The Scoop on Poop – Fecal Diagnostics – Lauren Powers
How poop is made
- Birds have a two chamber stomach - first part is proventriculus, second
chamber is ventriculus – gizzard.
- Cloaca – sac at the end of the GI tract. There are 3 chambers to the cloaca – 1st
is Coprodeum, 2nd is Urodeum, 3rd is Proctodeum
- Birds do not have a urinary bladder or urethra. They have ureteral tubes
which go from the kidneys to the cloaca
Normal bird poop consists of 3 parts
- feces
- urates
- urine
Birds have 2 portions of the kidney – mammalian and reptilian
Think color in, color out when it comes to your birds bodily waste
Abnormal Poop
- Maldigestion: the passage of undigested food
- You will see undigested foods if the stomach muscles and/or nerves not
working, so the food is not being ground properly within the system and
exits the bird intact or in large chunks
- Malabsorption: when the pancreas or GI tact is not properly absorbed. The
enzymes within the systems will not break down the feces properly. Poop
will appear large in size, greasy, and not formed as normal.
- Birds regulate blood sugar through glucogon, not insulin. Birds can be
diabetic
- Melena: black tarry stools, digested blood. Generally indicates upper GI tract
bleeding. Also displays in acute kidney failure, ulcers, internal bleeding of the
mouth, etc
- Hematochezia: frank blood in droppings. Bleeding that is happening below
the stomach, can also happen inside of the cloaca or the reproductive tract
Crimson red in color – undigested
- Polyuria: increased urine output. Polyuria can be from kidney disease,
diabetes, or natural temporary intake of water intake due to diet – ie, fruit.
Also hormonal flush, to get rid of extra phosphorus in the system
- Hematuria: blood in the urine. It means that blood is coming from the
kidneys
- Biliverdinuria: biliverdin in the urine. Birds do not make much bilirubin,
lacking the enzymes to turn biliverdin into bilirubin, so green [fluorescent
color, mustard yellow urine/urates] in the urine is a sign of liver disease
- Foreign objects
Parrots do not have a gallbladder – they do produce bile that is dark green in
coloration
If blood is coming from kidneys, urates would not be white.
Cloaca can reabsorb urine and water
When to call the vet
- When you see blood
- Dark feces
- Abnormal urate coloration
- Lack of consistent fecal matter in droppings
- Undigested food in feces
- Pungent odor to feces – clostridium concerns