Investigations into Clagged Vent in Budgerigars: Preliminary
Results
by
Clagged in Budgerigars is the condition in which droppings
accumulate around and over the vent, these droppings then form a
dry hard mass which obstructs the passage of feces and urine to
the outside and these waste products accumulate inside the bird
resulting in death within a few days. This condition has been
the subject of research at the
Before describing and discussing the results to date, it is
necessary to briefly describe the production of urine and the
function of the lower part of the intestine. Budgerigars produce
urine in the kidneys from where it passes in fine tubes called
ureters to the extreme bottom end of the intestine. At this
stage it is relatively liquid. Having reached the intestine it
is passed forward up the intestine, that is towards the mouth.
It travels up for a short distance before travelling down again
prior to being voided. During this passage in the intestine the
urine is partly dried out, making it the fairly firm, white
consistency that all fanciers are familiar with. The lower part
of the intestine also has a function with regard to the feacal
part of the droppings which is to dry the droppings so that the
water that is in them from the bird's digestive juices can be
recycled and used again. Another function is to secrete a very
thin layer of mucus onto the droppings to ease their passage to
the outside. The lower part of the intestine has little in the
way of digestive function although some vitamins are probably
absorbed from this site.
Sample Results
Forty six samples of clag have been received together with the
bodies of 9 affected birds. Examination of the internal surface
of the clag material reveals that it can be divided into three
types (the internal surface has to be examined as all sorts of
things stick to the outside masking its appearance). The three
types are:
-
Light Yellow to
pale brown with a gritty slightly sandy texture,
dry and odor free. 23 samples of this type have
been received.
-
Dark brown and
fairly dry although some moisture is present.
These samples often have rather sticky feel and
are almost odor free. 22 samples of this type
have been received.
-
Dark brown to
black, relatively soft and foul-smelling. Only
one sample of this type has been received and
this type will not be considered further.
Considering type 1 in more detail, these are composed
principally of abnormal urine. As can be seen from the
introductory paragraph this could arise from a malfunction of
either the kidneys and/or the intestine. Two dead birds with
this type of clag have been received and both these birds had
inflamed kidneys and the blood chemistry of a few birds with
this condition again suggests that the kidneys are at fault when
this type of clag is produced, although exactly what the nature
of the fault is awaits discovery. However there is no infectious
bacteria present and the condition does not spread as if a virus
was involved. Talking to fanciers who have had birds affected
with this type of clag, it seems probably that in the majority
of cases, the birds recover provided the build up of clag is
removed regularly so that waste products do not accumulate in
the bird's system. This type of clag occurs almost entirely in
the autumn and early winter for reasons which are not at all
clear at the moment.
Type 2 represents abnormal feaces and here the malfunction will
almost certainly lie in the lower part of the intestine,
although disturbances higher up can not be entirely ruled out.
Examination of the few dead birds with this condition suggests
that, at least in some of them, there is excess mucus production
in the lower intestine and this leads to stickiness of the
droppings so that they adhere to the feathers around the vent.
The causes of this type of condition are many and varied but a
significant proportion of cases are associated with an infection
of the lower bowel by a bacteria called Staphylococcus. In these
cases it will be possible to get rid of this with antibiotics
together with frequent removal of the clag, having softened it
in water. In spite of a germ causing a number of cases it does
not seem to act as an infectious condition and it is suspected
that there must be some other trigger factor which allows this
bacteria in to cause the problem. It was thought at one time
that this trigger might be diet related but the condition has
now been seen in birds on a wide variety of foods and not common
factor was found. In a number of other cases of this type of
clag the intestines were found to be displaced and therefore
malfunctioning; examples of this have included umbilical
hernias, cancer of the testicles and a retained decomposing egg.
Other conditions that have been seen causing this type of clag
have been inflammation of the gizzard so that poorly ground up
food was being passed into the intestines and psittacosis in
which a number of bodily functions, including those of the
intestines, are disturbed.
Affected area must be cleaned
What ever the cause in an individual bird, the most important
aspect is that the clag is spotted and removed. Spotting the
clag is not as easy as it would sound as, in many cases, unless
the bird is viewed from below it can be missed unless it is very
big. How many fanciers look at birds this way? The dry clag
should not be pulled off but softened in water and gently
removed. If removal is delayed, because the condition is not
see, the bird may still die as waste products have accumulated
in the bird's system. The clag will have to be removed at least
twice a day until nature or treatment effects a cure therefore
the isolation of the bird in a small cage in which it can be
easily caught is a good idea. The skin under the clag is often
inflamed and sore and a bland cream spread on this area will
make the bird feel more comfortable and in some cases appears to
prevent more clag sticking to the bird. The only other that can
currently be recommended is antibiotics for a proportion of
birds affected by type 2 clag. Unfortunately just looking at the
clag will not indicate which birds should respond to treatment
so that I would suggest that all birds with this type should
have a 5 day course of treatment.
As was said at the beginning this is only a preliminary report
based on a relatively small number of samples. We need to obtain
samples from a wider variety of owners so that we get a better
idea as to which types are common, also to get affected birds or
preferably recently affected birds so that we can take blood
samples, and to get birds which have died of the condition so
that post-mortems can be carried out. In this way we should be
able to sort out the condition. I would appeal to owners of
affected birds to send samples of clag, or better still let us
see live affected birds or those which have unfortunately died
of the condition.
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