How Sour Crop Affects Your Parrot

If your parrot is suffering from 'sour crop' you have a very real problem on your hands and one that needs to be attended to immediately. Sour crop or "crop stasis," is amazingly common in young birds, but it is one that needs immediate vet care. It is a condition where a baby parrot has a crop that has been affected with bad food. Sour crop leads to a lot of other diseases inside the parrot which eventually results in death and this is why such a symptom should be identified before it brings about the effects of full blown sour crop.

Causes:

There are several reasons why a parrot may get sour crop and some of them include:

Obstruction: This is the indigestion of any food or foreign objects inside the parrot given during the day.

Viral diseases: This accounts to proventricular dilatation disease.

Fungal infection: The food that you might have given to the bird might be infected by fungus.

Bacterial infection: The bad food intake might cause any bacterial infection anywhere in the intestinal track of the bird.

Metabolic diseases: Diseases like liver malfunction and pancreatitis can also be a cause.

Improper feeding: with young birds it is often the improper feeding of them that causes the infection. Young birds need a consistent temperature with their warmed food and also in a form that is easy for them to digest like a mash type consistency. It is even possible for severe climatic conditions to cause the spoiling of food that small parrots eat.

Symptoms:

Vomiting, diarrhea or regurgitation

The crop being overdistension and firm to touch whereas it is usually quite soft and spongy.

Lethargy - excessive sleeping, keeping their head under the wing, ruffled feathers indicate that the birds are too weak to stay awake and an immediate call for the vet is necessary.

Decreased appetite -the birds will be in no condition for eating as their digestive track of which the crop is part of, is infected and you might notice a decrease in their appetite.

Less active: the birds will not be responsive.

Treatment:

If you observe any of the effects of sour crop listed above, then you need to immediately contact a veterinarian so that he can immediately remove the spoiled food from their body as quickly as possible. In most birds, the food is removed through a tube passed orally. But this specifically depends on the size of the food and the condition of the bird.

Effects of sour crop in most birds that are suffering will be severe dehydration and a large intake of fluid is mandatory. So once the crop has been taken from the body of the bird it needs to be given high intake of fluid.

The feeding of a parrot needs care at all times and will become a habit and you will notice any change in signs once you have owned your parrot for a while, but if you have a new baby parrot then be aware of the effects of sour crop and keep a vigilant watch on your parrot's feeding habits.

For valuable information on how to decide on your parrot choice and how to best care for a pet parrot from parrot expert Kaye Dennan visit Pet Parrot Secrets.