# Black droppings



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Annie is not doing good at all and since yesterday she has black droppings. I am not sure if it is GI bleeding or if there is anything else that can cause black droppings. Most of the times she has no urates and when she has some they are dark yellow, almost orange. The droppings are also very small. She is still eating some but not much.
She is on Baytril and Flagyl, which I am thinking I should discontinue as she is on it for some days now and I haven't notice any improvement. She is still wobbly and sits puffed up.
Any ideas?

Reti


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Are you feeding her, Reti?


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Reti,

Delightful and Glorious Delorious had black tarry droppings afew weeks ago, but not the other symptoms that you mention.

Retief , her vet, said it could be infection , worms or heavy metal poisoning. I wormed her and some roundworms were visible in her poops.

Her black poops cleared up but she has since started to pass undigested seed, I will have to have her x-rayed, I was wondering whether in her case both black poops and undigested seed could be linked to metal in her gizzard. I think she might have been shot before she came to me as she had a wound that went right through the wing and into the body.

Retief said that if it was heavy metal poisoning other pigeons in the aviary would show symptoms.

Cynthia


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## pigeonmama (Jan 9, 2005)

Reti,
Take a small piece of poop and smear it on something white (paper towel or paper plate) then drop a little water on it. Sometimes you will see the water run off reddish/pinkish, and if so, it is most likely due to blood. If it's blood, it's old blood, meaning it's coming from up higher in the digestive tract


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Pigeonmama, that is a great idea, will do it now.

Cynthia, she had no wounds when I got her in January. She is one of the birds from the center I was supposed to ship and noticed something wasn't right. I dewormed her and she eliminated tons of worms, I repeated 2 weeks later. She never was really 100% not even after the deworming and now is only getting worse. I have no idea how long she was at the center and what her condition was when she was found.

Charis, she is a good weight, hasn't lost any weight and she is still eating so I haven't fed her yet.

Reti


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Reti said:


> Pigeonmama, that is a great idea, will do it now.
> 
> Cynthia, she had no wounds when I got her in January. She is one of the birds from the center I was supposed to ship and noticed something wasn't right. I dewormed her and she eliminated tons of worms, I repeated 2 weeks later. She never was really 100% not even after the deworming and now is only getting worse. I have no idea how long she was at the center and what her condition was when she was found.
> 
> ...



I did the little tric you mentioned pigeonmama and it seems not to be blood.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Reti,

Sorry to hear about Annie.

I hope that is good news then, that it isn't blood, hope it can be remedied.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Maybe you should worm her again.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Reti said:


> I did the little tric you mentioned pigeonmama and it seems not to be blood.


Smear the stuff out on a piece of white paper and see if it's really a very dark green.

Pidgey


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

It is black, I am pretty sure about it. I smeared it on a paper towel and mostly there are no urates or very tiny dark yellow ones.
I dewormed all my birds last week, including Annie.

Reti


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## SueC (Jun 9, 2005)

Could it be a liver disorder?


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

SueC said:


> Could it be a liver disorder?



Could be. That's what I was thinking also, but not sure about it.

Reti


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*What are you feeding the bird?*

Sunflower seeds can turn the stool black. Did you also say that the bird is passing undigested seeds? Does the bird eat grit? How old is it?

This might be a good time to force feed some formula or feed something that will basically disolve in the crop so that the bird can build up it's strength. Chicken or game bird pellets will do this if the bird will eat on it's own.

It does sound like a digestive tract disorder but could have many causes.

Bill


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thanks Bill. It sounds like some digestive disorder, maybe liver disorder. She is not passing undigested seed but is vomiting. Today she stopped eating and moving around. I will fed her some formula now and that is all I can think of doing at the moment. 

Reti


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Could it be sourcrop?*



Reti said:


> Thanks Bill. It sounds like some digestive disorder, maybe liver disorder. She is not passing undigested seed but is vomiting. Today she stopped eating and moving around. I will fed her some formula now and that is all I can think of doing at the moment.
> 
> Reti


That's actually an easy fix. Give one fourth of a pepto bismal tablet per day for a couple days. Sourcrop usually has a foul odor on their breath. Even if it is not sourcrop, a quarter tab of pepto will not hurt a thing and may actually solve other problems further in the system.

Bill


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you Bill. I have liquid Pepto Bismol, will give a few drops see what happens. Guess it won't hurt, but there is more going on with this bird, she looks very sick.

Reti


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Sourcrop can be very serious*

A bird that does not recover from it by purging itself completely and flushing itself with enough clean water may not recover and would die.

More people should know about it and the extremely simple cure. Pepto Bismal tablets. The liquid will work but I don't know how many drops to tell anyone and it's not as simple as quartering a tablet and feeding them. A little extra won't hurt. PB is not poison.

I would be very careful of giving a weak bird actual medications unless you know exactly what you are treating. These medications are toxic and dangerous to already sick birds. 

Bill


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I just sent you a PM.


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