African Grey: runny droppings

Question
This is for, believe it or not, a 4th opinion.  I just discovered this service and thought it would be great to get another point of view.

About 6 months ago my 23yo female African Grey, Jos, started to have smelly droppings.  That slowly turned into being droppings with a very high content of urine, but no more smell, which continues to this day.

I had her tested twice -- blood & culture -- first about a month after it started and second a couple of months later with a different doctor.  First doctor, known in town for being a good avian vet, was unavailable immediately after the results came in, and was unfortunately out of town for a good week thereafter, so I took the results to another vet (not as prominent in avian) who said that he saw nothing particularly out of the ordinary and that she was fine.

The first doctor returned from his trip and said the results showed nothing unusual, but since she still has runny stools maybe we need to go in and get a scraping from her kidney to make a better determination (as you well know, there is some risk with anaesthetizing, even just for exploratory).  I held off.

For a few reasons, I decided to switch gears and take her to a completely different vet, a very respected avian specialist in town, and he retested her, and did one further test -- I believe geared more towards seeing what's happening with the kidney (without going in for a scraping).

He, too, said that he found nothing wrong with her test results and that he feels she is healthy but that the excess urine could be a seasonal thing and/or possibly something related to her reproductive system, but nothing to worry about.  But the fact that she continues to have this excess urine still worries me.

I should add that, with the exception of the runny droppings, Jos has been otherwise completely normal:  no change whatsoever in her eating habit, no change whatsoever in personality (she's still wonderful and loving!), no drooping on the perch that I can see.  She's been a feather picker ever since I got her from my cousin at age 8 (neck, legs, shoulder and partial under wing -- but you can hardly tell from looking at her from behind), but thankfully that is the same and has not gotten worse.

She was never a very active or talkative bird, and doesn't like toys -- kinda afraid of them -- is content being on her cage, sleeps a lot (always has), but has very active periods where she likes to chew TV Guides, boxes or newspaper or walk over and be near me at my desk or make lots of noises.

She has a diet of Pretty Bird African Special pellets, a non-sunflower seed mix, 1/2 apple, and 1" banana.  I've tried other foods such as kale, for example, and she refuses to eat them.

I hope this gives you enough information and that you might be able to tell me if you, generally, agree with the prognoses  OR  if this is something you're familiar with and if there is a possibility that there is something that these vets haven't considered.  Mind you, i never did do that kidney scrape and that could tell more, but I don't want to do that unnecessarily either.

Thank you.

Answer
Hi there!  I can completely understand your concern.  African Greys are wonderful, intelligent animals and I can see how much you love your girl!
An increase of urine can be caused by a change in diet, by stress, by excitement or by disease.  Has anything in your home changed when you began noticing the increase in urine?  Have you changed around her cage at all?  Moved her cage or any furniture in her view?  Any new treats?  Abrupt changes, no matter how small, can cause enough stress to cause changes in our pets.  
If a normal change in diet or emotion can't explain a dramatic or prolonged increase in urine, it could be an early symptom of a metabolic disease such as kidney disease. Poisoning, infections and drug reactions can also cause polyuria (increased urine in droppings).
So...I fear I haven't cleared anything up for you. Basically we're at square one.  To do the kidney scraping or not to do the kidney scraping?  I can't tell you what to do, but I can put myself into your situation and give you my opinion of what I would do if this were my bird.
My animals are my children and I always want the best for them in every single way.  No one knows your bird better than you.  If she is acting normally, is eating and behaving like her normal self in every other way...I don't know if I would be too thrilled to risk putting her under anesthesia.  I probably would play it day by day and see if anything else changed.  It's a very good sign that nothing significant showed up with the testing.  There is a testing called ERD where the urine is tested to find early stage kidney disease.  I have done endless testings on cats and dogs and ferrets...but never on birds.  If it is possible to perform this test successfully on birds, it wouldn't be riskful at all. Perhaps you could talk to your veterinarian about this? The thing that makes me worry about the kidney scraping is not only the effects of anesthesia, but the healing process.  Birds do not heal nearly as well or as quickly as other animals.  It truly may be an unnecessary risk that could lead to a devestating consequence.  Again, that's only my opinion.  A kidney scraping may tell all and will offer you an answer.  But here's my thought...and to be blunt...the only thing that could be determined that wasn't found with other testing by a kidney scraping is kidney disease. Kidney disease would also show in blood testing, as would any infections.  Many animals have kidney disease and live for years with it.  There is no cure for kidney disease.  The only treatment that helps in any way is giving fluids to flush the system out.  After the fluids, you're back to where you started in just a few days.  So, being that this kidney scraping is a huge risk, would it really be worth it to find out if the bird has a terminal ailment or not?  To me, it wouldn't be.  
I hope this somewhat helps.  I wish so much I had a definite answer for you.  It makes me happy when I read these questions and I can say "Oh it's this!"....It makes me feel so bad when I receive baffling questions like your own.  I hope that my input and my opinion has helped you decide what is best for you and your bird.
Please keep in touch and let me know how she does!
Hilary