Crop issues :(

[u/Silver_Swim_3879]

Georgias spending the night at the avian vet :( She was throwing up this morning so I brought her in to an avian emergency vet and found out she has and infection in her crop. The vet said it was pretty bad and her bacteria percentage was at 50% when it should be closer to 5.

I know doves tend to hide their symptoms but she’s acted so normal that I was shocked when the vet told me they had found her crop full of fluid. I honestly figured she had eaten something weird and had an upset stomach, but I never expected it was something this bad where I’d have to leave her overnight. Even when I was saying goodbye she was her usual sweet self, preening and alert. (I added a pic of her in the fish tank they put her in when I was saying bye :P)

As soon as I got home I deep cleaned the bird room and sanitized the food, water, and grit bowls. If the vet says she’s good to go I’m going to pick her up tomorrow, and I have it scheduled to bring her wife for a checkup just in case it’s contagious.

I just don’t understand how this happened and would love any advice on how to prevent it in the future. Are crop infections something that doves can bounce back from pretty easily? Does this normally develop quickly or have I been overlooking symptoms?

[u/Kunok2]

Crop infections/sour crop Can be caused by them eating something they shouldn't be eating, for example we have had quite a number of cases of doves with crop issues caused by being fed cheese, due to a certain unethical breeder spreading misinformation that it's a good treat for them. Could you list everything you're feeding her/have fed her recently? What kind of seed mix? Any pellets, nuts, vegetables, fruits, insects, human food?

[u/Silver_Swim_3879 → u/Kunok2]

They eat mostly Hagen pigeon and dove seed mix with a little bit of Harrison’s fine pellets. I give them Hari oyster shell grit and morning bird calcium in their water.

They get human food sometimes but not often, probably 2/3 times a month. They love cucumber so that’s normally what I give them, but I’m allergic to cheese so I never have it in the house. Really good to know they can’t eat it either, I always thought my girls were missing out!

In August she also took a big bite out of a philodendron leaf, which also was a trip to the vet. She was fine and didn’t seem to have any symptoms at the time. I was watching her for a few days after to make sure she didn’t have and mouth or crop irritation but she was eating like a champ as normal. But I wonder if maybe there was irritation and that could have been where an infection began? 

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Silver_Swim_3879]

harrisons is likely causing it both it and cheese and other parror pellets have a major problem with throwing the crop microbiome off, its less of a [if] and more of a [when] with thode things, somce some birds will donokay on them for months befire having very sudden onset issues, but weve had vets confirm that those are whats causing the crop issues, pigeons and doves shoudln't be having harrisons pellets, they are formulated for parrots [despite saying it's for all birds] and are one of the many things that can gunk up the crop and cause sour crop, we've had folks birds get it from harrioms, cheese, fruity parrot pellets, and too many veggies since doves really SHOULDN'T be getting veggies at all (leafy greens ONLY)

while you're here I'll also note that hagan dove and pigeon isn't a very suitable feed, its really low in protein and very high in millet and other filler seeds

a doves diet should consist of almost 100% high quility seeds and grains, we personally reccomend [Verselaga classic no corn] but any seed mix is fine as long as it meets these rules

1. you want 14-15% protein 3-5% fat, and 7% fiber (fiber doesnt matter as much and can be less or more)

2. Avoid corn (popcorn and flint corn are fine) SPECIFICALLY CRACKED and whole dent/feed corn, avoid high millet (millet should NEVER be the first ingredient) avoid high sorghum/milo as its a filler grain, a good feed will use a high quility grain like wheat or barely as the first grain with milo as a secondary grain.

3. No cheese, no parrot pellets, no milk products, no veggies, no fruit.

4. Pellets if used NEED to be pigeon/dove/colombidae pellets like mazuri checkers and should make ul no more than 30-35% of the birds diet. Pellets are not neccesary for pigeons and doves at all.

5. The only suppliments that should be used are grit and a vitamineral powder [if your grit doesn't already have this added] alongside calcium for hens, most people on here use verselaga all in one grit as its best, calcium and grit should be provided 100% seperate from food [you should have a bowl for water, a bowl for food, a bowl for grit And a bowl for calcium if you have a hen]

6. Leafy greens can be given as a very occasional treat but shoudln't be a major part of their diet. Scrambled egg can also be given as a very occasional treat.

crop infections often develope pretty quickly, and usually when there is irritation or bactiria present, a improper diet gums the crop up, can cause irritation or crop stasis, allowing bactiria to fester into an infection because the improper diet is feeding the bactiria (this is a major issue with cheese, and sugary parrot pellets, and parrot pellets containing things pigeons and doves struggle to digest since these things will sit in the digestive system and can cause infections or blockages usually starting at the crop but these can actually turn into full blown digestive tract issues when not remedied)

a bird cna go months without issues on an improper diet, but as soon as they have a lapse in immune system response it usually has consequences like this.

i also highly reccomend checking to make sure your bord isnt severly underweight, we had two doves pass away on hagan this year on this sub due to malnutrition since hagan is 11% protien which is way too low for ringnecks.

you can check your birds body comdition by comparing her keel to a avian body condition chart, look up on google avian body score chart or pigoen body condition chart and youll find examples of that,

Most birds on hagan fall very low on the score and are either skinny or emaciated.

[u/Silver_Swim_3879 → u/XxHoneyStarzxX]

 Georgia is home and will be on antibiotics for the week along with a painkiller. Her wife Idgie also got a clean bill of health at her check up today :)

They’re at the end of their hagens, so I’ll try a different brand next time, and I’m taking the pellets out of their diet. Thank you for all the info!!

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Silver_Swim_3879]

this one is my favorite personally

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Silver_Swim_3879]

but I also like to recc this one

[u/becomingpigeonvet]

The crop microbiome is an incredibly complicated and wondrous place. If everything is balanced, nothing is allowed to grow out of control and the bird is happy. As soon as something is thrown out off, whether due to stress, illness, or medication, you can get an overgrowth of the normal flora that live there. (My bet is e.coli if bacterial, but that probably doesn’t matter)

Most likely something happened recently to kill off the diversity in the crop and allowed a secondary bacterial infection. This could have been a silent viral infection that happened to hit this bird harder than the others. Other things would be a big stress that happened recently or if you have used some kind of medication. (Lots of pigeon people love recommending broad spectrum prophylactic medication, we need to quit that). It *probably is not a contagious thing because it’s an infection caused by the bacteria that already live there. (But that’s a big assumption, it is not impossible for this to be a weird case)

As for bouncing back, it depends as most things do. I would imagine because your bird is bright and alert and because we have good medication against most bacteria, it will be fine. I cannot say for certain though and I am not yet a vet.

And another aside, by birds eat my monstera (philodendron) all the time and they are fine. The plant isn’t actually toxic in the classical sense. It causes mechanical irritation and I ASSUMED it would give them tummy aches and they would quit eating the plant. It did not. I am now convinced my birds are masochists or birds are just generally unaffected by the plants.

Anyways, I hope all that was helpful and I wish the best healing for your bird.

[u/Silver_Swim_3879 → u/becomingpigeonvet]

Very helpful thank you!! Georgia is home and doing well :)

[u/becomingpigeonvet → u/Silver_Swim_3879]

Glad to hear it! Sending the best of wishes for her to continue to improve and may the treatment go smoothly 😊