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Why is my parakeet throwing up clear liquid and spraying it?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Bird | Parakeet | Male | 3 years and 9 months old

My parakeet Kiwi every now and then throws up clear liquid and flings it onto his face. We don’t have money for the vet right now but I want to know what’s up and see if he needs meds??

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Todd Cecil

Veterinarian

Published on October 5th, 2018

Thanks for including the picture of Kiwi. It seems like Kiwi is regurgitating. Parrots can regurgitated for multiple reasons: food sharing, stress, eating something noxious, ingestion of something toxic or due to infectious or metabolic illness (kidney, liver, etc.).
With food sharing, they rarely shake their head and spray it everywhere. One of the other more common causes is eating items with lead or zinc, two soft metals, that affect the vomit center to cause the regurgitation. You'll have to investigate the environment and search for anything Kiwi might be chewing on. If you think that is the case, a visit to the veterinarian should provide a means of confirmation (radiographs) and then the treatment has a fairly good prognosis as long as it is caught fairly early.
Providing heat support for an environment around 85-90 degrees will help to stimulate his immune system.
But if he continues to regurgitate or become lethargic or anorectic, you need to visit your local avian veterinarian.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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