My Mum in Australia needs advice please

[naturegirl]

Hi Everyone couldn't stay away. I am in Australia currently and my Mum in law needs some advice. She has a 1 year old Parakeet and he is healthy and as happy as ever but she is concerned about the fact that this little guy does too much piddling. Now I would say take the calcium away and cuttlebone away but guess what he has none in his cage, he does drink alot of water though. I noticed today that when he was feeding his love toy he was dripping all over it, kind of gross really. He is such a well behaved little budgie and happy as possible but concerned about the amount he drinks and definately the amount he pees. Advice would be so appreciated. By the way the funeral for my father in law went beautifully. Huge amount of people showed up around 200.. he was the director of the Anzdac Parade in Adelaide, Australia.


Thanks guys

Cindy

[Pidgey]

If you want to do a real search on that, it's called the "Polyuria/Polydipsia Complex" or "PU/PD". The first word is excessive urine, the second is excessive thirst. There are plenty of causes including psychological ones. When that happens, you normally moderate the water intake. Of course, you don't want to do that if the bird is actually sick and needs it so they usually do some diagnostic work first like checking the urine for excessive glucose (glucosuria) and that kind of thing. That's just one of those deals that you can try a lot of simple things for (like making sure the diet is right for the species) but if that doesn't work, it's off to the lab.

Pidgey

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Cindy,

Sorry to hear that your mom's budgie seems to be under the weather. I'm certainly not an expert with these birds but one thing that comes to mind is excessive salt intake. This is the same with any bird really and if they ingest too much salt, perhaps through certain grits, they will drink a lot and therefore "urinate" a lot.

I also checked the net and found a site on budgies and it mentions possible kidney disease as a problem with excess urination. It says, "If your keet drinks an abnormal amount of water, if it discharges such an abnormally large amount of urine that its feces are liquid, if it seems to want more succulent foods than seeds, look out for kidney disease. At the first signs of such symptoms it pays to treat with aureomycin."

Source: http://www.onlinefleamarket.net/keet...t_diseases.htm

I am just tossing around some suggestions here and hopefully others will have some other things to say as well.

Glad to hear your father's funeral went well and it was packed with a lot of friends and family...that means a lot too when you see your loved one was really respected and liked.

[Lady Tarheel]

Cindy, I don't have any medical advice to give you but wanted you to know I have thought of you and your family often since you left the 9th and will continue to do so.

[naturegirl]

Thank You all for the beautiful advice. I will toss everything in front of my Mum and see what she says. Can't wait to get home again as it is winter here and very cold, nice and warm in Michigan But I can also say I hate to leave my Mum in law as she is gold to me and I love the birds here. She feeds around 100/125 Ring neck doves, Turtle Doves, Crested Pigeons. they all come to feed 2 times a day and also swarm her when feeding. Cool as heck. Very friendly birds and the ring necks have to be my favourites. I will be back on tomorrow sometime to check back. Thanks Again!

Cindy

[Lady Tarheel]

Cindy, it sounds like paradise over there. You know, birds can give us a lot of comfort just when we need it the most.

[naturegirl]

The birds over here are absolutely georgous!!!!! This is my 3rd time coming to Australia and I love it. I dread the plane ride of 30 hours, and the Huntsman Spider here Gosh are they ever the ugliest darn Spider I have ever laid eyes on. The birds are so wonderful. I love the Australian Magpies Warble song. The birds are out of this world. I will also be happy to get back home with my family and birds and dog. I will also be happy to get back online with Broad band instead of dial up Will check back in a couple days and everyone take care.

[Trees Gray]

Originally Posted by naturegirl

I will also be happy to get back online with Broad band instead of dial up

Hi naturegirl,

Sounds like a wonderful peaceful place to visit, and your mum-in-law sounds like my kind of people. I would love to see all the various kinds of birds they have there.

I guess its like being in a third world having dial-up, huh? Well, I'm living there for now.
My kids don't like using my computer when they visit.