Cloacal Prolapse in Birds: Causes and Treatments

Jennifer Graham, DVM, DABVP (Avian/Exotic Companion Mammal Practice), associate professor of zoological animal medicine at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, says cloacal prolapse is another gastrointestinal emergency that veterinarians may see in birds.

"Another type of GI emergency that we may see in birds is cloacal prolapse. When a bird presents with a cloacal prolapse, there's different things that can cause that. Most commonly we can see egg binding, so we may have to work up a bird to determine if they have an egg and potentially remove that. We can see birds that will strain for a variety of different reasons, potentially diarrhea, that can have cloacal prolapse and so that is something that, on an emergent basis, veterinarians can lubricate that tissue and replace it, potentially place some transvent sutures to stabilize the patient, and then it may need a more complete workup to figure out the cause."