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Black dropping in Alexandrine parakeet

My bird suddenly started to have black poop. And vomited too. And within 9 hours she died. Her poop was perfectly fine the day before her death. And since we keep her in a clean room without any clutter it is impossible for her to ingest any foreign body. But she did lose a lot of weight. Still was very active and used to play around till the day before her death. She was an Alexandrine Parakeet with a moustache. And she was 22 years old. It was really heart breaking for us to lose her so suddenly.

Hi Flora,

I’m very sorry for your loss. There is no way to know the cause without a vet doing a necropsy. However, at 22, she was fairly old for an Alexandrine. While they can live to be much older, there are a lot of factors when it comes to life span for a pet bird. While her death seemed sudden, losing a lot of weight was a sign that something was wrong with her internally. Any changes in a bird’s appetite, weight, droppings or behavior can be the first signs of illness, and the bird should be seen by an Avian Vet. Since she had no exposure to new birds, most likely whatever was wrong with her was age related, and may or may not have been treatable. Your moustache will need a lot of love and attention while he adjusts to losing your other bird.

Take care,

Brenda