the time.


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

When a bird consumes more and more pellets the droppings can become more brownish and the bird may drink more water. If you have an established relationship with the vet you may be able to e-mail them a picture of the droppings and they can advise you how soon the birds need to be seen or perhaps you could take a sample in for them to test. The dropping in the last picture looks to be full of mucus, good thing it was only that one. How soon is the next available appointment?


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## GreenThing (Jul 17, 2021)

Cody said:


> When a bird consumes more and more pellets the droppings can become more brownish and the bird may drink more water. If you have an established relationship with the vet you may be able to e-mail them a picture of the droppings and they can advise you how soon the birds need to be seen or perhaps you could take a sample in for them to test. The dropping in the last picture looks to be full of mucus, good thing it was only that one. How soon is the next available appointment?


Thank you for your reply!

Yes, fortunately that bad one was a one-off, and I actually check the consistency of the soft ones-- none of them have been tacky or had a mucus texture. I am awaiting a reply on pictures. 

Vet will be available for normal appointments after the holidays, and both boys' dropping have fluctuated between dark and dry and more watery, so I've held off on making an emergency appointment. I thought they were getting to the end of their juvenile molt, but one just sprouted a fresh head full of pins! I've noticed that they seem most uncomfortable/grumpy/polyuric slightly BEFORE I notice the pins, maybe when they are just pushing through the skin.


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