Kidney inflammation in budgies is a serious condition that can cause irreparable damage to the organ if not treated in time.
Symptoms
Kidney inflammation can be recognised quite well from the parakeet’s excretions.
In this case, the urine portion is liquid and surrounds the dark fecal portion (brown/black) like a puddle. Thus, the typical white spot of uric acid on the fecal pile is also missing.
The birds drink more than usual and thus also excrete relatively large amounts of liquid urine.
Later, the plumage around the bird’s cloaca may be smeared with white, insoluble uric acid.
With the increased urine excretion comes not only a loss of fluid, but also a loss of minerals (electrolytes), which can result in circulatory problems.
The budgies have less appetite than normal, puff themselves up and sleep unusually much.
Causes
Inflammation of the kidneys is usually caused by bacteria .
The actual cause, however, is malnutrition with a chronic vitamin A deficiency as a result of an exclusive or predominant diet of grains.
This then leads to an increased susceptibility to infections.
Therapy
To kill the bacteria, the bird is given antibiotics for treatment, which put as little stress on the kidneys as possible.
Under certain circumstances, an infusion may also be necessary, as well as heat treatment to support the circulation.
In addition, multivitamins with a high content of vitamin A can still be injected.
To compensate for the loss of minerals, you can also add a Tyrpode solution can be administered instead of drinking water.
Administering the medication
Giving vitamins through drinking water is strongly discouraged, as budgies often refuse this when there are changes in taste and color.
In the case of kidney disease, this could then lead to life-threatening dehydration.